Library & Technology

Court Rules

NOTE: Due to the 2007-2008 renovation project, much of the Law Library book collection is in storage and inaccessible. Consult the online catalog to determine the availability of a particular title listed in these guides, or contact a reference librarian for assistance.

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I. Introduction

Court rules govern procedures for the conduct of business in the courts. They encompass such matters as time limitations, pleadings allowed, and grounds for appeal. Each jurisdiction has its own procedure for how court rules are promulgated, which is generally some combination of legislative and court action.

In general, both federal and state courts are governed by statutory law which establishes the powers and jurisdiction of the courts and some procedural matters. In addition, courts are usually authorized by these statutes to adopt rules which further define procedures and processes of the courts. In many jurisdictions the courts issue proposed rules that become effective subject to timely repeal by the legislature. Rules that are validly adopted have the same legal effect as statutory law.

The terminology of court rules is often inconsistent and confusing. Court rules may be referred to as “rules of procedure” or “rules of court”. The term often encompasses both the statutory codes of procedure as well as the rules adopted by the courts. There are rules that apply generally to all types of courts, specific rules for each type of court and local rules or internal operating procedures for a particular court location. The terminology is not usually important, but you do need to be aware of the various layers that may apply to the court you are researching.

II. Federal Court Rules

A. Statutory Authority

In the federal system, the Supreme Court of the United States promulgates court rules for itself and the lower federal courts by virtue of 28 U.S.C. ' 2072. As a matter of practice, rules are drafted by committees of the Judicial Conference of the United States, approved by the Judicial Conference and then submitted to the Supreme Court for adoption. Rules must be submitted to Congress by May 1 in order to become effective on December 1; however, Congress need not take action for the rules to become effective. Courts of appeals and the federal district courts have been empowered by 28 U.S.C. ' 2071 to make their own separate rules, not inconsistent with the general rules developed for them by the Supreme Court.

B. Locating Federal Rules: General Sources

There are several general sources which contain the text of most of the types of federal rules described below.  The unannotated texts are: Cyclopedia of Federal Procedure (Prac. & Proc. KF8716.4 .C95), Federal Procedure Rules Service (Prac. & Proc. KF8835 .F431), West's Federal Civil Judicial Procedure and Rules (Reserve: KF8816 .A19), and West's Federal Criminal Code and Rules (Reserve: KF 9606 .U57).  The West publications are annual handbooks designed for courtroom use by the practicing attorney.  These publications are referred to as the "general sources" in the remainder of this guide.

Federal rules may also be located on Lexis and Westlaw (see Section IV for details) and linked from the Federal Judiciary home page (http://www.uscourts.gov/rules/index.html).

1. Rules of General Application (F.R.C.P., F.R. App. P., F.R. Crim. P., F.R.E.)

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (F.R.C.P.), the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (F.R. App. P.), and the Federal Rules of Evidence (F.R.E.) are published in the official U.S. Code (Federal Alcove), in the appendix to Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure. 

Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (F.R. Crim. P.) are published in the U.S. Code’s appendix to Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure. 

Annotated versions of these rules are available in both unofficial versions of the Code, United States Code Annotated (Federal Alcove and Westlaw) and United States Code Service (Federal Alcove and Lexis).  In U.S.C.A., rules appear in the appendix following the title; in U.S.C.S., rules are housed in separate volumes near the end of the set.

In addition to the general sources listed in section B, these rules are all reprinted in Moore's Federal Practice: Rules Pamphlet (Reserve KF8816 .M66) and U.S. Supreme Court Digest, L.Ed., vols. 17-22.  These sources contain historical notes, Advisory Committee comments and annotations to the federal civil and criminal rules.

2. Rules for the U.S. Supreme Court

The rules of the U.S. Supreme Court can be found in many places, including the general sources noted in section B. In the official code, the rules are published in Title 28, Appendix of the U.S. Code. The annotated rules are in Title 28 of U.S.C.A., in a separate ACourt Rules@ volume at the end of U.S.C.S. and in volume 17 of U.S. Supreme Court Digest, L.Ed. Current rules are also available at the Court’s web site (http://www.supremecourtus.gov/ctrules/ctrules.html)

3. Local Court Rules for Federal Courts

Individual lower federal courts issue their own rules governing local practice.  These rules generally concern the operation of the court and often supplement the rules of general application.  Some courts of appeal also have internal operating procedures which supplement their local court rules. Use the following sources to find local rules:

Federal Rules Service, AFederal Local Court Rules@ volumes (KF8816 .A2 U55).  This is the most comprehensive source for district court and courts of appeals local rules and internal operating procedures nationwide.  It is supplemented regularly as amendments and new rules are issued.

Court rule handbooks published for individual states will include the local rules of the federal district courts in that state, as well as the circuit court of appeals for that jurisdiction.  Annual handbooks are published by West for many states and other publishers also do this for selected states.  These are located with the state codes (Level 3).  For example, North Carolina Rules of Court (Reserve), published by West, is divided into 2 volumes - one for rules of the North Carolina state courts and one for the local rules of the federal district courts in North Carolina and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.  North Carolina General Statutes, Annotated Rules of North Carolina (NC Alcove and Reserve) published by Michie, contains annotated state court rules and unannotated federal rules for these same courts.

Court rules are also frequently published on the websites of the individual court or court systems. The Emory Law Library Federal Courts Finder (http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDCTS/) provides links to each of the Federal Circuit Courts, the United State Supreme Court and other federal courts with limited jurisdiction.

4. Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction and Special Proceedings

Congress has established several federal courts with limited jurisdiction in specific subject areas.  Their rules of court are published in U.S.C., U.S.C.A., and U.S.C.S.  The court rules volumes of U.S.C.S. are probably the most convenient source.  These volumes include the rules, forms, and annotations for the following courts:  the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (formerly called the Claims Court and before that the Court of Claims), and the U.S. Court of International Trade.  Rules of Practice and Procedure of the U.S. Tax Court and Rules of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, Military Courts of Criminal Appeals, and the Court of Veterans Appeals are also included.  There is a separate volume of bankruptcy rules and forms.

Rules for courts of limited jurisdictions are also frequently published on the website of the individual court. Use the Emory Law Library Federal Courts Finder (http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDCTS/) to locate the site for a particular court.

Rules of procedure for the trial of misdemeanors before U.S. magistrates, supplemental rules for admiralty and maritime claims, rules governing multi-district litigation, and rules governing habeas corpus proceedings are included in the West federal handbooks and other general sources listed in section B.

5. Rules of Practice for Quasi-Judicial Agencies

Rules of practice before federal agencies are published in the Federal Register (current year in Federal Alcove; previous years on microfiche & in HeinOnline, http://library.duke.edu/metasearch/db/id/DUK00693). Eventually the Federal Register is cumulated into the Code of Federal Regulations (Federal Alcove; prior years on microfiche & in HeinOnline, http://library.duke.edu/metasearch/db/id/DUK00693).  U.S.C.S. Administrative Rules of Procedure, a 5 volume unit of U.S.C.S., contains rules for the conduct of proceedings before the major federal agencies.

Commercially published looseleaf services (see Bluebook Table 15 for a list) are another source for agency rules and regulations.  Both substantive regulations and rules of practice and procedure are usually included.  Check the "How to Use" section of the service for information about what is included.

Pike & Fischer's Administrative Law (KF5401.A56 P54 3rd) contains materials on the procedural aspects of practice before federal agencies.

C. Researching Federal Rules

1. Proposed and Recent Amendments

The text of rules promulgated by the Supreme Court with Judicial Conference Advisory Committee notes can be found in the advance sheets to the West Supreme Court Reporter, Federal Reporter, Federal Supplement and Federal Rules Decisions and also in U.S. Law Week (Index Tables & in BNA Publications, http://library.duke.edu/metasearch/db/id/DUK02057).  The monthly pamphlets for United States Code Congressional Administrative News (Federal Alcove & Westlaw) also include amendments for specialized federal courts and administrative tribunals.  

2. Locating Decisions Construing Court Rules

The text of court decisions construing rules of procedure are usually printed in the same reports that cover court decisions generally, and can be found using traditional case finding research methods.  Two additional sources for decisions construing federal court rules are:

Federal Rules Decisions (F.R.D.) (Level 3).  This unit of West's National Reporter System contains decisions of the federal district courts since 1940 construing rules of civil procedure, and decisions since 1946 construing rules of criminal procedure.  Decisions printed are only those not printed in the Federal Reporter or the Federal Supplement.  Articles about the courts and federal procedure are also included.  The permanent bound volumes of F.R.D. contain many documents from the legislative history for federal rules.

Federal Rules Service (KF8816 .A198).  This looseleaf service focuses entirely on decisions construing rules of civil procedure.  It includes three useful sections: (1) Federal Rules Service volumes contain the text of all federal court decisions construing federal rules of civil procedure.  Indexing is from the beginning of the service in 1939.  Since 1968, cases construing rules of appellate procedure are also included; (2) Federal Rules Digest contains digests of the decisions in an arrangement based on the official rule numbers, and editorial comments; (3) the Finding Aids volume includes the text of the rules, a subject index, and a table of cases.

Citations to decisions can also be found: (1) in annotated rules compilations such as U.S.C.A. and U.S.C.S.;  (2) as references in secondary sources such as Wright and Miller's Federal Practice and Procedure described below; and (3) by Shepardizing.

Tables of Statutes Construed.  These tables in all units of the National Reporter System cover the interpretation of court rules.  Check the advance sheets for citations to very recent decisions.  Each table covers only the cases in that volume. 

3. Shepardizing Court Rules

Use Shepard's Federal Rules Citations (Shepard's Table) for federal court rules.  Use the state Shepard's (currently only available for North Carolina in print at the Law Library) for citations to both federal and state court rules.  Court rules are treated as statutes in Shepard's Citations, so amendments to and repeals of rules are noted as well as citations to decisions citing the rules. 

The online version of Shepard=s is now available only on Lexis.  To Shepardize a court rule, select the Shepardize function and enter the rule or statute you wish to Shepardize, e.g. FRE 1001 to Shepardize Rule 1001 of the Federal Rules of Evidence.

The Westlaw equivalent to Shepard=s is KeyCite.  To update a specific rule or statute in Westlaw use the KeyCite function, e.g., FRE 1001 will display the citations to Federal Rule of Evidence 1001.

4. Finding Discussion of the Federal Rules

Several multi-volume sets discuss the practice and procedure of federal courts.  They usually contain the text of the rules followed by analysis, and citations to court decisions.  Often they are cross-referenced to companion sets of form books.

Two treatises are:  Wright and Miller's Federal Practice and Procedure (Reserve: KF 9619.W7; also available on Westlaw: FPP) and Moore's Federal Practice (Reserve; also available on Lexis: MOORES), cross-referenced to Bender's Federal Practice Forms (Prac. & Proc. KF8836 .B45) (This resource is no longer updated in print but is available on Lexis: FDPRAC).  These multi volume sets include textual commentary on the rules and on practice under the rules, numerous case and law review citations, forms, detailed indexing and other finding aids.  Both sets are arranged basically in rule number order.  Emphasis is on the needs of the bar and bench.  Even though these commentaries are secondary sources, they are widely cited in cases, in addition to serving as research tools.

Other useful sets for commentary on federal practice are: Federal Procedure Lawyers Edition (Prac. & Proc. KF8835 .F43 1981) and its companion set Federal Procedural Forms, Lawyers Edition (Prac. & Proc. KF8836 .F4); and Cyclopedia of Federal Procedure (Prac. & Proc. KF8716.4 .C95) and its companion set Nichol's Cyclopedia of Federal Procedure Forms (Prac. & Proc. KF8716.4 .C951; also available on Westlaw: NICHOLS-LF).

For a guide to the jurisdictional and procedural operations of the Supreme Court use the one volume treatise Stern, Gressman and Shapiro, Supreme Court Practice (9th ed. 2007)  (Reserve KF9057 .S8 2007).  It includes checklists, sample forms and all pertinent rules and statutes.  West's Federal Forms, Supreme Court, vols. I and 1A (Prac. & Proc. KF8836 .W4; also available on Westlaw: FEDFORMS) is another useful source.  For the federal courts of appeal, use Stern, Appellate Practice in the United States, (2d ed. 1989) (Reserve: KF9050 .S75 1989).

For discussion of the Federal Rules of Evidence, try the general federal practice sources above, as well as the Federal Rules of Evidence Service (KF8933 .F42), which contains the text of the rules with editorial notes, digest volumes, and reporter volumes.  The reporter volumes contain decisions of federal courts and agencies interpreting the rules. Weinstein's Federal Evidence:  Commentary on Rules of Evidence for the United States Courts (Reserve KF8933 .W45 1997) is now a looseleaf set which also includes tables of cases and statutes, an author/title index and a subject index.  There is also a version of Weinstein’s Evidence for student use that can be found in the general library stacks (KF8935 .W4 2003). Other major treatises on the law of evidence are Wigmore on Evidence (Reserve KF8935 .W55 1985) and McCormick on Evidence (6th ed. 2006) (Reserve  KF8935 .M131 2006; also available on Westlaw: MCMK-EVID).

Useful subject headings to begin a search in the library's online catalog are: Civil Procedure--United States; Criminal Procedure--United States; Evidence (Law)--United States; Trial Practice--United States; Courts--United States; and Court Rules--United States.

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III. State Court Rules

Each state has court rules governing the operation of its courts.  Since 1939, many states have adopted rules of procedure modeled after the federal rules, and many states have patterned their rules of evidence after the federal rules since those were adopted.

Volume 10 of Uniform Laws Annotated (Prac. & Proc. KF 879.A45 U51; also on Westlaw: ULA) contains the texts of the Uniform Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Model Penal Code.  There are also comments by the National Conference's Special Committee on Uniform Rules of Criminal Procedure and numerous law review cites. 

Volume 13A contains the Uniform Rules of Evidence, with official comments of the National Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.  Annotations from state and federal courts, state variations from the official text, and other library references are also included.

A. Locating State Court Rules

More than half of the states publish rules in their statutory compilations.  West publishes separate paperbound volumes of court rules for many states, including North Carolina.  These West handbook editions generally include the current rules of court governing state and federal practice in the state; rules governing the practice of law; and rules concerning judicial conduct.  Rules of evidence may also be included.  State court rules can be found following the code for that state (Level 3).  Adoption of changes and updates to state rules can often be found in the state (and West regional) reporters. 

Rules are frequently available on the web sites of the state’s court system or legislature. The North Carolina General Assembly (http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/statutes/statutes.html) provides access to the General Statutes, which contain the Annotated Rules of North Carolina.  In addition, the North Carolina Administrative Offices of the Court (http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/html/rules.htm) provides access to the rules of appellate procedure, state bar rules, and general rules of practice for superior and district courts.

To quickly link to court systems and legislatures of other states, visit the University of Michigan’s State Legal Sources on the Web (http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/statelaw.html).

B. Locating Decisions Construing the Rules

State rules of court are sometimes published in the annotated editions of the state's statutes with citations to decisions construing the rules.  Shepardizing will also lead to decisions.

Over half the states have adopted evidence rules based on the Federal Rules of Evidence.  Weinstein's Evidence (Reserve KF8933 .W45 1997) includes a chart of states that have adopted the rules, textual analysis of each state's provisions, and case citations.  Shepard's state citators generally do not include the state's evidence rules.

C. Finding Discussion of State Rules

Treatises on state civil and criminal procedure and rules of evidence are available for many states.  Treatises usually include commentary and case citations and may include comparisons of state and federal rules.  Search the library's online catalog under these subject entries:  Court Rules - North Carolina (or other state); Civil Procedure - North Carolina; Criminal Procedure - North Carolina;  Evidence (Law) - North Carolina.

In North Carolina, several of the most useful treatises are:

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IV. Researching Court Rules on Lexis/Nexis

The text and annotations for most of the rules are available online through Lexis and Westlaw.

On Lexis, the GENFED library, RULES file contains the rules of all types of federal courts.  Separate files are also available for specific rules; e.g., FRCP for the Rules of Civil Procedure, FRAP for the Rules of Appellate Procedure and SUPRUL for the Rules of the Supreme Court.  The rules on Lexis are derived from U.S.C.S.  In addition to searching for rules, on Lexis you can display a rule by using the LEXSTAT function, e.g., USCS FRCP R 23 will display Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.

Westlaw's general federal rule file is US-RULES. To display a specific rule in Westlaw, use the FIND function, e.g., FI FRCP 23 will display Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 or the LOCATE function,  e.g., LO FREV 802 will display Federal Rule of Evidence 802..  You can also conduct a cite field search to limit the results to particular rules, e.g. "ci(frcp & 23)."  The rules on Westlaw are from U.S.C.A.

The court rules for all 50 states are also available online through Westlaw and Lexis.  In Westlaw the file for a particular state is XX-RULES, where XX is the two letter postal abbreviation, e.g., NC-RULES for North Carolina.  The file includes the local federal district court and bankruptcy court rules.  Updates to both state and federal rules are in the XX-ORDERS databases. To access the state court rules in LEXIS, use the CODES Library and the XXRULE File, where XX is the two letter postal abbreviation.

You can search the courts databases on both services for opinions interpreting or discussing the rules.  Use the rule number as a search term, together with the name of the rules and the standard abbreviation for the rules.  For example, to find cases discussing Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 on Lexis use: (Rule of Civil Procedure or F.R.Civ.P or F.R.C.P) w/5 23; on Westlaw use: ("Rule of Civil Procedure" or "F.R.Civ.P." or "F.R.C.P.") /5 23.

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Rev. 04/2008 Jennifer L. Behrens