Also known as: know · knows · knew · known · knowing · actual knowledge · constructive knowledge
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Awareness of a fact or circumstance that carries legal consequences in a given context. The standard often requires actual awareness rather than mere suspicion or negligence unless the governing rule specifies constructive knowledge.
Kyle Knight set fire to a neighbor's shed after hearing voices that commanded the act. At trial he introduced psychiatric evidence that a disease of the mind had left him unable to recognize the act as wrongful under societal standards. The jury acquitted him because the evidence established the required lack of knowledge at the time of the conduct.
Kai Kwon contracted to sell land to Kiana Kwan. A recorded easement benefiting a third party appeared in the chain of title. Kiana refused to close, asserting that a reasonably prudent purchaser with full knowledge of the encumbrance would reject the title. The court permitted rescission because the defect rendered title unmarketable.
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Kwame Kofi sued the wrong corporate defendant. After the limitations period expired he amended the complaint to name the correct entity. The new defendant had received timely notice of the suit and knew the action would have been brought against it but for the mistaken identity. The amendment related back under the rule.
Karina Kovacs asked the court to take judicial notice that the county courthouse stood at a particular downtown intersection. The location was generally known within the trial court's territorial jurisdiction and could be confirmed by undisputed public records. The judge granted the request without requiring formal proof.
Kelvin Kimura moved to recuse the presiding judge in a contract dispute. The judge had witnessed the key negotiation meeting and therefore possessed personal knowledge of facts that remained in dispute. The court granted the motion and reassigned the case.
Krypton Industries hired a former agency lawyer who had obtained confidential government data about a competitor during public service. The firm accepted representation adverse to that competitor in a matter where the data could be used to the competitor's disadvantage. Screening measures were required to avoid violation of the rule.
Yes. A defendant must lack the capacity to recognize that society regards the conduct as wrong, not merely hold a personal belief that the act is morally justified.
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A buyer may refuse if the title is unmarketable, meaning a reasonably prudent purchaser with full knowledge of the facts would not accept it.
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The new party must show it knew or should have known that the action would have been brought against it but for a mistake concerning the proper party's identity.
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A court may notice a fact that is generally known within the trial court's territorial jurisdiction.
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A judge must recuse when the judge has personal knowledge of facts that are in dispute in the proceeding.
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A former government lawyer may not represent a private client adverse to a person about whom the lawyer knows confidential government information if the information could be used to that person's material disadvantage.
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…State's important and legitimate interest in the health of the mother, the "compelling" point, in the light of present medical knowledge, is at approximately the end of the first trimester. This is so because of the now-established medical fact, referred to above at 149, that until the end of the first trimester mortality in…