These rules shall govern the procedure in the circuit courts in all suits or actions of a civil nature with the exceptions stated in Rule 81. They shall be construed and administered to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action.
Rule 1.Scope of Rules
Last amended July 1, 2001 · Last verified July 13, 2026
In one sentenceRule 1 makes these rules the procedural rulebook for every civil suit in Arkansas circuit court, aside from the exceptions in Rule 81, and directs courts to apply them toward a just, speedy, and inexpensive result.
Full Text of Rule 1
Amendment History
Amended November 18, 1996, effective March 1, 1997; amended May 24, 2001, effective July 1, 2001.
Plain-English Summary
Rule 1 tells you which cases these rules cover: every civil suit filed in an Arkansas circuit court, except for the special proceedings carved out in Rule 81, such as probate, adoption, and other matters governed by their own statutory procedures. If you are filing or defending an ordinary civil case in circuit court — a contract dispute, a personal injury claim, a request for an injunction — this rule and the ones that follow supply the roadmap.
The second sentence carries the weight. It directs courts to construe and apply every rule that follows toward one goal: a just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution. That instruction is not a technicality. When a rule's language is ambiguous, or when a judge weighs whether to grant an extension, allow an amendment, or excuse a missed deadline, this mandate supplies the lens. Courts read the body of civil procedure through it, favoring outcomes that resolve disputes on the merits over outcomes that turn on procedural traps.
Rule 1 does not grant any party a right or a remedy on its own. Instead, it sets the interpretive backdrop against which the other active rules operate, and it fixes the boundary of the rules' reach — circuit court, civil cases, subject to Rule 81's exceptions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What courts does Rule 1 govern?
Arkansas circuit courts, in civil cases of every kind, with the exceptions listed in Rule 81. Since Constitutional Amendment 80 merged Arkansas's trial courts, the circuit court handles both what used to be law and equity matters, so Rule 1's reach covers nearly all civil litigation in the state's trial courts.
What does "just, speedy, and inexpensive" mean in practice?
It is a standing instruction to judges interpreting and applying every other civil rule. When a rule could be read more than one way, or when a court is deciding how much leeway to give a party who missed a step, this phrase pushes toward resolving the case on its merits rather than on a technical misstep, and toward avoiding delay and needless cost.
Does Rule 1 apply to probate or domestic relations cases?
Domestic relations cases are ordinary civil actions and fall under these rules. Probate matters are more mixed: many are "special proceedings" under Rule 81 governed by their own statutory procedures, though some probate matters — such as reducing a claim against an estate to judgment — are civil actions subject to these rules.
Why does Rule 1 matter if it doesn't create a specific right or claim?
Because every other rule gets read against it. Rule 1 supplies the guiding principle courts use when a procedural question does not have a clean answer elsewhere in the rules, which makes it a starting point for arguments about how flexibly or strictly a given rule should be applied.
Source & verification. Rule text, Reporter's Notes, and amendment
history are reproduced verbatim from the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure, prescribed by
the Arkansas Supreme Court. The plain-English summary is original and written by us.
Last verified July 13, 2026. ·
Official source
Also known as: scope of arkansas rules of civil procedurearkansas civil rule 1which courts use arkansas rules of civil procedurejust speedy inexpensive determination arkansas