David Dudley Field and the Field Code: A Historical Analysis of an Earlier Procedural Vision

Abstract

With current procedure under assault, this is a particularly important time to study the procedural rules and thought of David Dudley Field's era. The present espousal of such devices as case management and alternative dispute resolution is both a sign of and a reaction to a procedural regime that is in question and in decline, if not in its death throes. But before embarking on new procedural roads or recommitting ourselves to old paths, we need to reflect upon our procedural ancestry in some detail.