An administrative date set by the court and the date by which all relevant documents pertaining to the case must have been submitted.

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Note added at 2002-10-13 00:17:23 (GMT)
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See http://www.rechtspraak.nl/rechtbank/leeuwarden/reglementen/a...

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Note added at 2002-10-13 13:17:44 (GMT)
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See also: http://www.verdec.com/pt/help/termen/R.HTM

Rol: een lijst van de civiele zaken die op de zitting behandeld worden, waarbij aangegeven wordt welke stukken uitgewisseld moeten worden tussen partijen.

Rolzaak: procedure die (in beginsel) door een dagvaarding wordt aangebracht voor de civiele rechter.

Rolzitting: zitting in civiele zaken waar procedures worden behandeld en de stukken van de partijen worden uitgewisseld.

Roughly speaking:

"(...) if defendants do not appear or are not represented in the lawsuit (fyi: presently through an attorney) on the scheduled date as instructed (...)"

Roll dates are also apparently common, such as a roll date on a contract (date the contract is to expire), or a date something is to commence. Thus 'roll date' as is fits in this context.

Also, according to my Standaard Uitgeverij's NL-EN/EN-NL woordenboek, it says the 'rol' is synonymous with 'calendar' when referring to the accused (ie. defendants) So I'm sure you could squeeze in calendar date here as well, but the idea is that the date has been previously set and some event (not as in party, but the occurance of activity) is supposed to take place on that date. Thus most generally I would say 'scheduled date' as the most straight forward offer.



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Note added at 2002-10-13 00:59:19 (GMT)
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Other references:

FROM: http://sandbox.aiss.uiuc.edu/oracle/nca/gl/avgbal05.htm
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ROLL DATE--roll transactions to the nearest valid business day, within the same period, and complete posting.

You use this method to control non-business day processing of automated journals from your subsidiary ledger systems, such as Oracle Receivables and Oracle Payables.


FROM: http://pronet.futuresource.com/faq.htm
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What is a \"perpetual chart\"?

A perpetual chart is one where the front month automatically rolls to the next contract on its expiration (ROLL) DATE. The chart will grab the data at the designated roll point for the next forward month, instead of expiring at the contract\'s expiration date.


FROM: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/nycodes/c101/a25.html
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Section 592. (S 592.)
(...)
(b) At least forty-five days prior to the tentative ROLL DATE each year, the state board shall establish a tentative unit of production value for each economic profile and shall provide to appropriate local officials and industry representatives notice of the tentative unit of production values. The board shall conduct at least one public hearing to receive comments on the tentative unit of production values. At least fifteen days prior to the tentative ROLL DATE, the state board shall certify to each assessor appropriate unit of production values for use in the assessment of oil and gas economic units.

The rol is the agenda for that specific day/day.

I highly appreciate the opinion of the American Lawyer, but if answer for one or another reason is not acceptable I would describe it as the ''agenda for that day/date''

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Note added at 2002-10-13 08:16:02 (GMT)
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Rol and roldatum is very specific to the dutch legal system. If you speak about rol, one would think immy about a court-case.
It is one of those typical expressions like \'\'op de lat schrijven\'\'

It the day set down for hearing a complaint in court

zie ref.

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Note added at 2002-10-13 09:23:28 (GMT)
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another ref is: www.cookcountycourt.org/traffic_court/ faq/court_date_info.html