Civil Practice Law and Rules

The New York Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR) is chapter 8 of the Consolidated Laws of New York and governs legal procedure in the Unified Court System such as jurisdiction, venue, and pleadings, as well certain areas of substantive law such as the statute of limitations and joint and several liability.

The CPLR has approximately 700 individual sections and rules which are divided into 70 articles. It has been the law of New York since 1962, when it replaced the older "Civil Practice Act". A committee of the New York State Bar Association, the Committee on Civil Practice Law and Rules, monitors the law and periodically proposes amendments.