MEMO
TO: Joint Procedure Committee
FROM: Mike Hagburg
RE: Rule 1, N.D.R.Civ.P., Scope and Purpose of Rules
The United States Supreme Court has approved the form and style amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Absent congressional intervention, the amendments will take effect Dec. 1, 2007.
In previous years, the Committee reviewed the Rules of Appellate Procedure and the Rules of Criminal Procedure and made amendments to the these rule sets consistent with federal form and style amendments. It has been the Committee's practice to review the rule sets in their entirety and send proposed form and style amendments to the Supreme Court in a separate package.
Staff has prepared amendments to Rule 1 consistent with the federal form and style amendments. The amendments are intended make the rule more easily understood and to make style and terminology consistent throughout the rules. The amendments also aim to modernize the rule, removing references to obsolete authority and practices.