Rule 44.1 Determination of Foreign Law

If you want to bring up the law of another country in your case, you have to tell the other side ahead of time. You can do this in your written court papers or through some other reasonable written notice. This gives everyone a fair chance to prepare, instead of springing foreign law on the other side at the last minute.

When the judge needs to figure out what a foreign country's law actually says, the judge has a lot of freedom in how to do that. The judge can look at almost any helpful source, including expert testimony, court documents, or other written materials. This is true even if the source would normally not be allowed as evidence under standard evidence rules. The goal is to let the judge get an accurate picture of the foreign law, even if that means using less typical types of evidence.

Once the judge decides what the foreign law means, that decision counts as a ruling on a legal question, not a factual one. This matters because legal rulings and factual findings get treated differently if someone appeals the case later. Judges, not juries, handle these decisions about foreign law.