United States Federal Rules of Civil Procedure · United States Federal Rules of Evidence

Author: Translator: Bai Lüxuán et al. Editor-in-Chief: Li Shichun et al.
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features:
Fragment: 2. Codification Period of State Laws: The codification of civil procedure laws in state civil procedure systems began with New York State's adoption of the Civil Procedure Code in 1848. The New York State Civil Procedure Code was the result of David Dudley Field's persistent efforts in the movement for codification. The code merged common law and equity court procedures and abolished complex pleading forms and the system of responsive pleadings, thereby significantly simplifying civil litigation procedures. The New York State Civil Procedure Code was the first unified procedural law in the history of common law to be formally enacted through legislation. Since then, most states have followed New York State's example, successively adopting their own civil procedure codes.
3. Period of the Federal Civil Procedure Rules: In the past, the United States had a unified federal court system, but due to the lack of a unified procedural law for federal courts, federal courts applied the common law and equity procedures of the state in which they were located when adjudicating cases. This severely impacted the civil adjudication work of federal courts. Therefore, based on the experience of state codification following New York State's adoption of the Civil Procedure Code, the U.S. Supreme Court studied and formulated procedural rules for federal courts, which led to the promulgation of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for the U.S. District Courts in 1938, thereby unifying the civil litigation procedures of the U.S. federal court system. The unification of federal civil procedure rules strongly promoted the states' direction toward unification.
(II) Main Content of the Federal Civil Procedure Rules
The Federal Civil Procedure Rules consist of 11 chapters and 86 articles, with their main content divided into four parts:
Part One, Chapters 1 to 4 (Articles 1 to 26) govern the commencement of litigation, the content of pleadings and motions, and the joinder of parties and claims;
Part Two, Chapter 5 (Discovery Procedures) (Articles 27 to 37);
Part Three, Chapters 6 to 7 (Trial and Judgment) (Articles 38 to 63);
Part Four, Chapters 8 to 11 (Temporary Restraint of Property, Clerk, and Other Related Matters) (Articles 64 to 86).
Although the Federal Civil Procedure Rules can be considered a codified civil procedure code, it is not a systematic code in the sense of civil law systems, which have both general and specific provisions. Instead, it is based on the case law of common law, summarizes the experience of traditional case law, and places particular emphasis on the specific provisions for reforming and simplifying pre-trial pleading procedures, methods of discovery, and the procedures and standards for parties to file various motions. As for trial procedures, they are largely based on established practices with little reform, and many trial procedures remain unspecified, relying on established customs for adjudication.
The U.S. Supreme Court's promulgation of the Federal Civil Procedure Rules serves as the standard procedural rules for civil litigation in U.S. District Courts. Federal District Courts may establish local civil procedure rules for their own jurisdictions, provided they do not conflict with these rules.
U.S. civil law scholars regard the Federal Civil Procedure Rules as the second major milestone in the development of U.S. civil procedure law after the New York State Civil Procedure Code of 1848, primarily because of the following two major contributions: