(a) Courts Always Open. The Superior and District Courts shall be deemed always open for the purpose of filing any pleading or other proper paper, of issuing and returning mesne and final process, and of making and directing all interlocutory motions, orders, and rules. Filings after normal business hours and at places other than appropriate for the venue of the proceeding are governed by Rule 5(g).
Rule 77.Superior and District Courts and Clerks
Last amended May 1, 2017 · Last verified July 8, 2026
In one sentenceRule 77 keeps the Superior and District Courts always open for filing and processing papers, requires trials to be held in open court while other matters can be handled in chambers, sets the clerk's office hours and the clerk's authority to grant routine matters, and requires the clerk to notify parties whenever an order or judgment is entered.
Full Text of Rule 77
(b) Trials and Hearings; Orders in Chambers. All trials upon the merits shall be conducted in open court and so far as convenient in a regular courtroom. All other acts or proceedings may be done or conducted by a justice or judge in chambers, without the attendance of the clerk or other court officials and at any place either within or without the county or division where the action is pending.
(c) Clerk’s Office and Orders by Clerk. The clerk’s office with the clerk or a deputy in attendance shall be open on all days except Saturdays, Sundays, legal holidays, and such other days as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court may designate. The hours of operation shall be designated by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court by way of administrative Order. All motions and applications in the clerk’s office for issuing mesne process, for issuing final process to enforce and execute judgments, for entering defaults or judgments by default, and for other proceedings that do not require allowance or order of the court are grantable of course by the clerk; but the clerk’s action may be suspended or altered or rescinded by the court upon cause shown.
(d) Notice of Orders or Judgments. Immediately upon the entry of an order or judgment the clerk shall serve a notice of the entry in a manner provided for in Rule 5 upon every party who is not in default for failure to appear, and shall make a note in the docket accordingly. In lieu of serving a notice of the docket entry, the clerk may serve a copy of the order or judgment in a manner provided for in Rule 5. Any such service is sufficient notice for all purposes for which notice of the entry of an order is required by these rules; but any party may in addition serve a notice of such entry in the manner provided in Rule 5 for the service of papers. Lack of notice of the entry by the clerk does not affect the time to appeal or relieve or authorize the court to relieve a party for failure to appeal within the time allowed, except as permitted in the Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure.
(e) Facsimile Signature of the Clerk. A facsimile of the signature of the clerk imprinted at the clerk’s direction upon any summons, writ, subpoena, judgment, order or notice, except executions and criminal process, shall have the same validity as the clerk’s signature.
Advisory Committee’s Notes & Reporter’s Notes
Advisory Note – May 2017
Rule 77(c) is changed to address an inconsistency with the Maine Rule of Unified Criminal Procedure 54(b) regarding the hours of operation of the Clerk’s offices. For years, both Rules were identical and provided that the chiefs of the trial courts had authority to designate the hours of operation. This direction may have been necessary to address what were formerly different clerks’ offices for each trial court in many courthouses. However, with practical consolidation of most clerks’ offices as a result of changes resulting from the adoption of the Maine Rules of Unified Criminal Procedure, decision-making by both trial court chiefs was no longer necessary. Recently Criminal Rule 54(b) was amended to provide that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court has the authority to designate those hours of operation. The first two sentences of Rule 77(c) now incorporate the language of Criminal Rule 54(b).
Advisory Note — April 2015
Rule 77(b)(2) is deleted because the content of that provision is superseded by provisions contained in Rule 76H(b). Former subdivision(b)(1) is reformatted as subdivision (b).
Advisory Committee’s Notes — July 1, 2001
The amendment [to Rule 77(d)] strikes the reference to Rule 73(a) of the civil appeal rules which is being replaced by the Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure. A specific rule citation is not needed in this reference.
Advisory Committee’s Notes — May 1, 2000
Subdivision (a) is amended to recognize the after hours filing provisions and limitations of the filing Administrative Orders of September 19, 1997.
Subdivision (b) is amended by adding a subdivision (2) relating to recording as directed by the transcript production Administrative Orders of September 19, 1997.
Advisory Committee's Note
to February 15, 1983, Amendment of Rule 77 (d):
This change permits notice of an order or judgment to be delivered to a party in hand or as otherwise permitted in Rule 5. The purpose of this change is to encourage giving an immediate notice while the parties are in court which will encourage savings of postage.
Advisory Committee's Note — May 15, 1974
Since the organization of the District Court its Chief Judge has designated the hours and days when the District Court clerks' offices are open. See D.C.C.R. 77(c). This amendment puts into the hands of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court the comparable function of designating any days (in addition to Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays) on which the offices of the clerks of courts will be closed. The Committee believes that the substitution of the Chief Justice for the county commissioners of the sixteen counties is most desirable in order both to achieve statewide uniformity and to give prime consideration to the needs of the courts.
The existing rule is ambiguous in requiring the clerk's office to be open “during business hours.” This ambiguity is removed by also giving the Chief Justice the responsibility for designating those hours for being open.
Rule 6(a), relating to computation of time periods, is at the same time amended to give any day on which the Chief Justice orders the clerk's office closed the same effect as a legal holiday. Also, Rules 56 and 45(a) of the Maine Rules of Criminal Procedure are being amended in the same ways as their counterparts, Rules 77(c) and 6(a), of the Civil Rules.
Advisory Committee's Note — November 1, 1969
The amendment of Rule 77(e) is intended to put beyond any possible doubt the use of the facsimile signature of the clerk on any judgment. By proposing the amendment to Rule 77(e) the Committee is not to be taken as believing that a judgment entered under the existing rule with use of the clerk's facsimile signature is for that reason invalid. The Committee is of the opinion that the present Rule 77(e) was intended to cover broadly all types of papers issued by the clerk, the breadth of the papers intended to be included being emphasized by the single express exception for "executions and criminal process.” Although Rule 54(a), which declares that "judgment" "includes a decree and any order from which an appeal lies", does not answer the question of whether "order" in Rule 77(e) includes a judgment, it would seem strange if a facsimile signature could be used on something which was called an "order" but could not be used on something which was called a "judgment.” The official forms for judgments, Form 28 and Form 29, both of which are signed by the clerk of the Superior Court as a mere ministerial act (Rule 58), contain the language, "It is Ordered and Adjudged". (Emphasis added) Both the entry of default and the entry of judgment by default are also mere ministerial acts requiring no judicial determination or exercise of discretion on the part of the clerk. See Field & McKusick, Maine Civil Practice §§ 55.1, 55.3 (1959). Thus, there is no policy reason forbidding the use of facsimile signatures on those papers. The same is true of the entry of judgment upon the verdict of the jury or upon the direction of the court. Under Rule 58 there are in certain circumstances standing directions to the clerk to enter judgment automatically and as a ministerial act. See id. at § 58.2.
Although the Committee is confident that the Law Court would rule that a judgment entered on the facsimile signature of the clerk was not invalid for that reason, it proposes the amendment of the rule in order that the question need not even be litigated.
Explanation of Amendment
(Nov. 1, 1966)
This amendment was taken from a 1963 amendment to F.R. 77(d). It simply eliminated the words “affected thereby” in order to conform to M.R.C.P. 5(a) and to the 1966 amendment of M.R.C.P. 24(c).
Reporter's Notes — December 1, 1959
This rule is substantially the same as Federal Rule 77, with the addition of subdivision (e) which takes into the rules the provisions of R.S.1954, Chap. 106, Sec. 9 [now 4 M.R.S.A. § 108].
Plain-English Summary
The courts are deemed always open for filing pleadings or other papers, issuing and returning process, and handling interlocutory motions, orders, and rules — though filing after normal hours or at an unusual place follows Rule 5(g) instead. Trials on the merits happen in open court, ordinarily in a regular courtroom, while other acts or proceedings can be handled by a justice or judge in chambers, without the clerk present, anywhere inside or outside the county or division where the case is pending.
The clerk's office stays open every day except weekends, legal holidays, and any other day the Chief Justice designates, with hours set by administrative order. Routine matters — issuing process, entering defaults or default judgments, and similar matters that don't need a judge's order — are grantable by the clerk as a matter of course, though the court can suspend, alter, or rescind what the clerk did for cause shown. Immediately after an order or judgment is entered, the clerk must serve notice of it (or a copy of it) on every party not in default for failing to appear, and note that in the docket; a party can also serve its own notice, but the clerk's lack of notice doesn't extend the time to appeal except as the Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure allow. A facsimile of the clerk's signature, imprinted at the clerk's direction, carries the same validity as an actual signature on most court papers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Maine's courts ever officially "closed" for filing purposes?
No, the Superior and District Courts are deemed always open for filing pleadings and other papers, issuing and returning process, and handling interlocutory motions and orders.
Which matters can the clerk grant without a judge's order?
Matters that don't require the court's allowance — issuing process, entering defaults or default judgments, and similar routine actions — though the court can suspend, alter, or rescind the clerk's action for cause.
Does the clerk have to notify parties when an order or judgment is entered?
Yes, immediately upon entry, the clerk serves notice (or a copy) on every party not in default for failing to appear, though lack of that notice doesn't extend the time to appeal except as the Rules of Appellate Procedure permit.
Source & verification. The rule text and Advisory Committee’s Notes / Reporter’s
Notes are reproduced verbatim from the official Maine Rules of Civil Procedure (Me. R. Civ. P. 77), prescribed by the
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine (4 M.R.S. § 8, the Rules Enabling Act). The plain-English summary is original and written by us. Last verified July 8, 2026. ·
Official source
Also known as: courts always open Maineclerk authority routine mattersnotice of entry of judgmentfacsimile signature of clerk