Federal Court Rules Research Guide

• The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are rules of general applicability that apply in most civil actions heard in all United States District Courts.
• Special rules apply in admiralty and bankruptcy cases (refer to the appropriate sections below: admiralty; bankruptcy).
• Each U.S. District Court also has its own local rules, which supplement the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. To find the local rules of district courts, see the section of this guide on Federal Local Court Rules.

Title 28 Rules volumes of the United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.) (West)

• Located after Title 28 volumes of U.S.C.A.
• Provides the text of rules, case annotations, and cross references to secondary sources such as law review articles, West's Legal Forms, West's Federal Practice Manual, Wright and Miller's Federal Practice and Procedure, and others.
• An index to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure appears at the end of the volume containing those rules.
• Locations:
  • Current: KF62 1927.A3 (located in the Reading Room)
  • Historic (back to 1960): Located in Historic Core; ask at the Williams Circulation Desk

Court Rules volumes of the United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.) (Lexis)

• Located after the Title 50 volumes of U.S.C.S.
• Provides the text of the rules, case annotations, and cross references to secondary sources such as law review articles, American Jurisprudence Trials, American Jurisprudence Pleading and Practice Forms, Moore's Federal Practice, and others.
• An index to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure appears at the end of the volume containing those rules.
• Locations:
  • Current: KF62 1972.U5 (located in the Reading Room)
  • Historic (back to 1978): Located in Historic Core; ask at the Williams Circulation Desk

Title 28, Appendix of the United States Code (U.S.C.) (G.P.O.)

• Located at the end of the volume containing Title 28.
• This official source includes the text of the rules and advisory committee notes, but does not provide case annotations.
• Tends to be out-of-date, as main editions are published only once every six years, although annual cumulative supplements are published between main editions.
• Locations:
  • Current: KF62 2006 .A2 (located in the Reading Room)
  • Historic (back to 1934): located in Historic Core; ask at the Williams Circulation Desk
  • Electronic (PDF) (1925 - current): available on HeinOnline

West's Federal Civil Judicial Procedure and Rules

• Provides the unannotated text of the rules and advisory committee notes.
• Includes an index which provides subject access to all of the rule sets (e.g., Supreme Court Rules, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure) in the volume.
• Locations:
  • 1985 - current: KF8816 .A194
  • Historic (1983 - 1977): KF8816 .A193