I October 2017. That's when the Civil Procedure (Amendment No 2) Rules 2017 SI 2017/889 - sexy title, eh?- come into force. Unlikely to raise your blood pressure with excitement but will be of some interest to lawyers and their staff if they can stay awake before they come to the end of them - or this post.
Here's a tour around them -
- The upper limit for a claim under the European Small Claims Procedure - cross-border low value money claims dealt with on paper between litigants in EU member states - is raised from 2,000 to 5,000 euros.
- Where an application for a European Order for Payment is contested - this is a simplified procedure which allows a creditor who has a claim for a specific amount of money to apply to their court for an order which can be enforced against the so-called debtor in other EU member states - then the application will be transferred over to the European Small Claims Procedure.
- Where a complex case in the High Court calls for consideration of legal points which would normally be dealt with by different divisions - for example, a matrimonial property case involving both family law and trust law which are the preserve of the Family Division and the Chancery Division of the High Court respectively - then there will now be an express power for a judge from each of the appropriate divisions to sit together to deal with the case in what is called a Divisional Court.
- It is made clear that when an appeal court grants permission to appeal it can go on to deal with the substantive appeal at the same hearing: rolling the two together.
- The Business and Property Courts were recently created bringing together the specialist courts and lists of the High Court including the Commercial Court, the Admiralty Court, the Mercantile Court, the Technology Court and the courts of the Chancery Division. As part of the drive to simplify and clarify the names of these specialist courts, the Mercantile Court is being renamed the Circuit Commercial Court. Cool!
I told you!
