Rule 1.Scope and purpose.

Rule 1 opens the rule book by defining its own reach: it governs every civil action and proceeding in Arizona's superior courts, whatever the underlying claim. Arizona built these rules on the model of the federal rules, so when a state rule tracks its federal counterpart closely, courts often look to how federal courts have read that rule for guidance.

The rule also tells judges and litigants how to read everything that follows it: the goal is a just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution of each case. That instruction matters in practice — courts have used it to keep a case moving rather than letting a party sink it over a procedural misstep, and to explain why the reach of the civil rules extends into areas, like water rights adjudications, that do not look like ordinary “civil actions” at first glance.

Because the rulemaking power for court procedure belongs to the judiciary under Arizona's constitution, the legislature cannot rewrite these rules by statute. That separation keeps the rules of civil procedure and the rules of evidence under the Arizona Supreme Court's control, distinct from ordinary legislation.