Cite as: 517 U. S. 416 (1996)
Ginsburg, J., concurring
diction" as the "authority [of the court] to adjudicate the type of controversy involved in the action"); cf. United States v. Kember, 648 F. 2d 1354, 1357-1358 (CADC l980) (per curiam) (commenting on "manifold settings in which we employ the term [jurisdiction]" and distinguishing fundamental "jurisdiction" questions from issues of a less basic character); Center for Nuclear Responsibility, Inc. v. United States Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n, 781 F. 2d 935, 945, n. 4 (CADC 1986) (Ginsburg, J., dissenting) (questioning "profligate use" of the word "jurisdiction," in diverse contexts, "to mean many things—from the absence of a constitutional grant of judicial power to a statutory limit on time to appeal").
Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29(c) concerns a matter less basic. It is simply a time prescription. Rule 29(c)'s prescription is a tight one, to be sure. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 45(b) makes that clear by precluding extensions, even for "excusable neglect," after expiration of the seven days specified in Rule 29(c). But like limitation periods generally, see, e. g., Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs, 498 U. S. 89, 95 (1990) ("[t]ime requirements in lawsuits . . . are customarily subject to 'equitable tolling' "), the 29(c)/45(b) constraint is not utterly exceptionless.
This Court has recognized one sharply honed exception to rules of the 29(c)/45(b) genre. That exception covers cases in which the trial judge has misled a party who could have— and probably would have—taken timely action had the trial judge conveyed correct, rather than incorrect, information. See Thompson v. INS, 375 U. S. 384, 386-387 (1964) (per curiam) (had trial judge not misinformed party that his new trial motion was made "in ample time," party "could have, and presumably would have, filed the appeal within 60 days of the entry of the original judgment, rather than waiting, as he did, until after the trial court had disposed of the [new trial motion]"); Harris Truck Lines, Inc. v. Cherry Meat Packers, Inc., 371 U. S. 215, 216-217 (1962) (per curiam) (instructing that petitioner's appeal be heard on the merits
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