Sumners Courts Act

UNITED STATES STATUTES AT LARGE

76TH CONGRESS - 3RD SESSION

SUMNERS COURTS ACT

JUNE 29, 1940

76 P.L. 675; 76 Cong. Ch. 445; 54 Stat. 688

AN ACT

To give the Supreme Court of the United States authority to prescribe rules of pleading, practice, and procedure with respect to proceedings in criminal cases prior to and including verdict, or finding or plea of guilty.


 * Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

That the Supreme Court of the United States shall have the power to prescribe, from time to time, rules of pleading, practice, and procedure with respect to any or all proceedings prior to and including verdict, or finding of guilty or not guilty by the court if a jury has been waived, or plea of guilty, in criminal cases in district courts of the United States, including the district courts of Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Canal Zone, and the Virgin Islands, in the Supreme Courts of Hawaii and Puerto Rico, in the United States Court for China, and in proceedings before United States commissioners. Such rules shall not take effect until they shall have been reported to Congress by the Attorney General at the beginning of a regular session thereof and until after the close of such session, and thereafter all laws in conflict therewith shall be of no further force and effect.

Approved, June 29, 1940.