Every direction of a court made or entered in writing and not included in a judgment is an order.
Rule 74.02.Order.
Part I · Rule 74: Judgments, Orders and Proceedings Thereon · Last amended January 1, 1988 · Last verified July 22, 2026
In one sentenceRule 74.02 draws a clean line between judgments and orders by defining an order as any written court direction that is not itself a judgment.
Full Text of Rule 74.02
Amendment History
Adopted May 22, 1987, eff. Jan. 1, 1988.
Official Comment
This Rule is the same as Section 506.050, RSMo 1959.
Plain-English Summary
This is one of the shortest rules in the civil procedure book, and it does one job: it defines an order. Under Rule 74.02, any direction a court makes or enters in writing that is not part of a judgment is an order. Everything that is not a judgment under Rule 74.01 — and is still a written court directive — falls into this category.
The distinction carries real weight elsewhere in the rules. Judgments trigger appeal rights and specific post-judgment deadlines. Orders, standing alone, generally do not carry the same finality, and many of them remain open to revision until the court enters judgment on the whole case. Knowing which category a given ruling falls into tells a party whether the clock has started on an appeal or a post-trial motion.
The official comment notes that this rule traces back to a 1959 Missouri statute, underscoring that the judgment-order distinction is not new — it has organized Missouri civil procedure for decades.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a court ruling an “order” instead of a “judgment”?
If the ruling is a written direction from the court and does not meet Rule 74.01’s definition of a judgment, it is an order under Rule 74.02.
Can an order be appealed?
Not on its own in most cases. Whether a particular order can be appealed depends on other rules and statutes; Rule 74.02 only supplies the definition, not the appeal rights.
Does an order need to be in writing to count under this rule?
Yes. Rule 74.02 covers directions “made or entered in writing.” A purely oral ruling from the bench is not an order under this rule until it is put in writing.
How does Rule 74.02 relate to Rule 74.01?
The two rules work together. Rule 74.01 defines what a judgment is; Rule 74.02 sweeps in everything else that is a written court direction but does not qualify as a judgment.
Where does this rule come from?
The official comment traces it to a 1959 Missouri statute, showing the judgment/order distinction predates the modern rules of civil procedure.
Source & verification. Rule text and amendment history are
reproduced verbatim from the Missouri State & Federal Court Rules, adopted by the
Supreme Court of Missouri. Last verified July 22, 2026. ·
Official source
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