MEMO
TO: Joint Procedure Committee
FROM: Mike Hagburg
DATE: April 7, 2008
RE: Rule 1, N.D.R.Crim.P., Scope and Exceptions
Jean Delaney of the Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigents informed staff by e-mail that Rule 1 contained a reference to a repealed code chapter on paternity actions. A copy of her email is attached.
N.D.C.C. ch. 14-17 was repealed in 2005. It was replaced by N.D.C.C. ch. 14-20, the Uniform Parentage Act. A copy of the new chapter is attached.
Paternity actions were specifically excluded from falling under the Rules of Criminal Procedure to clarify their status. Under the procedure of the distant past, they once could have been brought in a criminal context.
It is staff's opinion that paternity actions are now wholly civil under N.D.C.C. ch. 14-20. Therefore, staff has prepared a proposed draft of Rule 1 that excludes paternity actions from the exceptions portion of the rule. The Rule 1 proposal is attached.