Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 88.0

524US1

Unit: $U73

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Cite as: 524 U. S. 38 (1998)

43

Opinion of the Court

nary power . . . to modify his judgment for error of fact or
law or even revoke it altogether.” Zimmern v. United
States, 298 U. S. 167, 169–170 (1936).
If the term had ex-
pired, resort had to be made to a handful of writs, the precise
contours of which were “shrouded in ancient lore and mys-
tery.” Advisory Committee’s Notes on 1946 Amdt. to Fed.
Rule Civ. Proc. 60, 28 U. S. C. App., p. 787. The new Federal
Rules of Civil Procedure did away with the notion that the
continuation or expiration of a term of court had any affect
on a court’s power. Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 6(c), rescinded 1966.
New Rule 60(b) 1 sought to establish a new system to gov-
ern requests to reopen judgments. The original Rule 60(b)
provided:

“(b) Mistake; Inadvertence; Surprise; Excusable Ne-
glect. On motion the court, upon such terms as are
just, may relieve a party or his legal representative from
a judgment, order, or proceeding taken against him
through his mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excus-
able neglect. The motion shall be made within a rea-
sonable time, but in no case exceeding six months after
such judgment, order, or proceeding was taken. A mo-
tion under this subdivision does not affect the ﬁnality of
a judgment or suspend its operation. This rule does
not limit the power of a court (1) to entertain an action
to relieve a party from a judgment, order, or proceeding,
or (2) to set aside within one year, as provided in Section
57 of the Judicial Code, U. S. C., Title 28, § 118, a judg-
ment obtained against a defendant not actually person-
ally notiﬁed.” Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 60(b) (1940).

In the years following the adoption of the Rules, however,
courts differed over whether the new Rule 60(b) provided
the exclusive means for obtaining postjudgment relief, or
whether the writs that had been used prior to the adoption of

1 Rule 60(a) dealt then, as it deals now, with relief from clerical mistakes

in judgments.