Serial: 231564 

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF MISSISSIPPI 

No. 89-R-99001-SCT FILED 

IN RE: THE RULES OF CIVIL 

PROCEDURE 

MAY 05 2020 

OFFICE OF THE CLERK 

SUPREME COURT 

COURT OF APPEALS 

EN BANC ORDER 

Before the en bane Court is the Motion to Amend M.R.C.P. 1 (Motion No. 2020-400), 

filed by the Advisory Committee on Rules. 

After due consideration, we find that the motion should be granted. 

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the Motion to Amend M.R.C.P. 1 is granted. 

Rule 1 is amended as set forth in the attached Exhibit A. The amendment shall be effective 

on July 1, 2020. 

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of this Court must spread this order upon 

the minutes of the Court and send a certified copy to West Publishing Company for 

publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter, Third Series (Mississippi Edition), 

and in the next edition of the Mississippi Rules of Court. 

SO ORDERED, this the __ 

ALL JUSTICES AGREE. 

MICHAEL K. RANDOLPH, 

CHIEF JUSTICE 

FOR THE COURT 
EXHIBIT A 

RULE 1. SCOPE OF RULES 

These rules govern procedure in the circuit courts, chancery courts, and county courts 

in .all suits of a civil nature, whether cognizable as cases at law or in equity, subject to certain 

limitations enumerated in Rule 81; however, even those enumerated proceedings are still 

subject to these rules where no statute applicable to the proceedings provides otherwise or 

sets forth procedures inconsistent with these rules. These rules shall be construed .. 

administered, and employed by the court and the parties to secure the just, speedy, and 

inexpensive determination of every action. 

[Amended effective July 1, 2020.] 

Advisory Committee Historical Note 

Effective July 1, 2020, Rule 1 was amended to emphasize that the parties share 

responsibility with the court to employ the rules so as to secure the just, speedy and 

inexpensive resolution of every action. XX So. 3d XX (Miss. ). 

Advisory Committee Notes 

These rules are to be applied as liberally to civil actions as is judicially feasible, 

whether in actions at law or in equity. However, nothing in the rules should be interpreted 

as abridging or modifying the traditional separations of jurisdiction between the law courts 

and equity courts in Mississippi. 

The salient provision of Rule 1 is the statement that "These rules shall be construed .. 

administered, and employed by the court and the parties to secure the just, speedy, and 

inexpensive determination of every action." There probably is no provision in these rules 

more important than this mandate; it reflects the spirit in which the rules were conceived and 

written and in which they should be interpreted. The primary purpose of procedural rules is 

to promote the ends of justice; these rules reflect the view that this goal can best be 

accomplished by the establishment of a single form of action, known as a "civil action," 

thereby uniting the procedures in law and equity through a simplified procedure that 

minimizes technicalities and places considerable discretion in the trial judge for construing 

the rules in a manner that will secure their objectives. 

[Advisory Committee Note adopted effective July 1, 2014: amended effective July 1, 2020.] 

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