43A.01 Juror Notetaking. Jurors shall be instructed that they may take notes during the trial and deliberations. The court shall provide suitable materials for this purpose. Jurors shall have access to their notes during recesses and deliberations. After the jury has rendered a verdict, the notes shall be collected by court personnel who shall destroy them promptly.
Rule 43A.Juror Information
Last amended July 1, 2003 · Last verified July 2, 2026
In one sentenceRule 43A lets jurors take notes during trial and keep them during deliberations, lets the court provide jurors with notebooks of trial materials at its discretion, and lets a juror submit written questions for a witness that the judge screens with the parties before deciding whether to ask them.
Full Text of Rule 43A
43A.02 Juror Notebooks. When the court deems it helpful in a particular case, jurors may be provided with notebooks to use in collecting and organizing appropriate materials, including such items as jury instructions, written exhibits, and the juror's own notes. Counsel should be apprised of this procedure and invited to prepare exhibits and other materials in a way that facilitates their inclusion in the jurors' notebooks. At the end of the trial, the notebooks should be collected by court personnel and their contents destroyed, unless the court instructs to the contrary.
43A.03 Juror Questions of Witnesses. In the court's discretion, a juror desiring to propound a question to a witness may be permitted to do so. The juror must put the question in written form and submit it to the judge through a court officer at the end of a witness' testimony. The judge shall review all such questions and, outside the hearing of the jury, shall consult the parties about whether the question should be propounded. The judge, in his or her discretion, may ask the juror's question in whole or part and may change the wording of the juror's question before propounding it to the witness. The judge may permit counsel to ask the question in its original or amended form in whole or part, in the judge's discretion. When juror questions are permitted, early in the trial jurors shall be instructed about the mechanics of asking a question. In addition, the jurors shall be instructed to give no meaning to the fact that the judge chose not to ask a question or altered the wording of a question submitted by a juror. A juror's question shall be anonymous, so that the juror's name is not included in the question. All jurors' questions, whether approved or disapproved by the court, shall be retained for the record.
Advisory Commission Comments
Amendment History
- Added by order filed January 31, 2003, effective July 1, 2003.
Plain-English Summary
Rule 43A.01 makes juror note-taking a routine part of trial rather than a matter for a judge to decide case by case: jurors are told they may take notes, the court supplies the materials, and jurors keep access to their notes through recesses and deliberations. Once the verdict comes in, court personnel collect and promptly destroy the notes. Letting jurors take notes reflects a shift from an older, more cautious approach that worried note-taking might distract jurors or let more confident note-takers dominate deliberations — concerns the rule addresses by making note-taking available to every juror equally rather than leaving it to chance.
Rule 43A.02 is discretionary rather than mandatory: when the court finds it useful for a particular case, jurors can be given notebooks to organize jury instructions, exhibits, definitions, and their own notes. Counsel can be asked to help prepare the notebooks, and the court collects and destroys the contents after trial unless it decides otherwise.
Rule 43A.03 lets jurors submit written questions for a witness, at the court’s discretion. A juror writes the question and hands it to a court officer at the end of the witness’s testimony; the question stays anonymous, without the juror’s name attached. The judge reviews it, discusses it with the parties outside the jury’s hearing, and decides whether to ask it — in whole, in part, reworded, or not at all — and jurors are told that the judge’s choice carries no significance one way or the other. Every question submitted, whether it gets asked or not, is preserved in the record. The procedure gives jurors a more active role in following the evidence while keeping the judge and lawyers in control of what reaches the witness, addressing a real concern that unscreened juror questions could put improper or argumentative material in front of a witness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are jurors allowed to take notes during a Tennessee civil trial?
Yes. Rule 43A.01 makes note-taking standard practice: jurors are told they may take notes, the court provides materials, and jurors keep their notes available through deliberations before the notes are destroyed after the verdict.
Can jurors ask questions of witnesses?
Only through the court, and only at the court’s discretion. Rule 43A.03 requires a juror’s question to be submitted in writing and anonymously, and the judge reviews it with the parties before deciding whether and how to ask it.
What happens to juror notes and notebooks after the trial?
They are collected by court personnel and destroyed — notes under Rule 43A.01 promptly after the verdict, and notebook contents under Rule 43A.02 at the end of trial, unless the court orders otherwise.
Source & verification. The rule text and Advisory Commission Comments are reproduced verbatim from the
official Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure (Tenn. R. Civ. P. 43A). Prescribed by the Supreme Court of Tennessee (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 16-3-402 to 16-3-407, 16-3-601). The plain-English summary is original and written by us. Last verified July 2, 2026. ·
Official source
Also known as: juror notetakingjuror notebooksjuror questions to witnesses
Advisory Commission Comments [2003].
This new rule adds three procedures designed to assist jurors in the effective performance of their important functions. Rule 43A.01 specifically states that jurors are allowed to take notes during the trial and to use those notes during deliberations. The court is to provide the necessary materials and to collect and destroy the notes at the end of the trial. The premise of this rule is that jurors, like judges and lawyers, may find it helpful to take notes during the trial in order to assist in remembering the evidence.
Rule 43A.02 authorizes the court, in its discretion, to provide jurors with notebooks to use in collecting and organizing the various materials presented to the jury. The notebook might include such items as jury instructions, copies of exhibits (photographs, charts, etc.), basic definitions of words used in the trial, and any other appropriate materials. The court is given the discretion whether to use notebooks. The court might want to ask counsel to assist in the preparation of the notebooks. The content and financial aspects of the notebooks might be discussed and resolved during pretrial conference. After the trial, the court may collect the notebooks and destroy any contents that will not be used again, although the exact disposition is left to the court's discretion. Rule 43A.03 gives the court the discretion to allow jurors to ask questions of witnesses. This rule is designed to assist jurors in their understanding of evidence and to make them feel more involved in the trial process. The procedure in this rule should ensure that improper questions are not propounded to witnesses. After a witness has completed testimony, a juror desiring to ask a question must submit that question in writing to a court officer who will give it to the judge. The question shall be submitted without identifying the juror who asked it. The judge then screens the question. Counsel shall be invited to comment on the propriety of the question out of the hearing of the jury. The court is given the discretion to reject or ask the question in whole or in part, to rephrase it, and to have counsel ask the question of the witness. If necessary, the court may accompany the question or the rejection of the question with appropriate jury instructions. All questions are to be retained for the record.