The New Illinois Civil Practice Act

Abstract

Passage of a new practice act controlling the civil procedure in the courts of the State of Illinois is an event of major importance not only in the jurisprudence of the state but also in the procedural history of the nation. The wave of reform of court procedure, which originated in New York in the middle of the last century and spread to a majority of the states, seemed to have dispelled itself some years ago so far as major changes in an entire state code were concerned. Recent procedural developments have been limited in the main to the perfection of special devices such as the summary judgment, the declaratory judgment and discovery before trial. The adoption of a new practice in one of our great states is therefore notable particularly when that state is the one long regarded as the outstanding stronghold of the ancient forms--the example to which law professors might still point of the enduring importance of common law pleading.