The Simplified blog

A four-year project to simplify the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, used in federal trial courts, has been announced as the Burton Award's 2007 “Reform in Law” winner.

This is a prestigious awards programme, run together with the Library of Congress and the Law Library of Congress.

The clarified version is scheduled to take effect in December, 2007.

Here is an example of how the laws have been rewritten:

Old: “When two or more statements are made in the alternative and one of them if made independently would be sufficient, the pleading is not made insufficient by the insufficiency of one or more of the alternative statements.”

New: “If a party makes alternative statements, the pleading is sufficient if any one of them is sufficient.”

Old: There shall be one form of action to be known as “civil action”.

New: There is one form of action - the civil action.