Edson R. Sunderland's Role in Michigan Procedure

Abstract

M oi~a than any other individual, Professor Edson R. Sundernland has had a tremendous impact upon the Michigan law of procedure. The procedural reforms which he urged and molded into the Michigan law of procedure have been in use for nearly half a century, and to this day are the framework for our procedural laws. The writer's awareness of Professor Sunderland's influence on Michigan procedural laws has been intensified through years of labor and study in that same field. Professor Sunderland's impact on the writer began at the inception of our professional training. In our first semester at the University of Michigan Law School we were imbued with the form and structure of common law pleading under the tutelage of Professor Sunderland. The archaic forms of the law which constituted the subject matter of common law pleadings were made to come to life with a direct, simple and graphic approach in a course of study that could easily have been dry and difficult. The fledgling student was taught to understand the common law forms as the historic vehicles for the processing of litigation as well as the aims and purposes which they served and their relation to modem-day needs and requirements. What the novice did not and could not understand was, however, that his teacher was molding these views not merely in the minds of his students, but as a part of the framework of the procedural rules for the entire Bar and Bench of the state. Those of us who have succeeded him in carrying on this work have for the most part followed the basic patterns and signposts which he created. In no field of law is a change more embracing than in the field of procedure. A revision in any one field of law generally has little effect on other fields. A change in procedure, however, must in a sense affect all fields of the law. All laws are dependent upon the courts for their effectuation. To secure court adjudication in any area of the law requires compliance with the rules of procedure. Hence, the impact of procedural changes cuts across all other fields of the law and in that sense it has a dominant influence in the administration and effectuation of justice. Professor Sun