Rule 81.Applicability of Rules.

Rule 81 marks the boundary of these rules by listing proceedings that don't follow the ordinary civil rules, in whole or in part, and by confirming where the rules do apply.

Under subdivision (a)(1), the rules don't apply during the process and pleading stages of probate appeals, condemnation proceedings, petitions to enforce mechanics' liens, and statutory petitions for receiverships and for dissolving corporations. These case types start under their own statutory filing procedures rather than the standard complaint-and-answer process, though the rules can still take over once a case has moved past that early stage.

Under subdivision (a)(2), the rules don't apply at all to assignments for the benefit of creditors, petitions to foreclose the redemption of interests in land sold for nonpayment of taxes, naturalization proceedings, or prerogative writs — except where Rule 81 or Rule 80 itself governs a prerogative writ. Subdivision (a)(3) adds one more full exclusion: these rules don't apply to petitions for a writ of habeas corpus.

Subdivision (b) covers civil actions certified on appeal from District Court. Neither side has to replead unless the court orders it. The plaintiff has ten days after certification to serve an amended complaint, and if the plaintiff doesn't replead within that time, the defendant gets ten more days to raise additional defenses or counterclaims by motion or answer; after that, amendments follow the ordinary rules. If nobody repleads, every claim and defense available in District Court stays available on appeal. A jury demand is due within ten days of certification unless it was already made in District Court, and a docket notation calling the case a jury case isn't enough on its own. Discovery under Rules 26 through 37 generally doesn't apply to these appeals unless the court orders it on notice and a showing that skipping discovery would cause injustice or undue hardship, though material already obtained through District Court discovery can still be used at trial of the appeal.

Subdivision (c) puts actions for a writ of mandamus squarely under these rules. Subdivision (d) handles vocabulary: when a statute that also applies to a proceeding uses terms that clash with these rules, those terms are read to mean whatever device or procedure these rules use.