“federal rules”

body of procedural rules governing the appeals process in the bringing of cases to a U.S. court of appeals from a U.S. district court or the Tax Court of the United States. The work of each of the 12 regional courts of appeals is mainly to review decisions of federal administrative agencies and to review judgments of the lower district courts. The appellate rules state the practices and procedures by which such judicial reviews are to be undertaken. Many state appellate procedures are roughly similar to those of the federal government.

body of procedural rules governing civil actions in federal courts. As stated in Rule 1, the rules' purpose is “to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action.” Two central elements of civil process covered by the rules are discovery and pretrial conference, the former being a review of the facts by both parties and the latter being a meeting before a judge or magistrate to determine whether a trial is necessary or whether an out-of-court settlement might be reached. The federal rules have served as a model for many state court rules of civil procedure.

body of procedural rules governing criminal proceedings in federal courts. Two central aims of the rules are to ensure that due process of the law is served and that efficient use is made of judicial resources. The rules cover such elements as pretrial discovery, plea bargaining, introducing evidence, and making objections. Although, as in the case of rules of civil procedure, some states have patterned their rules of criminal procedure after the federal rules, there is greater diversity in criminal procedure than in civil procedure across U.S. jurisdictions.

body of procedural rules governing the use of evidence in both civil and criminal cases in federal courts. The rules establish the methods by which evidentiary information may be presented, covering such elements as relevance, admissibility, competency of witnesses, privileges, confessions and admissions, expert testimony, physical evidence, and authentication. The rules of evidence have been founded on both case law and state statutes and are shaped by understandings of what constitutes admissible and sufficient proof. Many states have patterned their rules of evidence after those of the federal courts.