Federal courts followed state procedural rules until 1938

Evidence

A second set of rules (addressed in Chapter 2) governs the jurisdiction of courts and thus guides lawyers on the proper court in which to file a case. Finally, a third set of rules determines the procedures that lawyers must follow in framing and presenting a case from its inception to the exhaustion of all appeals. For most of American history, the procedural rules governing civil cases have been established within each state, according to state statutes or rulings announced by state courts. Instead of developing their own procedural rules, each federal court followed the procedures of the state in which it heard cases. Many lawyers complained, however, that this lack of procedural uniformity was confusing, and the American Bar Association campaigned for a standard set of procedural rules for federal litigation. In 1938, in response to these efforts, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were adopted. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1070

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes what the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are and why they were adopted — a core institutional fact.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s earlier chapter on court jurisdiction, and to the ABA’s federal-reform agenda. — connects to: A single case can require courts to apply both state and federal law — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 220

Broader Connections

• A single case can require courts to apply both state and federal law #qualifies (0.72) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 220