Section 60 of Evidence Act CAP 80: Facts of which court shall take judicial notice
(1) The courts shall take judicial notice of the following facts—
(a) all written laws, and all laws, rules and principles, written or unwritten, having the force of law, whether in force or having such force as aforesaid before, at or after the commencement of this Act, in any part of Kenya;
(b) the general course of proceedings and privileges of Parliament, but not the transactions in their journals;
(c) Articles of War for the Kenya Military Forces;
(d) Deleted by L.N. 22/1965;
(e) the public seal of Kenya; the seals of all the courts of Kenya; and all seals which any person is authorized by any written law to use;
(f) the accession to office, names, titles, functions and signatures of public officers, if the fact of their appointment is notified in the Gazette;
(g) the existence, title and national flag of every State and Sovereign recognized by the Government;
(h) natural and artificial divisions of time, and geographical divisions of the world, and public holidays;
(i) the extent of the territories comprised in the Commonwealth;
(j) the commencement, continuance and termination of hostilities between Kenya and any other State or body of persons;
(k) the names of the members and officers of the court and of their deputies, subordinate officers and assistants, and of all officers acting in execution of its process, and also of all advocates and other persons authorized by law to appear or act before it;
(l) the rule of the road on land or at sea or in the air;
(m) the ordinary course of nature;
(n) the meaning of English words;
(o) all matters of general or local notoriety;
(p) all other matters of which it is directed by any written law to take judicial notice.
(2) In all cases within subsection (1) of this section, and also on all matters of public history, literature, science or art, the court may resort for its aid to appropriate books or documents of reference.
(3) If the court is called upon by any person to take judicial notice of any fact, it may refuse to do so unless and until such person produces any such book or document as it considers necessary to enable it to do so.
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- Section 75 - Proof of document not required to be attested
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- Section 76 - Comparison of signatures, seals, etc.
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- Section 81 - Proof by certified copies
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- Section 82 - Proof of certain public documents
Without prejudice to any other mode of proof, prima facie evidence of the following public documents may be given in the manner hereinafter shown, that is to say—
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- Section 94 - Telegraphic messages
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- Section 95 - Presumption as to due execution, etc.
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- Section 100 - Evidence to show inapplicability
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- Section 101 - Evidence to explain a latent ambiguity
When language used in a document is plain, but is unmeaning in reference to existing facts, evidence may be given to show that it was used in a peculiar sense.
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