at 250 (Cairns J, Sir Jocelyn Simon P agreeing at 252). In part, that has been attributed to the nature of the factual enquiry, where a judge is able to use legal skills and experience in the understanding and evaluation of the evidence as to foreign law, particularly where the foreign law is that of another common law jurisdiction which adopts a similar approach to the question in issue: see Perry v Lopag Trust Reg [2023] UKPC 16; [2023] 1 WLR 3494 at [10] and [12] (Lord Hodge DPSC for the Board).
135 However, because foreign law is a question of fact, it is not for the judge to undertake independent investigations to ascertain the primary content of foreign law. The judge has a "duty of deciding the question on the actual evidence given in the particular case": Lazard Brothers at 298 (Lord Wright). This has the result that the body of material available is confined to what is in evidence. There may be gaps in the evidence. If there is some gap, the presumption that foreign law is the same as the law of the forum may come into play. This principle has been held to enable a judge to apply the rules of statutory construction of the forum to a foreign statute, where there was no evidence of the content of those rules in the foreign jurisdiction: F & K Jabbour v Custodian of Israeli Absentee Property [1954] 1 WLR 139 at 147–8 (Pearson J), cited in Neilson at [125].
136 In relation to the rules of statutory construction, I accept that the starting point in Nevada is the plain meaning rule. Both Mr Bogatz and Mr Pyle gave evidence to this effect. The plain meaning rule involves giving a statute its plain meaning in the absence of ambiguity, or some clear reason to do otherwise, such as where the plain meaning was clearly not intended: McKay v Board of Supervisors 102 Nev 644 at 648 (1986); Cote H. I also accept the evidence of Mr Bogatz that the principles of construction in Nevada include those that I set out at [70]. In the general terms in which those principles were expressed, they were not disputed by Mr Pyle, who was asked to review Mr Bogatz's report. I find that these principles, which are essentially emanations of basic linguistic canons of construction, apply to the ascertainment of meaning, whether or not there is an ambiguity. Where there is an ambiguity, I accept that the principles identified in Chanos that I extracted at [65] above are applicable. Again, the general terms of those principles were not disputed by Mr Pyle.
137 With those principles in mind, I turn now to the resolution of disputed issues arising from the evidence of Mr Bogatz and Mr Pyle, which will involve assessing the weight that I should give to contentious aspects of their evidence.
