Restyling Notes – June 2017
Rule 1 is changed to add references to the Unified Criminal Dockets, the Business and Consumer Docket, and questions certified by the federal courts and to indicate a September 1, 2017, effective date for the restyled rules.
[Advisory Notes to Rule 1 of former Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure]
Advisory Notes – January 1, 2001
The Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure are adopted to apply to all appeals from the trial courts to the Law Court in which the notice of appeal is filed on or after January 1, 2001. This is the effective date of court unification amendments that eliminate most appeals from the District Court to the Superior Court and allow for direct appeal from the District Court to the Law Court of most District Court criminal and civil decisions. For appeals filed on and after January 1, 2001, these rules replace Rules 72, 73, 74, 74A, 74B, 74C, 75, 75A, 75B, 75C, 75D, 76, 76A, 76B and 76I of the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure, and Rules 37, 37A, 37B, 39, 39A, 39B, 39C, 39D, 40B, 40C, 78 and 90 of the Maine Rules of Criminal Procedure, and Rules 72, 73, 74, 74A, 74B, 74C, 75, 75A, 75B, 75C, 75D, 76 and 76A of the Maine Rules of Probate Procedure.
Adoption of a single Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure is necessary because, although the appeal rules in the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure2 and the Maine Rules of Criminal Procedure are similar in substance on most significant matters, they include significant timing and process differences that could create considerable confusion for many clerk’s offices, the Bar, and the public attempting to apply the differing sets of rules, for the first time, in many appeals from District Court.
The present rules governing appeals, listed above, shall continue in effect for appeals to the Law Court filed on or before December 31, 2000. Each of those rules is being amended to include a clause limiting its application to such appeals. Further, as all appeals should be fully processed pursuant to the present rules within one year, the above listed rules will be abrogated effective December 31, 2001. These amended rules provide a uniform procedure for all appeals, criminal and civil, from the trial courts to the Law Court.
