The rules of civil procedure in Australia govern procedure in the various
courts and tribunals in Australia. Civil procedure in Australia was historically derived from, and continues to resemble,
civil procedure in England and Wales
The rules of civil procedure in England and Wales that govern the conduct of litigation in the civil courts primarily stem from the Civil Procedure Rules adopted in 1999 as part of the Woolf Reforms, but also from the accompanying Practice Dir ...
. The rules vary between the different courts and tribunals.
History
Before Federation, each Australian colony had a two- or three-tiered judicial system with a Supreme Court at its apex.
[ 3] The colonial Supreme Courts followed the model of the
Supreme Court of Judicature of England and Wales, as the
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...
was known from the 1870s, when it was established by the
Judicature Acts
In the history of the courts of England and Wales, the Judicature Acts were a series of acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, beginning in the 1870s, which aimed to fuse the hitherto split system of courts of England and Wales. The ...
.
Civil procedure in the colonial Supreme Courts was governed by rules made by the judges and known as the ''
Rules of the Supreme Court
The Rules of the Supreme Court (RSC) were the rules which governed civil procedure in the Senior Courts of England and Wales, Supreme Court of Judicature of England and Wales (since 2009 called the Senior Courts) from its formation in 1883 until ...
'', some of which continue in force today.
[For example, the .]
Legislation
Most states have now codified the rules of civil procedure as
delegated legislation
Primary legislation and secondary legislation (the latter also called delegated legislation or subordinate legislation) are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislative and executive branches of governments in representative democ ...
, sometimes known as Uniform Civil Procedure Rules. The Chief Justice of the relevant Supreme Court is generally the chair of a rules committee with the power to amend the rules.
[; .] However, the title and structure of the relevant civil procedure rules is not uniform across jurisdictions.
For example, the and are quite different. In Queensland, the rules were intended to be "uniform, so far as practicable, for all three courts in the State stream"
– that is, to unify the procedure of the
Supreme,
District
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
and
Magistrates Court, not participate in a
cooperative federalism
Cooperative federalism, also known as marble-cake federalism, is defined as a flexible relationship between the federal and state governments in which both work together on a variety of issues and programs.
In the United States
In the American ...
effort like the Uniform Evidence Acts.
The following legislation governs civil procedure in each jurisdiction.
Commonwealth
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New South Wales
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Queensland
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Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999(Qld)
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South Australia
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* ''Uniform Civil Rules 2020'' (SA)
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Tasmania
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Victoria
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Western Australia
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Australian Capital Territory
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Northern Territory
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Commentary
Civil procedure is one of the
Priestley 11 subjects which all Australian lawyers are required to study. There are a number of textbooks available, as well as regularly-updated commentaries for legal professionals.
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See also
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Civil procedure
Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and regulations along with some standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or ca ...
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Judiciary of Australia
The judiciary of Australia comprises judges who sit in federal courts and courts of the States and Territories of Australia. The High Court of Australia sits at the apex of the Australian court hierarchy as the ultimate court of appeal on matter ...
*
Primary and secondary legislation
Primary legislation and secondary legislation (the latter also called delegated legislation or subordinate legislation) are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislature, legislative and executive (government), executive branches of ...
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Lawsuit
A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...
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Summons
A summons (also known in England and Wales as a claim form or plaint note, and in the Australian state of New South Wales as a court attendance notice (CAN)) is a legal document issued by a court (a ''judicial summons'') or by an administrative ag ...
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Subpoena
A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...
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Interlocutory injunction
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Summary judgment
In law, a summary judgment, also referred to as judgment as a matter of law or summary disposition, is a Judgment (law), judgment entered by a court for one party and against another party summarily, i.e., without a full Trial (law), trial. Summa ...
*
Judgment (law)
In law, a judgment is a Decision-making, decision of a court regarding the rights and liabilities of parties in a legal action or proceeding. Judgments also generally provide the court's explanation of why it has chosen to make a particular court o ...
References
{{reflist
Law of Australia