REFORMS IN CIVIL PROCEDURE IN THE UK

In England and Wales the new procedural code, called Civil Procedure Rules (CPR), came into force in 1999 and now governs proceedings in the civil cases. The Rules made radical changes to civil process, namely the new procedure for managing civil cases was introduced where the judge became the case manager. Juries are now rare in civil actions, so normally the judge considers both points of law and questions of fact.

Claimants, previously referred to as plaintiffs, may seek a legal remedy for some harm or injury they have suffered. Most claims are initiated by the use of a claim form, which functions as a summons. Once a claim has been issued, a copy is served on, that is, delivered to the defendant with a response pack enclosing a form of admission and a form of defence for the defendant to either admit the claim, or to defend it. The response pack also contains an acknowledgement of service form to confirm receipt of the claim, and a counterclaim form to be used if the defendant wishes to claim against the claimant. A defendant must respond within 14 days of service of the particulars of the claim. If the defendant does not respond, judgment may be given in favour of ¹ the claimant.

The new stage in civil litigation when a decision is made by the judge as to how the case is to be dealt with is called allocation. After each of the parties has completed and filed an allocation questionnaire, a case is allocated to one of three regimes or tracks by a procedural judge, depending on the value of the dispute as well as the nature of the remedy sought, and the likely complexity of the case (facts, law, or evidence): the small claims track (for cases worth less than £5,000), fast track (for claims of up to £15,000), or multi-track (more complex claims with a greater value).

Each case is actively managed by the judge on a timetable for litigation set and controlled by the court with the aims of encouraging and facilitating cooperation between the parties, identifying the areas in dispute, and encouraging settlement. The court can control progress of the case and even “strike out” the action; the judge is also entitled to make detailed instructions, known as practice directions, supplementing procedure rules.

Fast track directions might include disclosure, where the claimant tells the defence of any relevant documents in their possession. This is followed by inspection, initiated by a written request by the claimant to look at relevant documents held by the defence, and an exchange of witness statements. The multi track regime is intended to be flexible and does not have a standard procedure. In all regimes, parties are encouraged to settle their differences and for this purpose a stay in proceedings, that is, a temporary halt, may be agreed. The central feature of case management are case management conferences which are often conducted by telephone and give the judge and the parties the opportunity to review the process, to evaluate the progress of the case preparation and make decisions. If a defendant, for example, is ordered to pay by a judge and fails to do so, the claimant can enforce the judgment in the Magistrates’ Court.

II. COMPREHENSION

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