Court rules govern the procedures used within each court system, as well as the practices litigants must follow in a particular court. Court rules enable the business of the court to run smoothly by putting parties on notice as to what is expected of them. Federal courts have standardized rules for Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, and Admission of Evidence. For a detailed description of the different types of court rules and an explanation of how court rules are promulgated, see Steven M. Barkan, Roy M. Mersky and Donald J. Dunn, The Fundamentals of Legal Research, Foundation Press, 2009. MU Law Library KF240 .B37 2009 .
Federal Court Rules (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts)
Federal Rules of Evidence (United States Courts)
Lexis: USCS Federal Rules Annotated (password required)
Westlaw: Federal Court Rules in the United States Code Annotated (password required)
Section 205 of the E-Government Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-347, requires that federal courts post local rules on their websites. Visit the Court Locator for a listing of all federal court websites.
Federal Rules Decisions, Westlaw (Westlaw password required)
Federal Rules Decisions is part of West's National Reporter System. It publishes cases that construe the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. It also contains all proposed rule changes.
Federal Practice and Procedure (Wright & Miller), St. Paul, Minn. West Pub. Co. located at MU Law Reference.
Federal practice & procedure (Wright & Miller) [electronic resource] (Westlaw password required).
Handbook of Federal Evidence (Westlaw password required)