Law Commons^™

Federal Civil Procedure Rule 43(A): A Freak Among The Rules, Thomas F. Green Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Rule 43(a) is an anomaly in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.'Attorney General Cummings, the chief sponsor of the enabling act, apparently did not contemplate the inclusion of any rule dealing with the admissibility of evidence. The American Bar Association, which sponsored similar bills before Congress for years, laid much of the groundwork but abandoned the project prior to successful completion. A report of the Association's committee charged with the duty of "pushing" the then current version of the bill stated that the court rules were not to deal with evidence. The broadest expression in the bill which was enacted …

Erie To York To Ragan -- A Triple Play On The Federal Rules, Edward L. Merrigan

Vanderbilt Law Review

Approximately twelve years have passed since the Supreme Court of the United States promulgated the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure almost simultaneously with its decision in Erie R. R. v. Tompkins.' These two events revolutionized almost every phase of practice in the federal courts. The Rules substituted uniformity for state conformity in federal procedure, while the Erie decision required an adherence to state conformity in matters of substantive law.

As a result of this concurrent, diverse treatment of substantive and adjective law, it was assumed that the Court intended, in future diversity of citizenship cases, to recognize the dichotomy of …