Legal Definitions - letters rogatory

Definition: "Letters rogatory" is a legal term that refers to a request made by a court in one country to a court in another country for assistance in a legal matter. The request is usually made to help with serving legal documents or obtaining evidence that is located in the foreign country.

For example, if a court in Germany needs to obtain testimony from a witness who lives in the United States, they may send a letter rogatory to a U.S. court asking for their help in taking the witness's testimony and providing a transcript to the German court.

Example: A court in France needs to serve legal documents to a person who lives in Japan. The French court sends a letter rogatory to a Japanese court asking for their help in serving the documents to the person in Japan.

This example illustrates how a letter rogatory can be used to request assistance from a foreign court in serving legal documents.