COMMITTEE ON COUNTY COURT PROCEDURE: FIRST INTERIM REPORT (CMD. 7468/48)
| Date | 01 October 1948 |
| Published date | 01 October 1948 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1948.tb00103.x |
REPORTS
OF
COMMITTEES
COMMITTEE
ON
COUNTY COURT PROCEDURE: FIRST
INTERIM
EEPOET
(CMD.
7468148)
Trm flrst report
of
this Committee is directed to one of the main
criticisms of all English courts-the extent
to
which litigants and
their advisers and witnesses are kept waiting at the court for their
cases
to
be heard. In many ways county court procedure is in
advance
of
that of the High Court since in the majority of cases
a
definite date is fixed for the hearing when the summons is issued,
but unhappily, it may prove necessary to wait the greater part
of
the day before the case
is
reached and in some cases
it
may not
be
reached at all
or
may
be
part heard at the end
of
the day. In
such cases
it
will almost certainly not
be
possible to commence
or
continue the hearing next day and
it
will have
to
stand adjourned
possibly for some considerable time.
The Committee consider that the risk of adjournments
for
want
of time cannot
be
entirely eliminated, but they make
a
number of
valuable suggestions designed to reduce the adjournments
to
the
minimum. In the main these suggestions are based
on
the practice
already adopted in the
best-run
county courts; the principal addi-
tional recommendations are for increased liaison between litigants
and pract.itioners and the courts, and for a review of the list during
the week before the hearing day.
It
may also be noted here that as a result of the evidence given
before the corresponding Evershed Committee on Supreme Court
Procedure the experimental introduction of the practice
of
fixing
days
on
county court lines is next term to
be
introduced in witness
actions in the Chancery Division (Practice Direction, July
7,
1048).
All
practitioners will wish this experiment well; if successful and
extended throughout the High Court, it may remove one of the
worst blots
on
our legal system.
As
the County Court Committee
point out, the problem in the High Court is
to
some extent easier
of
solution since it may there
be
possible
to
switch cases from one
judge to another if the latter’s list has collapsed. In any event,
no
great harm is done if a judge occasionally Ands himself with
time on his hands, provided that this does not become
so
general
as
to
result in increased delays all round, and there
are
other ways
of avoiding this-shortening the Long Vacation being perhaps the
most obvious.
Note.
until the next number of the
Review.
The summary of recent periodical literature will
be
held over
470
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