Document Type

Article

Publication Title

St. John's Law Review

Abstract

This symposium properly celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Let me add a cheer for another procedural anniversary: 1988 is the twenty-fifth year in the life of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules (the "CPLR"), which became effective on September 1, 1963. The CPLR is the principal statute regulating dispute adjudication in New York State. It prescribes civil procedure in the Supreme Court-the trial court of general jurisdiction-and in the County Courts. It also governs practice in the appellate courts and, to a limited extent, in the inferior trial courts. In this Article, I will relate something of the background of the CPLR and argue that this history presents an example of a neglected paradox of procedural reform. The recognition and description of this paradox may improve our understanding of the reform of procedure in New York and, perhaps, elsewhere. Put simply, the political engine which has driven procedural reform in New York, as illustrated by the case of the CPLR, has been discontent with the slow pace of litigation. The enactment of the CPLR would probably not have been achieved without a delay crisis directly traceable to the wave of auto accident litigation which began in the late forties. Paradoxically, reform of the rules of procedure within the ambit allowed by the restraints of culture and politics is unlikely to have, and in the case of New York's reform has apparently not had, any positive effect on litigation pace.

First Page

453

Volume

62

Publication Date

1988

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