Court Opinion

ID: 9617131
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:52:27.534221+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:06.236502
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
On motion for rehearing, sought as to the ruling in Division 2 of the opinion, the appellee has for the first time urged that Code Ann. § 38-112 authorizes judicial cognizance of"... the laws of the United States and of the several States thereof, as published by authority. . .” As stated in the opinion, however, the record and transcript are devoid of evidence of the laws of South Carolina relating to jurisdiction over nonresidents, and, prior to the enactment of the Civil Practice Act, the law was settled that "... judicial notice or recognition of . . . [foreign] laws will not occur unless the laws of the sister state are produced to the court 'as published by authority’ [Cit.]” (Emphasis supplied.) Sherman Stubbs Realty &c. v. Am. Institute of Marketing Systems, 117 Ga. App. 829, 833 (162 SE2d 240). This requirement was modified by the enactment of Code Ann. § 81 A-143 (c) which requires that "[a] party who intends to raise an issue concerning the law of another State or of a foreign Country shall give notice in his pleadings or other reasonable written notice.”
The notice pleading philosophy of the Civil Practice Act places upon the party intending to rely upon the laws of another state the responsibility of providing the opponent (as well as the court) with notice of such intent. As aptly observed in Souchak v. Close, 132 Ga. App. 248, 251 (207 SE2d 708): "To hold otherwise on motion for summary judgment, could very well require the movant not only to prove that there were no material issues in the *38case under Georgia law, but also to prove the law of every other jurisdiction, and show that the laws of these states were not applicable either.” See White Farm Equip. Co. v. Jarrell &c. Co., 139 Ga. App. 632 (229 SE2d 113). We further observe that the notice requirements of Code Ann. § 81 A-143(c) are essential to the determination of the trial court, as well as the appellate court. Here the responsibility of raising the issue concerning the law of South Carolina was upon the appellee, who now attempts to raise the issue, but failed to give the requirement notice.

Motion for rehearing denied.