Rule 44.Proof of Official Record.

Rule 44 lets a party prove that an official record says what it says without dragging the record-keeper into court or producing a fragile original. Instead of live testimony, a certified or attested copy — or an official published version — stands in for the record itself.

The certification chain depends on where the record lives. If it’s kept in Rhode Island or elsewhere in the United States, a copy attested by the officer who has legal custody of it, or that officer’s deputy, is enough. If the record sits outside Rhode Island but still within the United States or a U.S. territory or insular possession, a judge of a court of record in that district or political subdivision must certify, under the court’s seal, that the officer really does have custody — or a public officer with duties there can certify it under the seal of that officer’s own office. If the record is kept in a foreign country, the certifying officer must be a diplomatic or consular official stationed there — a secretary of embassy or legation, a consul general, consul, vice consul, or consular agent, or another officer in the foreign service of the United States stationed there — with that officer’s seal attached.

Rule 44 also covers the opposite situation: proving that a record does not exist. A written statement from the custodian, or deputy, saying that a diligent search turned up no matching record is admissible to show the office contains no such record or entry. If the office is outside Rhode Island, that statement needs the same certificate the rule requires for authenticating a copy.

None of this forecloses other ways to prove an official record. Rule 44 offers a convenient path, not the exclusive one — a party may still prove a record, an entry, or the lack of one through any other method a statute or other law allows.