BVC Civil Procedure
An Introduction to Civil Procedure
Books
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The White Book (Sweet & Maxwell)
The Green Book (Butterworths)
Sime (OUP)
O’Hare and Browne (Sweet and
Maxwell)
• Blackstone’s Civil Practice (OUP)
• Civil Litigation In Practice (NLP)
What Is Civil Procedure?
• The system used to sue (“bring claims”)
in English Law
• How tort and contract law works in
practice
• Governed by the Civil Procedure
Rules (CPR)
What are the CPR?
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“to deal with cases justly (CPR 1.1)
Rules - Overriding objective (CPR 1)
Application and interpretation (CPR 2)
Practice Directions (PDs)
Pre Action Protocols
Glossary
Schedules (Old Rules)
Costs
• General rule - CPR 44.3(2) (a)“the
unsuccessful party will be ordered to
pay the costs of the successful party but
(b) the court may make a different
order”
• Various circumstances will be taken into
account - in particular compliance with
Pre Action Protocols
The Courts
• House of Lords (appellate court)
• Court of Appeal (appellate court)
• High Court (including the Specialist
Courts)
• County Courts - Civil Trial Centres
County Courts - Feeder Courts
• See White Book Volume 2 Section 11
Which Court?
• High Court and County Courts Jurisdiction
Order 1991(White Book Section 9)
• Money claims for £15,000 or less must be
commenced in a county court.
• Money claims of more than £15,000 may be
commenced in the High Court.
• Personal injury claims for less than £50,000
must be commenced in a county court.
Which Court?
• Personal injury claims for £50k or more
may be commenced in the High Court.
Clinical negligence claims do not fall
within this bracket. Rather the ordinary
£15,000 threshold applies
• Some orders can only be made by the
High Court (eg search orders - CPR 2)
Concurrent Jurisdiction
• PD 7 paragraph 2.4
• May be transferred - see criteria in CPR
30.3
• Sanctions for issuing in the wrong court could lose up to 25% of costs or be struck
out - SCA 1981 s51 (8) & (9), (CCA 1984
s40(1) (b) & s42 (1) (b
• Restick v Crickmore [1994] 1 WLR 420
Which Court?
• CPR 26.2 - automatic transfer
• “defendant’s home court”
• if the defendant is an individual and the
claim is for a specified sum of money it
shall be transferred there
• Active Case Management
Case Management
(www.dca.gov.uk)
• Judicial (as opposed to by the parties)
• A new procedural code - “dealing with
cases justly” - “putting parties on an
equal footing” (Maltez v Lewis
04/05/99)
• “the spirit of the rules” - a new approach
to interpretation (old case law to be
used with caution
Judges
• Procedural Judges
• High Court - District Judges/Masters
(“Sir/Madam/Master”)
• County Court - District Judges
(“Sir/Madam”)
Judges
• Trial Judges
• High Court - High Court Judge
(“My Lord/Lady”)
• County Court - Circuit Judge
(“Your Honour”)
• The above can sit as procedural judges also
• District Judges/Masters have limited trial
jurisdiction (see the rules)