Fi Baxt (Ten N) 277 (1873) ; or has adopted by-laws, Mercantile Corporations; Existence of Such CorporationS As a result ac- complished by the direct operation of a law which it is obliged to kuow the court judicially knows the existence of pri v ate corporations established by a domestic public statute, 1 ' 1 their names, 02 and powers; 03 and the duties of its omcers 94 and of a time limit upon its corporate existence, 95 so far as an v has been imposed by la W 96 Except where the fact is a notorious one in the com- munity or where required by law so to do, the court will not know the existence of domestic corporations existing under a pri v ate act, 97 or that of corporations established under the law of a foreign country or sister State 98 Mercantile Corporations; Statutes Conferring PowerS Statutes prescrib- ing the powers and duties of all corporations of a public or semi-public nature, or of all corporations organized for certain purposes, e g, operating a railroad, 99 and the like, 1 are judicially know N Minor facts relating to corporations as that all stockholders, residents of the state, are among its citizens 2 are not within the judicial knowledge of the cour T Facts of this class may be known and, if so, what these ar E Bushnell v Hall, 9 K Y L Rep 684 (18S7) : Simpson v South Carolina Mu T InS Co, 59 S c 195, 37 S E 18, 225 (1900 ) A court will not judicially know what officers a certain corporation has elected and what powers it has conferred on them, Brown v Missouri, etc, K Co, 67 Mo 122 i 1877 ); or, whether any other act in pais whate v er, has been done by the corporation, Illinois Cen T H Co v Johnson, 40 111 35 (1864); People v Tierney, 57 Hun ( N Y) 357, 589, 10 N Y Supp 940, 948 (1890); Topp v Watson, 12 Heisk (Ten N) 411 (1873) ; or its board of directorS Crawford v Mobile Branch State Bank, 7 Al A 205 (1844); Topp v Watson, supr A Statutes of incorporation of pri v ate corporations will not be judicially known, Winnipiseogee Lake Co v Young, 40 N H 420, 428 (1860) ; nor the seal of pri v ate corporationS Griffing BroS Co v Winfield, 53 Fl A 589, 43 So 687 (1907 ) 91 State v Briscoe, 6 Pe N (DeL) 401, 67 Atl 154 (1907 ) 92 Jackson v State, 72 G A 28 (1883 ) 93 Gordon v Montgomery, 19 Tn D110 (1862); Chapman v Colby, 47 Mich 46, 10 N W 74 (1881): Bnell v Warner, 33 v t 570 (1861) ; 1 Chamb, E v , 626 and cases cited 94 Douglass v Mobile Br'anch Bank, 19 Al A 6oO (1851) 95 Terry v Merchant?', etc, Bank, 66 G A 177 M8SO ) 96 Cicero Hygiene Draining Co v Craig- head, 28 Ind 274 (1867 ) A federal court will judicially know that a certain corpora- tion is established under act of Congress, neffelfinger v Choctaw, O & g r Co, 140 Fed 75 (1905 ) 97 Mobile v Louis v ille, etc, r Co, 124 Al A 132, 26 So 902 (1899); Kirby v Wa- bash r Co, 85 Mo App 345 (1900 ) 98 Sa v age Mf g Co v Armstrong, 17 Me 34, 35 Am Dec 227 (1840); Brown v Dib- ble, 65 Mich 520, 32 N W 656 (1887); Southern Illinois, etc Bridge Co v Stone, 174 Mo 1, 73 S W453 (1902) ; 1 Chamb, E v , 627 and cases cite DA court may treat special charters incorporating persons to carry on certain business enterprises of a public or semi-public nature, as banking, Da v is v Bank of Fulton, 31 G A 69 (1860) ; Buell v Warner, 33 v t 570, 578 (1861); operating a railroad, street railway, or an electric ligh T Nelson v Narragansett Elec- tric Lighting Co, 26 r I 258, 58 Atl 802 (1904), or power plant, as within the range of judicial knowledge 99 Caldwell v Richmond R Y Co.

89 G A 550 (1892): Chicago, etc, r Co v Liebel, 27 K Y L Rep 716, 86 S W549 (1905); 1 Chamb.

E v , 628 and cases cite D1 Miller v MatthewS 87 Md 464, 40 Atl 176 (1898 ) It will be judicially known that a corporation, operating a canal in a na v iga- ble ri v er can acquire a fee in such property only by a grant from the legislatur E State v Portland General Kleotrio Co , 52 O r 502, 98 Pac 160, 9 O Pac 722 (1908 ) 2 Lexington Mf g Co v Dorr, 2 Lit T (K Y) 256 (1822 ) where v er they are notorious in the community or historical, in some general sens E 3 Mercantile Corporations; RailroadS Direct results of legislation as that railroad companies are common carriers 4 and, as such, ha v e certain duties to perform, 5 will be recognized by the court as a matter of law, i e, judicially know N The creation of a railroad company either as an original corporation, by charter or by certiticate under a general law,' 1 or as successor to another rail- road, 7 will be noticed judiciall Y A special charter incorporating a railroad will not be deemed a public statut E 8 Mercantile Corporations ; Street RailwayS The incorporation of a street railway by special charter is a direct result of a public statute of which the courts take judicial notic E It follows that the presiding judge will know that no special charter has been issued to a particular street railway compan Y 1 * Courts also judicially know the legal powers and duties conferred or imposed on such creations of law ; e g, that they are common carriers of passengerS 1 " Mercantile Corporations; Telegraph CompanieS Particular facts relating to telegraph companies, neither of general importance, nor a direct result of legal enactment, as that there are only two telegraph companies in the state, will not be treated as a matter of judicial knowledg E 11 Pri v ate Acts Made Publi C The legislature may order that certain acts, otherwise pri v ate, shall be treated as beiug publi C 12 This regulation may apply to pri v ate acts of a gi v en class, 1 -' 5 or to all pri v ate acts whate v er, 1 ' 1 or to 3 Ohio L InS, etc , to v Debolt, 16 Ho W 7 Atlanta & W P r Co v Atlanta, B & ( U S) 416, 435, 14 L e D997 (1853); A r Co, supr A State v Franklin County Sa v Bank, etc, Co, 8 Perry v K Co, 55 Al A 413, 426 (1876 ) 74 v t 246, 52 Atl 1069 (1002): 1 Chamb, Contra: Wright v Hawkins, 28 Te X 452, E v , 620 In the case of certain well-known 471 (1866 ) Where the legislature has pro- bodies notice will be taken that they are not v ided a system of assessing railroad taxes, organixed for business purposes Burdine v the fact that the railroads of the state ha v e Grand Lodge, 37 Al A 478 (1861), Free Ma- paid the taxes so assessed is judicially sonS Protection of workingmen is a public know N Gulf & : I r Co v Adams, 85 purpos E Thus statutory regulations of the Miss 772 38 So 348 (1905 ) duties due a ser v ant from his master are 9 American Steel & Wire Co v Bearse, 194 public in their natur E Squilac-he v Tide- Mass 506 80 X E 623 (1907); 1 Chamb, water Coal & Coke Co, 64 W v a 337, 62 E v , 631 and cases cite D S E 446 (1908 ) 10 Indianapolis St R Y Co v Ray, 167 4 all statutes except those which expressly declare themsel v es to be of a pri v ate natur E 15 Statutes of Sister State The law-making body of a jurisdiction may re- quire that the courts organized within it should know judicially the written constitution of public statutes of another state; 16 in which case the foreign law need not be introduced into E v idence 17 333 How Judicial Knowledge of Law is Acqu Ired 18 Knowledge of domes- tic law, being a judicial function, is beyond the tield of e v idence and the judge is not called upon to recei v e it when tendere D19 Constructi v ely, i e, in intend- ment of law, the judge already knows the la W Any assistance from without which he may require, or accepts from a party, or e v en from an arnicas curiae, is simply to refresh the judicial memor Y 20 This is commonly expressed by saying that the judge is " presumed to know the la W" 21 This is not a pre- sumption or inferenc E 22 It merely states a necessary principle of adminis- tration, v i Z ; that trials must proceed upon the basis or assumption that the judge knows the law, 23 although, in point of fact, he frequently does not know i T 24 A statute may in reality ha v e recently been passed and the court not know i T 25 In discharging his function of knowing the law, a judge need not make any in v estigation, or in v ite any assistanc E If he sees fit to do so the judge may examine into what the law is, in his own way; or he may require the assistance of the parties, and adjourn or continue the case until he gets i T 2ft Jf he decides to examine the matter for himself, he may resort to any source of information which he feels is calculated to aid hiM 2 ' 16 Mates v McCull Y 27 Miss 584 (1854); E v 635 and cases cite D"The ex- Lockhead v Berkeley Springs Waterworks, istence of a public act is determined etc, Co, 40 W v a 553, 21 S E 1031 (1895): by the judges themsel v es, who if there Miller v Johnston, 71 Ark 174, 72 S W 371 be any difficulty, are to make use of ancient (1903 ) copies, transcripts, hooks, pleadings or any 17 F E C'reelman Lumber Co v J A other memorial, to inform themsel v eS Lesh & Co, 73 Ark 16 S3 S W 320 (1004 ) Bowen v Missouri Pac Ky , snpr N The 18 I Chamber layn E E v idence fi35, 636 judge may resort to official documents in the 19 In re Howard Count Y 15 Kan 194 executi v e or legislati v e departments (Mare (1875) : 1 Chamb E v.

035 v State 5 Iowa 509 i 1857) : State v Stearns, 20 Lincoln v Rattell E 6 \Yend (X T Y) supr A.

Puckett v State, 71 Miss 192 14 475 (1831): Clegg v Le v y, 3 Camp B 166 So 452 (1893): seeking the most conclu- (1811 ) si v e, if a v ailable, Gardner v Barney, 6 WalL Foreign La W E v en in the absence of statutory requirement, judges fre- quently take or, perhaps, more properly, acquire judicial knowledge of such a law in the manner appropriate to a rule of domestic la W 28 He may consult text books, 29 or other authoritati v e printed or written statements,^ official deci- sions, 31 v olumes of statutes and the like; or any other source of information he may deem reliabl E 32 334 Judicial Knowledge of the Results of La W 33 The second and remain- ing branch of judicial knowledge properly so called, is a knowledge, cognizance, notice or whate v er may be the term preferred, of facts which are the direct result of la W This knowledge may, under some circumstances, be actual ; - as where a judge knows of the establishment of a county or other political di v ision of the State In most cases, howe v er, the knowledge is one of the im- puted, constructi v e kind characteristic of knowledge of the rules of law them- sel v es ; the sort of knowledge which one may be said to ha v e who is merely forbidden to say that he does not kno W A judge judicially knows that which is " matter of la W" The phrase is sufficiently elastic to co v er both the rules of law and such facts as laws directly establish.