RE: Judicial Forms

Evidently Deb taxes and legal size paper were invented but judicial forms weren't

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_rn=2&gs_ri=hp&cp=35&gs_id=6&xhr=t&q=Why+were+judicial+forms+%22invented%22&es_nrs=true&pf=p&tbo=d&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&oq=Why+were+judicial+forms+%22invented%22%3F&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42080656,d.cGE&fp=afc0186de64820b1&biw=1403&bih=848

Thank you dalehileman...

I am still unsure how to answer this question.
This following question came up in an assignment for my paralegal course ( CA. and FED. Civil Procedures Legal Forms).

Why were forms "invented"?

How would you answer it?


Thank you for your time. It is appreciated.

- Debra75

You're welcome though I'm not sure I've helped

I had made the assumption that a "judicial form" was some specific kind of which I have no knowledge. Possibly Deb we're sunk in some sort of semantic spiral

Thanks for clarifying the question a bit.

The forms were likely created because there are basic elements to trials (and all evidence is for leading to a trial, although most of it never gets that far. But proofs are only gathered toward the purpose of going to a trial, and the initial presumption should be that a complaint will, in time, lead to a trial).

What I mean is, there are tons of rules of evidence which have been honed over the course of hundreds of years of legal procedures. We have, in civil law, usually proof by the preponderance of the evidence (let's not think about clear and convincing evidence for now, okay?). But what's admissible? What sorts of standards must be followed? Therefore, a civil complaint needs to allege all of the elements of whatever's being alleged. Let's say it's civil battery. Then it's got to allege that there was improper, nonconsensual touching, and that the touching was performed by the respondent.

Further, it's for basic record-keeping. You need to subpoena someone. You fill out the form with their name, their address, the name of the case, the name of the firm, etc., and that way the court knows that it's your Smith v. Jones case as opposed to the one they handled in 1947. Plus a notary stamp is required, as a means of giving credence to signatures. E. g. the notary is under oath by the state and is required to know who is signing before s/he signs off on a document. Hence the notary stamp tells the court clerk that someone checked IDs.