English Civil Law
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The rules of civil procedure in England and Wales that govern the conduct of litigation in the
civil courts A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a Civil law (common law), civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws s ...
primarily stem from the
Civil Procedure Rules The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) were introduced in 1997 as per the Civil Procedure Act 1997 by the Civil Procedure Rule Committee and are the rules of civil procedure used by the Court of Appeal, High Court of Justice, and County Court in civi ...
adopted in 1999 as part of the
Woolf Reforms The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) were introduced in 1997 as per the Civil Procedure Act 1997 by the Civil Procedure Rule Committee and are the rules of English civil procedure, civil procedure used by the Court of Appeal, High Court of Justice, an ...
, but also from the accompanying Practice Directions, other legislation and case law. The rules that apply differ depending on the type of claim, but ultimately govern the entire cycle of a case before the courts, including the steps that must be undertaken before the claim is issued,
service Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a ...
to the other parties, allocation of the case to the different tracks, adding or substituting parties to a claim,
default judgment Default judgment is a binding judgment in favor of either party based on some failure to take action by the other party. Most often, it is a judgment in favor of a plaintiff when the defendant has not responded to a summons or has failed to app ...
,
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 ...
, striking out all or part of a claim, and disclosure of evidence. The rules also deal with how hearings are conducted both pre-trial and at trial, as well as the remedies (both interim and final) that the court can grant, how they are enforced or appealed, and the assessment of costs.


Court structure


The three tracks

All defended cases are allocated to one of three tracks: * Small Claims Track: Most claims under £10,000. Note: the normal limit for housing disrepair cases and personal injury claims is £1,000. * Fast Track: Between £10,000 to £25,000 * Intermediate Track: for claims valued at between £25,000 and £100,000, and which could be heard in under three days, and requiring no more than two expert witnesses * Multi Track: for cases where the value of the claim or the complexity of the evidence and/or legal issues to be decided means the claim is not suitable for the other tracks. The Jackson Reforms of 2013 altered the upper limit of the small claims track and the lower limit of the fast track, from £5,000 to £10,000.


Civil Courts

Civil matters are heard at first instance (i.e. not appeals) in either the County Court or High Court. The County Court hears all Small Claim and Fast Track cases. County Court centres designated as 'civil trial centres' may also deal with claims allocated to the Multi Track. Unless the parties agree, cases above £100,000 in value are not usually tried in the County Court. The High Court has three divisions, namely: * King's Bench: for contract and tort claims * Chancery: for disputes involving equity matters such as
mortgages A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pur ...
, trusts,
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, and
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. * Family: for matrimonial-related disputes and cases relating to children.


Procedure

The Civil Procedure Rules 1998 set out the rules for each stage of a case. The Rules aim to ensure that, when people sue or are sued, they obtain justice.


Pre-claim

The Civil Procedure Rules define a number of pre-action protocols which "explain the conduct and set out the steps the court would normally expect parties to take before commencing proceedings". The goal is to identify the issues in dispute early, with the goal of enabling parties to settle disputes out of court if possible (including through
alternative dispute resolution Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), or external dispute resolution (EDR), typically denotes a wide range of dispute resolution processes and techniques that parties can use to settle disputes with the help of a third party. They are used for ...
), and ensuring cases are managed efficiently and at proportionate cost. For instance, in cases of
defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...
, the letter of claim must set out details of, say, the article or broadcast that contains the claim, and an explanation of which particular statement is objected to and why. In personal injury claims, the pre-action protocol recommends that unless it is not possible (e.g. due to the limitation deadline), a defendant is given three months to investigate a claim before proceedings are issued.


Starting a claim

All claims less than £15,000 must be started in the County Court. Claims for more than this amount can be started in either the High Court or the County Court, except personal injury claims for less than £50,000, which must be started in the County Court. Most claims are started by issuing a Part 7 claim form in which the claimant states the particulars of case, or attaches the particulars to the claim form, or serves them separately within 14 days of the claim form being served. There must also be a Statement of Truth as to the facts in the particulars of the claim. The claim form and the particulars of the claim must be served on the defendant. Service may be carried by the court or the claimant, and can be made personally, by post, by fax, by e-mail or other electronic means. Upon
service Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a ...
, the defendant has 14 days in which to respond. A defendant may: a) Pay the amount claimed, b) Admit or partly admit the claim, c) File an acknowledgement of service (but must then file a defence within another 14 days), or d) File a defence. The defendant must, if not admitting the claim, file a defence which substantively answers the claim. It is not enough to simply deny the claim. A defence that simply denies is likely to be struck out by the court. At any point before or during proceedings, either party may make a Part 36 offer (Part 36 of the Rules & Practice Directions) to settle the claim for damages.


Allocation of cases

After the defence has been filed, the court sends to all parties a directions questionnaire. This helps the
judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...
decide the track to which the case should be allocated. If a party is dissatisfied with the allocation decision an application can be made to court for the claim to be re-allocated.


Small Claims procedure

Cases are heard by a
District Judge District Judge may refer to: * A United States federal judge, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate * A judge in a state court (United States), where the state is divided into judicial districts * * A judge in the district courts ...
who will normally use an interventionist approach. This is an approach that allows the court to try to intervene in helping the parties to agree with one another in sorting out the case. Cases are dealt with in a relatively informal way and are now heard in open court (prior to the 1999 reforms small claim cases were heard in private). The use of solicitors is discouraged because the costs of legal representation cannot be recovered from the losing side. There may be a paper adjudication if the judge thinks it appropriate and the parties agree. This approach will often be used where the legal issues and evidence is clear cut, and the parties bring documents they wish to use. In such cases the court will decide the case 'on the papers' without requiring oral evidence or legal argument.


Fast Track procedure

All other cases require a process of 'Pre-Trial Directions' being a timetable for the ongoing management of the case. The idea is to simplify the case for the court. The Fast Track mandates a maximum delay of 30 weeks between the setting of Directions, and the trial date. Normally only one expert witness is allowed and, if the parties cannot agree on an expert, the court has the power to appoint one. The expert's evidence will be given in writing. There are fixed costs for the advocate at the trial.


Multi Track procedure

There is no standard procedure for Pre-Trial Directions in the Multi Track, and the judge has discretion to use a number of case management approaches, including case management conferences and pre-trial reviews. The aim is to identify the issues as early as possible and, where appropriate, to try specific issues prior to the main trial. The number of expert
witnesses In law, a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what they know or claim to know. A witness might be compelled to provide testimony in court, before a grand jur ...
is controlled by the court as its permission is needed for any party to use an expert to give evidence. All time limits are strictly enforced. The court may in the directions fix a trial date, or order a trial window (approximate date for the trial) with a date being fixed by the court closer to the trial window period. In the Multi Track there is usually some degree of flexibility to shift the date of a specific direction but, once a trial date is fixed, the court is very unlikely to agree to an adjournment without a compelling reason.


References

{{Reflist Welsh law English civil procedure