Talk:Motion (legal)

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I've tagged this article as needing an expert, because it's not obvious if it only deals with U.S. law. Silverhelm 07:06, 5 September 2005 (UTC).

Contents 1 Word errors and pretrial 2 Pointless 3 Directed from pretrial motion 4 Motions, detail

[edit] Word errors and pretrial

I fixed some typos :) Also, I think pretrial information should be added, if no one does this i'll research and try to add my own info.

[edit] Pointless

I'm the person who recently rewrote the article on Summary Judgment. I've been litigating in New York for more than twenty-five years and teaching at law school for nearly as long. Although I was tempted to rewrite this article, I've decided it makes no sense to do so. What this title really requires is little more than a working definition of a motion (as a party's request for the issuance of an order), to be followed by a mere list of common motions consisting of nothing but links to a fuller article on each common type of motion.

As there is no practical limit to the different types of order requested of, or granted by, courts, it would be a "fool's errand" to attempt an exhaustive list of every conceivable type of motion. (By use of that term, I do not mean to cast aspersions upon the person or persons who have already attempted to define certain common types of motion in this article, although his/their definitions are in many important respects inadvertently confusing and incomplete.)

Motions can be made at any phase of the proceeding, to govern any aspect of the proceeding, and may seek procedural and/or substantive relief. Different rules govern different types of motions. A party making one type of motion may be subject to specific requirements governing such motion's timing and content; a party making a different type of motion may be governed by altogether different rules. Likewise, a court's decision on one type of motion will be governed by certain prescribed standards which would be completely inapplicable to a motion of another type.

To so much as understand a list of even the most common types of motions in civil practice requires something very nearly approaching a good law-school education. Since that is beyond the practical scope of this publication, I make the proposal stated above.

As I do not wish to wipe out work that's already been done here, I propose that each different type of motion be moved to a separate article (as has already been done for summary judgment). If a target article already exists (again, as in the case of summary judgment), leave it alone; where this no such article, move the definition now contained in this article to its new home.

As I am personally incapable of doing the initial formatting and hyperlinking, I will leave that to someone else. If my proposal is undertaken, however, I intend to contribute to the correction and explication of this article, and each separate article.

[edit] Directed from pretrial motion

I was looking for pretrial motion, but it redirected here, which has nothing on the subject.

[edit] Motions, detail

I really think we need a paralegal or lawyer to add depth to the various motions and add better examples. Gautam ^Discuss 17:13, 25 May 2008 (UTC)