Thursday, June 16, 2005

The new Part 3 of the Virginia Rules, implementing the single action

In today's mail came a hard copy of the new changes to the Virginia Rules of Court, implementing the single form of action, abolishing old Parts 2 and 3 of the Rules, and replacing them with the "new" Part 3, starting with the new Rule 3:1 which says - "There shall be one form of civil case, known as a civil action." (Compare FRCP 2 - "There shall be one form of action to be known as 'civil action.'")

These new rules are to take effect January 1, 2006, and do away with our favorite terms such as "motion for judgment," "grounds of defense," "subpoena in chancery," and "cross-bill," the latter of which always made me think of sort of some kind of cockeyed bird, perhaps a drunk pelican.

UPDATES: I am informed that indeed the cross-bill is a real bird, and separately, it appears that this post did nothing for the morale of Brian Patton as he studies Virginia procedure for the upcoming bar exam.

No comments: