Newsroom

Plain-Language Rewrite of Federal
Civil Court Rules Wins Award

May 31, 2007 — A project aimed at making the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure easier to read and comprehend has won a 2007 "Reform in Law" award.

The newly rewritten rules represent a four-year effort by federal judges, practicing lawyers, law professors, and a drafting consultant. The refashioned rules were approved by the Supreme Court and sent to Congress, and are scheduled to take effect December 1, 2007.

The civil rules - more than 300 pages as approved by the Supreme Court - date back to 1937, and never had been completely rewritten since. The rules govern the procedure in all federal trial courts, and are relied on by thousands of judges and lawyers.

The award, part of a program run in association with the Library of Congress and the Law Library of Congress, names creations of the Judicial Conference of the United States as recipients: the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules; the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure; and law professor Joseph Kimble, who served as drafting consultant.

"Our goal was to make the rules clearer, more readable, and more consistent without changing the substantive meaning," said U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal, who chairs the Advisory Committee.

Here's one example:

Old: The practice as herein prescribed governs in actions involving the exercise of power of eminent domain under the law of a state, provided that if the state law makes provision for trial of any issue by jury, or for trial of the issue of compensation by jury or commission or both, that provision shall be followed.

New: This rule governs an action involving eminent domain under state law. But if state law provides for trying an issue by jury - or for trying the issue of compensation by jury or commission or both - that law governs.