I transmit herewith the report of the Board of Statutory Consolidation on the simplification of the civil practice in the courts of the state. The report embraces a complete revision of the civil practice in the courts of the state substituting a short practice act and rules of court in place of the present method of regulating the civil practice mainly by statutory rules. It provides as a substitute for the entire Code of Civil Procedure a practice act and rules of court regulating the civil practice, placing the surrogate practice and justice of the peace practice in separate statutes and relegating the substantive law now in the Code of Civil Procedure to new or existing consolidated laws. Attention is called to the Board's preliminary statement attached hereto, presenting more detailed information with respect to the contents of the report. The simplification of the civil practice in the courts of the state is a subject of tremendous importance to its citizens, and I suggest that a joint committee of the legislature be appointed to act with the committees heretofore appointed by the justices of the appellate division and by the State Bar Association to consider the subject and assist the Board in putting the matter in form for adoption at the beginning of the session of the Legislature of 1916. CHARLES S. WHITMAN /222643 STAND Simplification of the Civil Practice by the REPORT TO THE LEGISLATURE - PRELIMINARY To the Legislature: We have the honor to submit herewith the report of the Board of Statutory Consolidation on the simplification of the civil practice in the courts of the state pursuant to chapter 713 of the laws of 1913. In presenting this report it seems appropriate to state briefly the lines along which the work of the board has proceeded. History of Prior Revisions When the state constitution was adopted, the people of the state accepted as a part of the law of the new commonwealth the common law procedure of England as the same had been modified by the legislature of the colony of New York, subject to such alterations and additions as the legislature of the new state might from time to time enact with reference thereto. (Constitution 1777, Art. 35.) The dissatisfaction with the condition of the procedure in the courts as well as with the general substantive law was voiced in the provision of the constitution of 1846 which directed the legislature to appoint commissioners to reduce into a written and systematic code so much of the whole body of the law of the state as seemed practicable and expedient to them. (Constitution 1846, Art. 1, § 17.) Pursuant to this provision of the constitution the Code of Procedure was adopted in 1848 which made substantial changes in the common law practice and regulated the bulk of the procedure by statutory rules. The Field code, by which name the Code of Procedure of 1848 was commonly called, sought to regulate only the general features of the practice by statute leaving the courts to control the details by means of rules. This system together with other statutes bearing upon the subject continued to govern the procedure in the courts until the adoption of the first part of the Code of Civil Procedure in 1877 which with the supplemental chapters added in 1880 has regulated the practice in this state down to the present time. The Throop code, by which name the Code of Civil Procedure has been known, was based upon the idea of bringing together within the covers of a single book all matters relating to procedure whether substantive or otherwise and regulating all of the details of practice by statutory enactments. The criticisms that were made against the Code of Civil Procedure at the time of its adoption have been fully justified by experience; and ever since its enactment, speeches, addresses and reports have been hurled against it. The agitation on the subject resulted in the passage of an act in 1895 providing for the appointment of commissioners to report "in what respects the civil procedure in the courts of this state can be revised, condensed and simplified." (L. 1895, ch. 1036.) The final report in pursuance of this statute was submitted to the legislature five years later but opposition arose to the plan followed by the commissioners and the report failed of adoption. In 1899 a report of the Committee on Law Reform of the State Bar Association was made, in which the committee recommended "a simple practice act containing the more important provisions of the present code rearranged and revised, supplemented by rules of court." A joint committee of the legislature in 1900 recommended a general plan, one of the features of which was "to reduce the general practice provisions to a single brief legislative practice act." In 1903 a committee called the Committee of Fifteen made a report to the legislature pursuant to chapter 594 of the laws of 1902 in which it made various recommendations which would give as the report states: "A statute covering practice only, supplemented by such rules as may be deemed necessary to carry out fully its provisions." In 1903 the Committee on the Law's Delay made its report with reference to the condition of procedure in the first department and made certain recommendations which however were not adopted. (L. 1902, ch. 485, amended by L. 1903, ch. 634.) IBKYBA TANFOR PRELIMINARY STATEMENT Board of Statutory Consolidation 5 At this time the Board of Statutory Consolidation was created. by chapter 664 of the laws of 1904 by which it was authorized not only to consolidate the general statutes of the state but to revisethe practice in the courts. The board found the task of simplifying the practice too great a one in conjunction with the work of consolidating the statutes and therefore directed its attention to the latter. In 1909 the board presented a consolidation of the general substantive statutes of the state which were adopted that year and later it prepared a statutory record of these statutes and also a statutory record of the special, private and local statutes. The simplification of the practice however had not been overlooked by the board and in 1906 there was prepared a reclassification of the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure under a logical analysis following the steps in the progress of an action. In 1912 by chapter 393 the legislature directed the board to examine and report a plan for the classification, consolidation and simplification of the civil practice in the courts of this state and in the following year this report was presented to the legislature. In 1913 the board was directed to prepare and present to the legislature "a practice act, rules of court and short forms" as recommended by the board in its report to the legislature of 1913. (L.1913, ch. 713.) In accordance with that statute we report to the legislature of 1915 statutes and rules designed to carry out the directions of the legislature and to simplify the practice in the courts of the state. Fundamental Ideas of the New Practice It would be useless to attempt to call attention to all the changes that the board has made in carrying out the direction of the legislature to simplify the civil practice but the main ideas that have governed the board in its work may be summarized as follows: (1) The preparation of a short practice act to be adopted by the legislature which would direct the changes necessary to simplify procedure and adapt it to present conditions; (2) The preparation of rules of court by the courts which would regulate the important matters of practice and which would be under the control of the courts; |