Civil Rules Committee and the Rules of Criminal Procedure Committee

• Jurisdiction: Colorado,United States
• Citation: Vol. 33 No. 8 Pg. 75
• Pages: 75
• Publication year: 2004

33 Colo.Law. 11 Colorado Lawyer 2004.

2004, August, Pg. 75. Civil Rules Committee and the Rules of Criminal Procedure Committee

Vol. 33, No. 8, Pg. 11

The Colorado Lawyer
August 2004
Vol. 33, No. 8 [Page 75]

Departments
The Legal Research Corner
Civil Rules Committee and the Rules of Criminal Procedure Committee

This department, published quarterly, is sponsored by the Colorado Association of Law Librarians ("CoALL") to assist attorneys with common problems in legal research Readers interested in submitting research questions may send them to: CoALL, The Legal Research Corner, at http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/coall or to: "The Legal Research Corner," c/o Arlene Abady, Managing Editor, The Colorado Lawyer, 1900 Grant St., Suite 900, Denver, CCO 80203-4336 or e-mail:
aabady@cobar.org.
Members of CoALL will attempt to answer as many questions as possible, either individually or as part of this department The information provided in this space is for educational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. No endorsement or recommendation is made of any product named in this department. Department contributors are CoALL members and include Andrea Hamilton, Wanda McDavid, Mariann Storck Shannon Vicic, Patricia Wellinger, and Ann Marie Wills. For more information about CoALL, see: http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/coall.

Special thanks to Richard W. Laugesen, Committee Chair to the Civil Rules Committee; Justice Nancy E. Rice, Supreme Court Liaison to the Civil Rules Committee; Troy C. Singleton, Administrative Assistant to the State Court Administrator; Judge John Dailey, Committee Chair of the Committee on Criminal Rules; Terri Morrison, Committee on Criminal Rules staff; Mac V. Danford, Clerk of the Court; and, Martha Campbell, Supreme Court Librarian who provided the content for this article.

This overview of the Colorado Civil and Criminal Rules Committees provides details as to the purpose, goals, structure, and organization of these committees in their advisory capacity to the Colorado Supreme Court ("Court"). In addition, this article includes information on how to research the history of the rules of both committees.

Not only is the Court the court of last resort in the Colorado court system, but it also has rule-making power: "The supreme court shall make and promulgate rules governing the administration of all courts and shall make and promulgate rules governing practice and procedure in civil and criminal cases."1 Further, the Court has "supervisory power over all other state courts and over all attorneys practicing law in Colorado."2 The Court exercises this supervisory power over Colorado courts and attorneys through a system of advisory committees.

There currently are twenty-one committees that provide recommendations to the Court. The recommendations of these committees address particular matters related to the court system or to the administration of the judicial branch. Each justice of the Court serves as a liaison to several of these committees.3 The Clerk of the Court acts as a liaison among the Supreme Court, Court committees, and State Court Administrator's Office. Two of these twenty-one Court committees are the Civil Rules Committee and Rules of Criminal Procedure Committee, both of which are described in more detail below.

Civil Rules Committee

Although the Civil Rules Committee (also referred to as the "Standing Committee on Civil Rules") was officially founded as a committee of the Court in 1978, a code for civil actions actually existed as far back as 1887: "An Act to provide a code of procedure in civil actions. . . ."4 On January 6, 1941, the Court adopted the new Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure ("C.R.C.P." or "Civil Rules"). The Rules became effective on April 6, 1941.

The Civil Rules Committee "is charged with the responsibility of periodic review, correcting, updating and improvement of all of the State Court Civil Rules except Appellate Rules [now handled by the Appellate Rules Committee] and the Colorado Rules of Evidence [now handled by the Evidence Rules Committee]."5 The Civil Rules

govern the procedure in the supreme court, court of appeals district court and superior courts and in the juvenile and probate courts of the City and County of Denver, in all actions, suits and proceedings of a civil nature, whether cognizable as cases at law or in equity, and in all special statutory proceedings, with the exceptions stated in Rule 81. They shall be...