Rule 59 Effective date

These rules started on October 1, 1981. From that date forward, they apply to any new criminal case filed in court.

The rules also apply to cases that were already in progress when they took effect. If a case was already open on that date, the new rules would generally take over for whatever steps still needed to happen. The only exception is if a judge decides that using the new rules on an already pending case would not work well or would be unfair. In that situation, the judge can let the case continue under the older rules instead.