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312 Pa. Super. 383

458 A.2d 1012

Commonwealth v. Brown

Superior Court of Pennsylvania

Decided April 15, 1983

Superior Court of Pennsylvania · decided 1983-04-15

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently July 2013

8 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“In contemplating the forgery statute on its face, a conviction for forgery can be supported by the act of transferring a writing claiming to be the act of another. By handing the store clerk a credit card, signed by the complainant and without her permission, [Appellant] did transfer a writing which in this case is the complainant’s signature on the back of the credit card, while purporting to be the complainant. As will be described below, the fact that [Appellant] did present the complainant’s credit card in Banana Republic is strongly supported by circumstantial evidence. This in and of itself provides ample evidence to support a conviction for forgery. In addition, the court heard testimony of significant circumstantial evidence to support the forgery conviction based on an alternative section of the forgery statute that requires the [Appellant] execute (rather than transfer) a writing. It is reasonable for the court to take judicial notice of the fact that in 2011, when a credit card is used to make a purchase in a store, the purchaser must in some form, whether traditionally on paper, or electronically on a screen, provide a signature for their [sic] purchase. The doctrine of judicial notice for matters of common knowledge is an accepted matter of law in Pennsylvania and is “intended to avoid the necessity for the formal introduction of evidence in certain cases where there is no real need for it. — where a fact is so well established as to be a matter of common knowled”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 2013 Pa. Super. 172 - Commonwealth v. Williams

“(b) Kinds of Facts. A judicially noticed fact must be one not subject to reasonable dispute in that it is either (1) generally known within the territorial jurisdiction of the trial court or (2) capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be called in question. 5”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 424 Pa. Super. 350 - In the Interest of D.S.

Relies on Commonwealth v. Bigelow · Commonwealth v. Kaiser · Albert Appeal

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1983-04-15

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

HOFFMAN, Judge:

¶1Appellant contends that the lower court erred in taking judicial notice of the location of a particular interstate highway milepost. Because we find judicial notice inappropriate, and thus, the evidence insufficient to support the court’s jurisdiction, we must reverse the judgment of sentence and order appellant discharged.

¶2On April 26, 1980, appellant was stopped by a Pennsylvania State Trooper on Interstate 76 and cited for speeding and driving with an expired registration. Appellant was found guilty by the District Justice and took a de novo appeal to the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. At the non-jury trial, the trooper testified that he was positioned at mile post 290 on Route 76 when appellant entered the “zone of influence” of his stationary radar unit and was clocked at 72 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone. Appellant demurred to the Commonwealth case, arguing that it had not been established that he had committed the offense in Montgomery County. The lower court took judicial notice that milepost 290 was in Upper Merion *385Township, Montgomery County, and found appellant guilty. Following the denial of post-trial motions and the imposition of sentence,1 appellant took this appeal.

¶3Appellant contends that the lower court erred in taking judicial notice of the location of a milepost on an interstate highway. “The doctrine of judicial notice is intended to avoid the necessity for the formal introduction of evidence in certain cases when there is no real need for it,—where a fact is so well established as to be a matter of common knowledge.”2Albert Appeal, 372 Pa. 13, 20, 92 A.2d 663, 666 (1952); Commonwealth v. Varner, 265 Pa. Superior Ct. 329, 331, 401 A.2d 1235, 1236 (1979). See Haber v. Monroe County Vocational Tech. School, 296 Pa. Superior Ct. 54, 60, 442 A.2d 292, 296 (1982) (“so well known in the jurisdiction”); Siravo v. AAA Trucking Corp., 306 Pa. Superior Ct. 217, 220, 452 A.2d 521, 523 (1982) (“so well known and notorious throughout the community”). Courts have properly taken judicial notice of the location within a particular county of cities and towns, see Emert v. Larami, 414 Pa. 396, 200 A.2d 901 (1964) (Perkasie within Bucks County), townships, see Commonwealth v. Kaiser, 184 Pa. 493, 39 A. 299 (1898) (Upper Merion Township within Montgomery County), streets, see Schmidt v. Allegheny County, 303 Pa. 560, 154 A. 803 (1931) (location of highway); Commonwealth v. Bigelow, 250 Pa. Superior Ct. 330, 378 A.2d 961 (1977), aff'd. 484 Pa. 476, 399 A.2d 392 (1979) (“Germantown and Venango” streets within Philadelphia), and public arenas, see Commonwealth v. Varner, supra(Shippensburg Fair Grounds within Franklin County). We cannot agree with the lower court, however, that the exact location of a single milepost on an interstate highway is a proper subject for judicial notice. Although conceivably known by the lower court, the milepost’s location can hardly be said to be *386“notorious throughout the community,” Siravo v. AAA Trucking Co., supra, or “a matter of common knowledge,” Albert Appeal, supra.Accordingly, the lower court erred in taking judicial notice of the location of the offense. Because the Commonwealth failed to present sufficient evidence of the venue of the offense, we must reverse the judgment of sentence and order appellant discharged.

¶4Judgment of sentence reversed and appellant discharged.

ROWLEY, J., files a dissenting statement.

¶5. Appellant was fined $59 for speeding and $25 for driving with an expired registration.

¶6. We note that Pennsylvania has not adopted the Federal Rules of Evidence’s alternate basis for judicially noticing facts, i.e., those “capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.” F.R.E. 201(b).

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