NOTES TO RULE 7
HISTORY: (Amended Mar. 19, 1948; July 1, 1963; Aug. 1, 1983)
Notes of Advisory Committee on Rules.
1. A provision designating pleadings and defining a motion is common in the State practice acts. See Ill Rev Stat (1937), ch 110, § 156 (Designation and order of pleadings); 2 Minn Stat (Mason, 1927) § 9246 (Definition of motion); and NY CPA (1937) § 113 (Definition of motion). Former Equity Rules 18 (Pleadings--Technical Forms Abrogated), 29 (Defenses--How Presented), and 33 (Testing Sufficiency of Defense) abolished technical forms of pleading, demurrers, and pleas, and exceptions for insufficiency of an answer.
2. Note to Subdivision (a). This preserves the substance of former Equity Rule 31 (Reply--When Required--When Cause at Issue). Compare the English practice, English Rules Under the Judicature Act (The Annual Practice, 1937) O 23, r r 1, 2 (Reply to counterclaim; amended, 1933, to be subject to the rules applicable to defenses, O 21). See O 21, r r 1--14; O 27, r 13 (When pleadings deemed denied and put in issue). Under the codes the pleadings are generally limited. A reply is sometimes required to an affirmative defense in the answer. 1 Colo Stat Ann (1935) § 66; Ore Code Ann (1930) §§ 1-614, 1-616. In other jurisdictions no reply is necessary to an affirmative defense in the answer, but a reply may be ordered by the court. NC Code Ann (1935) § 525; 1 SD Comp Laws (1929) § 2357. A reply to a counterclaim is usually required. Ark Civ Code (Crawford, 1934) §§ 123--125; Wis Stat (1935) §§ 263.20, 263.21. USC Title 28, former § 45 (District courts; practice and procedure in certain cases) is modified insofar as it may dispense with a reply to a counterclaim.
For amendment of pleadings, see Rule 15 dealing with amended and supplemental pleadings.
3. All statutes which use the words "petition", "bill of complaint", "plea", "demurrer", and other such terminology are modified in form by this rule.
Notes of Advisory Committee on 1946 amendments to Rules.
This amendment [to subdivision (a)] eliminates any question as to whether the compulsory reply, where a counterclaim is pleaded, is a reply only to the counterclaim or is a general reply to the answer containing the counterclaim. The Commentary, Scope of Reply Where Defendant Has Pleaded Counterclaim, 1939, 1 Fed Rules Serv 672; Fort Chartres and Ivy Landing Drainage and Levee District No. Five v Thompson, ED Ill 1945, 8 Fed Rules Serv 13.32, Case 1.
Notes of Advisory Committee on 1963 amendments to Rules.
Certain redundant words are eliminated and the subdivision is modified to reflect the amendment of Rule 14(a) which in certain cases eliminates the requirement of obtaining leave to bring in a third-party defendant.
Notes of Advisory Committee on 1983 amendments to Rules.
One of the reasons sanctions against improper motion practice have been employed infrequently is the lack of clarity of Rule 7. That rule has stated only generally that the pleading requirements relating to captions, signing, and other matters of form also apply to motions and other papers. The addition of Rule 7(b)(3) makes explicit the applicability of the signing requirement and the sanctions of Rule 11, which have been amplified.