Leslie B. Gray Bruce R. Thompson Prince A. Hawkins, Chairman ENABLING ACT [Chapter 40, Statutes of Nevada 1951; now NRS 2.120] ________ AN ACT relating to rules of civil practice and procedure, and authorizing the supreme court to prescribe such rules for all courts. (Approved February 28, 1951) The People of the State of Nevada, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section 1. The supreme court of Nevada, by rules adopted and published from time to time, shall regulate original and appellate civil practice and procedure, including, without limitation, pleadings, motions, writs, notices and forms of process, in judicial proceedings in all courts of the state, for the purpose of simplifying the same and of promoting the speedy determination of litigation upon its merits. Such rules shall not abridge, enlarge or modify any substantive right and shall not be inconsistent with the constitution of the State of Nevada. Section 2. All statutes regulating original or appellate civil practice or procedure, including, without limitation, pleadings, motions, writs, notices and forms of process, in effect or taking effect at the time this act takes effect, shall be deemed to be rules of court, and shall remain in effect, until modified or superseded by rules adopted and published pursuant to this act. Such rules shall take effect on such date as the supreme court shall specify, but not in any event until sixty days after adoption and publication. ORDER ADOPTING RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE ________ IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, pursuant to the foregoing enabling act and to the matters recited in the foregoing preface, that the annexed rules be and the same hereby are adopted for the regulation of original and appellate civil practice and procedure in judicial proceedings in the district courts of the State of Nevada, and the forms annexed thereto approved; that the same shall be effective on January 1, 1953; that publication thereof be made by the mailing of a printed copy by the clerk of this court to each member of the State Bar of Nevada according to the clerk’s official list of membership of such Bar (which will include all district judges and district attorneys), and that the certificate of the clerk of this court as to such mailing, not less than sixty days prior to January 1, 1953, shall be conclusive evidence of the adoption and publication of said rules in accordance with the provisions of said enabling act. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that copies be provided by the clerk of this court to each county clerk in the state and to the clerk of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, and to each member of the 1951 and 1953 legislatures and to the State Library and each county law library. Dated: August 29, 1952. BY THE COURT Milton B. Badt Chief Justice Edgar Eather Charles M. Merrill Associate Justices FOREWORD ________ The vesting of the rule-making power in the Supreme Court by the Forty-Fifth Legislature (1951) was well-advised and forward-looking legislation. It was supported by the entire Judiciary Committee of the assembly comprising Wm. G. Coulthard, J. F. McElroy, J. K. Houssels, Farrell L. Seevers, Harold Anderson, A. Primeaux, C. C. Boak, Frank E. Walters and Edward D. Carville, and by the entire Judiciary Committee of the senate comprising Fred C. Horlacher, John H. Murray, Forest B. Lovelock, John E. Robbins and B. Mahlon Brown. It provided the authority under which, by adoption of simplified rules of practice and procedure, the Supreme Court could greatly improve the administration of justice in the state. The adoption of the rules of civil procedure for the district courts, including appellate practice and procedure for review by this court, constitutes perhaps the state’s most important advancement of the administration of justice in civil cases. These rules were drafted by an Advisory Committee appointed by the court, after mature deliberation. Despite our roster of able and public spirited attorneys throughout the entire state, it became necessary to appoint a committee of attorneys all residing in the same city so as to permit weekly meetings of that committee and interim meetings of various subcommittees for initial consideration and reports of various parts of the rules. For its diligent and untiring work in the preparation and presentation of both the tentative draft and the final draft of the rules of civil procedure, we accord to that committee the appreciation of this court, of the district courts and of the bar of the State of Nevada. That committee comprised Prince A. Hawkins, Chairman, John S. Belford, Richard W. Blakey, William J. Forman, Leslie B. Gray, Harold V. Harris, Royal A. Stewart, Lester D. Summerfield and Bruce R. Thompson, all of Reno. To those attorneys and district judges throughout the state who, by personal conferences, telephone calls and correspondence with members of the committee and with members of the court, made valuable suggestions, many of which have been written into the final draft, the court likewise expresses its thanks and appreciation. On behalf of the bench and bar of the state, the court also expresses its thanks to West Publishing Company for printing as a public service and without charge both the tentative draft and the final draft of the rules. Without such assistance, our lack of funds for the purpose would have made the task materially more difficult.

Vegas Law