Minnesota State Law Library
Minnesota State Law Library
Email: Ask A Librarian Minnesota State Law Library
G25 Minnesota Judicial Center
25 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
Phone: 651-297-7651
Hours: 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM, M - F
The first court rules in Minnesota were published in 1849 by a court clerk in Stillwater when Minnesota was still a territory. Since then, court rules have evolved in both drafting and publication. The Minnesota Legislature granted authority to the Supreme Court in 1852 to construct the rules of court, and those rules were first included as an appendix in the General Statutes in 1927. Before this time, rules may have been published separately, and some statutes by the Legislature also covered court rules and procedure.
Interested in rules from 1974 to the present? Documents related to the drafting of these rules are available online. Visit our section titled "Older Court Rules Online" for more resources.
Researchers interested in court rules from the 1970s through 2011 can browse materials in the Supreme Court's Administrative Files Archives. Folders in the archive are titled by type of court rule (Civil Procedure Rules, Civil Appellate Procedure, Criminal Procedure Rules, etc.)
Documents related to the creation or amending of rules from 2012 to the present are located in the appellate court case management system, P-MACs. Visitors can search for documents by changing the "Case Group" drop-down to "Administrative Files." Use the "Case Title" field to to search for the type of rule you're interested in (ex. appellate).
The Office of the Revisor of Statute's website provides scans of older volumes of Minnesota Statutes. Beginning in 1927, these volumes include the court rules as an appendix. Statutes before and after 1927 also cover court procedure. To view these materials, select the year you are interested in and consult the PDF appendixes or table of contents, linked on the right.
In our positions as librarians, not lawyers, we can suggest resources but cannot give legal advice (such as which form to file) or legal opinions (such as how a statute might apply to particular facts). To do so could be considered the unauthorized practice of law. Even though we try to suggest materials that will be of help, more research is often required to find a complete and correct answer. For many questions, the best answer may be to consult an attorney.