§45.01 INTRODUCTION

• Jurisdiction: United States

§45.01. INTRODUCTION

A stipulation is a voluntary agreement between opposing parties concerning the disposition of some matter before the court. Stipulations range from informal, impromptu oral concessions made during trial to complicated written agreements developed in the pretrial process. The primary function of a stipulation is to expedite the trial, a goal that has been endorsed in a number of cases.¹ As one court put it: "In this day of crowded dockets and crushing case loads, stipulations should be favored, if not encouraged."² Indeed, one of the recognized purposes of pretrial conferences is to encourage stipulations.³

Stipulations also are used for tactical reasons. Frequently, defense counsel offers to stipulate in order to minimize the impact of unfavorable evidence, or to eliminate the prosecution's need to resort to a particular item of damaging evidence. Thus, counsel may offer to stipulate to: a defendant's prior convictions when they could be established easily by court records;⁴ the identity of a seized substance such as heroin to prevent the trial from focusing on the "most damning part of the evidence;"⁵ or the cause of death when the prosecutor attempts to introduce gruesome photographs of the victim.⁶

There are three types of stipulations: (1) stipulations of fact, (2) stipulations of expected testimony, and (3) stipulations concerning procedural and evidentiary rules.

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Notes:

^[1] See Waldorf v. Shuta, 142 F.3d 601, 617 (3d Cir. 1998) ("In general, courts encourage parties to enter into stipulations to promote judicial economy by narrowing the issues in dispute during litigation."); People v. Woods, 828 N.E.2d 247, 256 (Ill. 2005) ("[C]ourts look with favor upon stipulations" because "they tend to promote disposition of cases, simplification of issues, and the saving of expense to litigants."); People v. Morris, 285 N.E.2d 247, 250 (Ill. App. 1972) ("[T]he use of a stipulation to waive necessity of proof is an accepted and established, as well as an essential, method of expediting the trial of criminal cases."); State v. Murchinson, 196 S.E.2d 540, 541 (N.C. App. 1973) ("The making of stipulations as to facts about which there can be no dispute is to be encouraged as a proper means of expediting trials.").

^[2] James v. State, 305 So. 2d 829, 830 (Fla. App. 1975).

^[3] See Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(c)(3); Fed. R. Crim. P. 17.1 ("When a conference ends, the court must prepare and file a memorandum of any matters agreed to during the...