FEDERAL RULES OF CIVILPROCEDURE
X. District Courts and Clerks
Rule 77 District Courtsand Clerks
(a) District Courts AlwaysOpen. The district courts shall be deemed always open for thepurpose of filing any pleading or other proper paper, of issuingand returning mesne and final process, and of making anddirecting all interlocutory motions, orders, and rules.
(b) Trials and Hearings; Ordersin Chambers. All trials upon the merits shall be conducted inopen court and so far as convenient in a regular court room. Allother acts or proceedings may be done or conducted by a judge inchambers, without the attendance of the clerk or other courtofficials and at any place either within or without the district;but no hearing, other than one ex parte, shall be conductedoutside the district without the consent of all parties affectedthereby.
(c) Clerk's Office and Ordersby Clerk. The clerk's office with the clerk or a deputy inattendance shall be open during business hours on all days exceptSaturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, but a district court mayprovide by local rule or order that its clerk's office shall beopen for specified hours on Saturdays or particular legalholidays other than New Year's Day, Birthday of Martin LutherKing, Jr., Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day,Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, andChristmas Day. All motions and applications in the clerk's officefor issuing mesne process, for issuing final process to enforceand execute judgments, for entering defaults or judgments bydefault, and for other proceedings which do not require allowanceor order of the court are grantable of course by the clerk; butthe clerk's action may be suspended or altered or rescinded bythe court upon cause shown.
(d) Notice of Orders orJudgments. Immediately upon the entry of an order or judgmentthe clerk shall serve a notice of the entry by mail in the mannerprovided for in Rule 5 uponeach party who is not in default for failure to appear, and shallmake a note in the docket of the mailing. Any party may inaddition serve a notice of such entry in the manner provided in Rule 5 for the service of papers. Lack of noticeof the entry by the clerk does not affect the time of appeal orrelieve or authorize the court to relieve a party for failure toappeal within the time allowed, except as permitted in Rule 4(a) of the Federal Rules of AppellateProcedure.
[As amended Dec. 27, 1946, eff.Mar. 19, 1948; Jan. 21, 1963, eff. July 1, 1963; Dec. 4, 1967,eff. July 1, 1968; March 1, 1971, eff. July 1, 1971; Mar. 2,1987, eff. Aug. 1, 1987; Apr. 30, 1991, eff. Dec. 1, 1991.]
