Practice and Procedure

Abstract

In contrast to the hundred-year struggle for pro cedural reform in England the American movement for im proved law administration has been professionally inspired and directed. Pleading, comprising the steps preparatory to the trial itself, by custom and precedent is an important preliminary stage of litigation where formalism has become rooted and re form is necessary. The first great reform of common law pleading was by the Field Code of 1848 in New York, which was copied in a majority of the states. Meanwhile federal practice lagged because of the statutory requirement of con formity to state practice. But with the adoption by the Su preme Court of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as drafted by its Advisory Committee, the federal practice became the outstanding system in the country and a model for reform in a constantly increasing number of states. It has also stimulated the movement for rule-making authority in the courts and for an integrated court system efficiently operated. While much remains to be done, the intelligent steps already taken toward improved law administration show that current criticism of the courts is overdrawn and the title of this symposium, "Lagging Justice," not apt.