ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION FROM INAUGURAL COMMITTEE

The Supreme Court of Florida, by resolution adopted March 12, 1962, established the Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions “as an auxiliary arm of this Court . . . for the study and development of a program for standard jury instructions.” The Committee, whose members were appointed by and have served at the pleasure of the Chief Justice, succeeded to the efforts and responsibilities of a similar committee of The Florida Bar, which has, through its permanent staff, continued to contribute substantially as an organization to the development and publication of this book.

The work of the Committee was activated by Chief Justice Roberts in June 1962 when he named twenty-one Florida lawyers and judges to be members of the Committee, of which T. J. Blackwell of Miami was named Chairman and Chester Bedell of Jacksonville, Vice Chairman. Using as its guide the recently published Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions (Burdette Smith Co., Chicago, 1961), the product of the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Jury Instructions, the Committee members undertook individually to prepare initial drafts of proposed pattern jury instructions appropriate for use in civil cases under Florida law. A great deal of effort was devoted to the work during the next year and a half by the members of the Committee and especially by Chairman Blackwell. The Committee labored to produce jury instructions that would express the applicable issues and guiding legal principles briefly and in simple, understandable language, without argument, without unnecessary repetition, and without reliance on negative charges.

Following Chairman Blackwell’s death in February 1964, Chief Justice Drew appointed the then Vice Chairman to continue as Chairman. At a reorganizational meeting held in April 1964 at Tallahassee with members of the Court present, the Committee resolved itself into five area subcommittees whose responsibility it became to review the existing work and to submit, for consideration by the general Committee, drafts of instructions on assigned subjects. A steering committee resolved in May 1964 that “the full Committee’s initial efforts should be confined to the preparation and publication of standard instructions for use in the trial of negligence cases,” assigned to the subcommittees specific areas of work, and reaffirmed adherence to the basic policies which previously guided the Committee. The steering committee also requested that the subcommittees recommend, in appropriate situations, that no instruction be given on a specific subject within the general field of the subject matter assigned to that subcommittee.

At several meetings of the full Committee in 1964 and 1965, the drafts submitted by the area subcommittees and individual members were thoroughly discussed and reworked and thereafter resubmitted and reworked repeatedly. These efforts continued in 1966 until the Committee thought it no longer fruitful to work otherwise than as the full Committee. Accordingly, the Committee thereafter held two‑day sessions more frequently and, in January 1967, completed all but the final editorial work on Florida Standard Jury Instructions.

The Supreme Court, on April 19, 1967, approved the Committee’s work and authorized its publication by The Florida Bar. The Bar has made Florida Standard Jury Instructions generally available in the form of a small, looseleaf book. The Bar has also furnished to the State’s circuit judges a considerably larger edition of the same work, likewise bound in a spiral‑type book, with large and distinct type printed on heavy ledger paper.

The Committee gratefully acknowledges and calls to the attention of the Bench and Bar the contributions made to this work by three of its members who died while in the service of the Committee: The Honorable T. J. Blackwell, of Miami, first Chairman of the Committee, who died on February 18, 1964; the Honorable H. Reid DeJarnette, of Miami, who died on March 26, 1964; and the Honorable William C. Gaither, of Miami, who died on January 25, 1967, having entered the hospital at a time when he had planned to attend one of the last meetings of the Committee. Mr. Gaither’s contributions of time and effort had a special influence on the form and content of the work that was finally approved by the Committee and by the Court for publication as Florida Standard Jury Instructions.

The Committee is indebted to The Florida Bar and to its staff, especially Wade L. Hopping, formerly Director of Continuing Legal Education, and Preston W. DeMilly, presently Acting Director, who have provided valuable assistance in the preparation and publication of this work. The Committee likewise acknowledges its indebtedness to Gerald C. Snyder, Esquire, of Waukegan, Illinois, and to the Illinois Supreme Court Committee of which he has been chairman, for that committee’s pioneering efforts which resulted in the publication of Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions; and to the authors and publishers of Wisconsin Jury Instructions (Univ. of Wisc., Madison, 1962), Minnesota Jury Instruction Guides (West Publishing Co., St. Paul, 1963), New York Pattern Jury Instructions — Civil (Baker, Voorhis & Co., Inc., Mount Kisco, and Lawyers Co‑operative Publishing Co., Rochester, 1965), Pattern Instructions for Kansas (Bancroft-Whitney Co., San Francisco, and Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Co., Rochester, 1966), and other such volumes which have appeared since 1961 and have assisted the Committee in anticipating and resolving the common problems which those volumes and this one attempt to overcome.
In many ways, Florida Standard Jury Instructions is similar to the standard or pattern instructions adopted and published for use in other States. In many other ways, Florida Standard Jury Instructions is unique in form and content. It has been the Committee’s purpose not to merely reproduce in terms of Florida law the work of others but rather to improve upon their work and, where possible, to innovate for the more effective administration of justice in the trial of jury cases. In committing its work into the hands of the trial Bench and Bar for the test of experience, the Committee finally expresses its appreciation to the Supreme Court and to The Florida Bar for having made this effort possible.

The Supreme Court Committee on
Standard Jury Instructions
April 1967