Amendments to the Federal Rules: The Function of a Continuing Rules Committee

Authors

Charles A. Wright

First Page

521

Abstract

No development in American procedural history in the last century has exceeded in importance the adoption by the United States Supreme Court in 1938 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. These rules, the product of a distinguished Advisory Committee, introduced a system and a philosophy differing as markedly from the code pleading then in vogue as code pleading, in its day, had differed from common-law pleading. This new system has worked well in the federal courts, so well indeed as to stimulate a reexamination of procedure in many of the states, with nearly a dozen jurisdiction shaving already adopted the concepts introduced by the Federal Rules.

Changes in the Federal Rules are, therefore, of significance not limited to those who practice in the federal courts. The amendments are likely to be seriously considered by the states which have emulated the federal practice, and which may well wish to incorporate the new provisions in their local systems. The amendments are significant to states where groups are pressing for adoption of the Federal Rules. Indeed such amendments are of importance to lawyers everywhere who are interested in procedural reform.

Recommended Citation

Charles A. Wright, Amendments to the Federal Rules: The Function of a Continuing Rules Committee, 7 Vanderbilt Law Review 521 (1954)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol7/iss4/5