These rules will take effect on July 1, 1979.
Rule 86.Effective Date
Not amended since adoption on record · Last verified July 13, 2026
In one sentenceRule 86 sets July 1, 1979 as the date the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure took effect.
Full Text of Rule 86
Plain-English Summary
Rule 86 is a single sentence, but it marks a turning point in Arkansas civil practice: the date the modern, unified Rules of Civil Procedure began governing lawsuits statewide. Before a rule set takes effect, courts and lawyers need a fixed date to know which body of procedure applies to a given case -- Rule 86 supplies that date for the original 1979 rules.
Rule 86 speaks only to when the original rules as a whole took effect. It doesn't govern the many amendments made to individual rules in the decades since; each amended rule carries its own effective date in that rule's own History note. Rule 86 is best read as a historical marker rather than a provision anyone needs to apply today, since every case now pending is already subject to rules that took effect long ago.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure take effect?
July 1, 1979, according to Rule 86.
Does Rule 86 tell me when a later amendment to a specific rule took effect?
No. Rule 86 fixes only the effective date of the original 1979 rule set. Amendments to individual rules made since then carry their own effective dates, noted in that rule's History line rather than in Rule 86.
Why does a rule set need its own effective-date rule?
Courts need a fixed point at which a new procedural framework replaces whatever came before it, so that pending and future cases know which rules govern. Rule 86 supplies that fixed point for the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure as a whole.
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: effective date of Arkansas civil procedure ruleswhen did ARCP take effectJuly 1 1979 ruleshistory of Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure