Federal Civil Rules Handbook, West, 2022
Law Library Reserve Collection: KF8816 .A193
Effective Dec. 1, 2021, new rules to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (FRAP) came into force. The rules affected are Rule 3 (Appeal as a Right - How Taken) and Rule 6 (Appeal in a Bankruptcy Case). There are also new forms 1A, 1B and 2 attending these rule changes.
West publishes the Federal Civil Rules Handbook every year to help practitioners keep current with these changes. The volume contains the text of all the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as amended in their entirety. The text of each rule is followed by an Authors' Commentary, which explains the core concept of the rule, followed by the Applications or practice pointers expanding on the rule's application. In the case of those rules amended this past December, the Authors' Commentary will also offer a short explanation for the amendment.
A deeper explanation of the purpose behind the revisions may be found in Part VIII containing the official Advisory Committee Notes. The five Advisory Committees (Appellate, Bankruptcy, Civil, Criminal, and Evidence) "evaluate suggestions (i.e. proposals) for rules amendments in the first instance" and "carry on a continuous study of the operation and effect" of the federal rules as directed by the Rules Enabling Act. In effect, these Notes constitute the principal source of the Rules "legislative history." You will find not only the Advisory Committee Notes for 2021, but for all the years in which the Rules were amended.
Supplemental materials include an introduction to general concepts in federal practice such as personal and subject-matter jurisdiction, removal and remand, venue and forum non conveniens, the Erie Doctrine, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. Additional chapters cover Multidistrict Litigation, Appellate Procedure, the Federal Rules of Evidence, and selected sections from Title 28 U.S.C. Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.
The 2022 edition contains more than 2100 new case citations from the federal courts decided between Fall 2020 and late Summer 2021 in an ongoing effort by West to help practitioners keep current with the courts' evolving approach to the rules and their amendments.
The Federal Civil Rules Handbook is only available in print. So drop by the Circulation Desk and check it out.
Submitted by Eric Taylor, Evening Reference Librarian on February 23, 2022
This article appears in the categories: Law Library
