Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1960

Abstract

Our present Civil Practice Act is a patchwork affair; provisions have been changed and sections have been added and eliminated as the particular necessity of the times dictated, without any real regard for rational or integrated compilation.

The problem of revision has long confronted us. There has been none for more than 110 years. Very wisely, the Temporary Commission on the Courts directed such a revision, and in 1955 appointed an advisory committee consisting of outstanding attorneys of extensive and varied experience from all over the state. They were delegated to study and prepare appropriate legislation. The research and drafting were placed under the direction of our speaker, Professor Jack B. Weinstein, and have been carried on here at Columbia.

An ideal code should be thorough yet not long; detailed yet not confusing. It should assure speedy justice, yet not deprive a litigant of his day in court.

If the accomplishment of this "ideal" was not an impossible task, it was certainly a difficult one. Nor were the questions of substance presented simple. Should New York fashion its procedures after that of the federal government? Should the rules of practice be formulated by the judiciary or by the legislature? Should we adopt the English system of having attorneys' fees charged against the losing party? These were only some of the questions with which Professor Weinstein and his staff and advisors have had to grapple.

Disciplines

Civil Law | Civil Procedure | Law

Comments

This article originally appeared in 60 Colum. L. Rev. 50 (1960). Reprinted by permission.

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