Definition
A formal written notification given by one party to an action — traditionally the plaintiff — informing the opposing party that the case has been placed on the trial calendar and will be called for trial at the next term or sitting of the court. It serves as the procedural mechanism by which a party signals readiness to proceed to trial after the pleadings have closed and triable issues have been joined.
The notice typically identifies the court, the parties, the case, and the time and place of trial. It is directed to the opposing party or their attorney of record.
The right and obligation to give notice of trial shifts depending on inaction: if the plaintiff fails to file within the applicable deadline, the defendant may give notice of trial in the plaintiff's place, or move to dismiss the action for want of prosecution.
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Common Confusion
NOTICE OF TRIAL vs. NOTICE OF HEARING: A notice of trial concerns the final adjudication of the merits of a case. A notice of hearing concerns a specific interlocutory motion or procedural event within the litigation. The two are procedurally distinct and governed by different rules and timelines. Historical sources sometimes use "notice" loosely across both contexts, which can mislead researchers working with older materials.
NOTICE OF TRIAL vs. TRIAL NOTICE (MODERN COURT SCHEDULING): In contemporary practice, courts in many jurisdictions have absorbed the scheduling function of notice of trial into court-generated scheduling orders or calendar notices. What historical sources describe as a party-initiated act of notice is now often a court-controlled function. Researchers must distinguish between the historical party-driven instrument and modern administrative scheduling procedures, which may carry the same name but operate differently.
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Why It Matters in Research
The notice of trial is a procedural artifact whose practical significance has shifted substantially over time, and this evolution creates real traps for the historical researcher.
In the common law practice reflected in Burrill, Bouvier, Black's, and Rapalje & Lawrence, the notice of trial was an affirmative party obligation. The plaintiff carried the burden of noticing the case for trial after issue was joined. Failure to do so had consequences — most importantly, the risk of a motion to dismiss for want of prosecution. This framing placed meaningful procedural responsibility on the plaintiff and made the notice of trial a live tactical instrument.
In modern federal practice and in many state systems, this model has been largely displaced. Federal courts operate under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which vest scheduling authority in the court through Rule 16 scheduling orders and local rules governing trial-ready certifications. The party-initiated notice of trial as described in historical dictionaries no longer exists as a standalone instrument in most federal courts. Researchers working with pre-Rules materials (pre-1938 federal practice) or with state practice in jurisdictions that retained code pleading longer should be alert to this structural difference.
State practice varies meaningfully. Some states — particularly those with busy urban trial courts — retain notice of trial requirements as a formal step in moving a case to a trial-ready calendar. Local rules govern the timing, form, and consequences of such notices and must be consulted independently.
For researchers using the Law Mind corpus to trace procedural history, the notice of trial connects to the broader evolution from common law pleading through code pleading to modern rules-based case management. The term appears frequently in nineteenth-century practice materials and in early twentieth-century state procedural codes, often with jurisdiction-specific timing requirements that have since been amended or replaced.
The want-of-prosecution consequence is particularly important when researching dismissal doctrine: historical cases involving dismissal for failure to prosecute often hinge on whether proper notice of trial was given or demanded, making this term a gateway to that body of case law.
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Historical Dictionary Support
The four historical sources are in close agreement on the core function of notice of trial, though they reflect slightly different emphases.
Burrill offers the most formal and technical description — a written notice, properly entitled, dated, addressed, and subscribed, stating that the cause will be brought to trial at the next term. His formulation captures the instrument as a matter of strict procedural form.
Black's is characteristically spare: a notice given after issue is reached, indicating intent to bring the cause forward at the next term.
Bouvier and Rapalje & Lawrence both emphasize the consequence of plaintiff inaction — the shift of the right to notice over to the defendant and the availability of a dismissal motion for want of prosecution. Rapalje & Lawrence also notes that the notice specifies the mode of trial (jury or bench), a detail absent from the other sources that is procedurally significant in jurisdictions where trial by jury must be affirmatively demanded.
None of the historical sources address the court-administered scheduling model that would come to dominate twentieth-century practice. They describe a world in which the parties, not the court, drove the case to trial. Researchers should treat these definitions as accurate for their era and jurisdiction of origin, not as descriptions of current procedure.
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Jurisdictional Note
In federal courts, the party-initiated notice of trial has been superseded by court-issued scheduling orders under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In many state courts, particularly those still operating under adapted code pleading frameworks, a formal notice of trial or note of issue requirement survives and carries distinct deadlines and consequences. Local rules govern timing and form and must be consulted for any specific jurisdiction.
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Bench Trials — The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia
Right to Speedy Trial (Sixth Amendment and Speedy Trial Act) — The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia
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