Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Conformity Act

Hist. An 1872 federal statute providing that the practice and procedure in federal district courts (other than in equity and admiralty matters) must conform to the practice and procedure used by the state courts for like cases. 0 The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (effective in 1938) superseded the Conformity Act. "[E]ven where there was conformity, it was to be as near as may be,' and this was understood by the Court to make the Conformity Act to some extent only directory and advisory' and to permit the federal judge to disregard a state practice that would, in his view, unwisely encumber the administration of the law, or tend to defeat the ends of justice.' With all these exceptions to conformity, and with the judge left somewhat at large to decide when he would conform, it is hardly surprising that the result was, in th