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N.D.R.Crim.P. 55

Not legal advice. Verify against official sources before relying on this text in any legal matter.

Rule 55 Records

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Rule Text

The clerk of each court governed by these rules, or the magistrate where there is no clerk, must keep records of criminal proceedings as required by law or by rule or order of the supreme court. The clerk or magistrate must enter in the records every court order or judgment and the date of entry.

Amendment history: (Adopted Feb. 20, 1973; amended Mar. 1, 2006.)

Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)

This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.

Courts have to keep track of everything that happens in a criminal case. This job falls to the clerk of court, or to the magistrate if there's no clerk assigned. They follow whatever recordkeeping rules are set by law or by the state supreme court.

Every time a judge makes an order or issues a judgment in a case, it has to be written into the official record along with the date it happened. This creates a clear, dated paper trail of what the court decided and when.

For anyone involved in a criminal case, this means there's always an official record showing what the court ordered and when it ordered it. If you need to know what happened in your case or when a specific decision was made, this record is where that information gets stored.

Committee Notes

Rule 55 was amended, effective March 1, 2006.

Rule 55 is an adaptation of Fed.R.Crim.P. 55. The rule places the responsibility of keeping the records of the court with the clerk, but recognizes that there are lower courts that are without the assistance of a clerk; in those cases the responsibility of keeping the records is on the magistrate. The rule deals with those records which must be kept as a matter of law as well as those records which may be required by the supreme court.

Rule 55 was amended, effective March 1, 2006, in response to the December 1, 2002, revision of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The language and organization of the rule were changed to make the rule more easily understood and to make style and terminology consistent throughout the rules.

SOURCES: Joint Procedure Committee Minutes of April 28-29, 2005, page 11; February 20-23, 1973, pages 1-2; December 10-12, 1970, pages 22-23; Fed.R.Crim.P. 55.

STATUTES AFFECTED:

CONSIDERED: N.D.C.C. §§ 11-17-01, 27-07-28, 27-07-36, 27-07-39, 27-08-10, 27-08-13, Chapters 29-23, 33-12-02, 33-12-12, 33-12-13, 33-12-14, 33-12-15, 33-12-16, 33-12-17.

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