Rules of the Supreme Court (Summons for Directions, etc.) 1954
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1954/761 |
1954 No. 761 (L. 5)
The Rules of the Supreme Court (Summons for Directions, etc.) 19548thJune 1954
14thJune 1954
1stOctober 1954
We, the Rule Committee of the Supreme Court, hereby make the following Rules—
1. For Rule 8 of Order XIV there shall be substituted the following Rule—
"8. Where leave, whether conditional or unconditional, is given to defend or leave is given to enter final judgment subject to a suspension of execution pending the trial of a counterclaim, the court or judge shall give directions as to the further conduct of the action and Rules 2 to 7 of Order XXX shall, with the omission of so much of paragraph (1) of Rule 7 as requires parties to serve a notice in writing specifying the orders and directions which they desire and with any other necessary modifications, apply as if the application for judgment were a summons for directions under that Order.".
2. In Order XIVA (which relates to summary judgment for specific performance) the following Rule shall be substituted for Rule 5—
"5. Where leave to defend is given, the judge shall give directions as to the further conduct of the action and Rules 2 to 7 of Order XXX shall, with the omission of so much of paragraph (1) of Rule 7 as requires parties to serve a notice in writing specifying the orders and directions which they desire and with any other necessary modifications, apply as if the application for judgment were a summons for directions under that Order.".
3. The heading of Order XVIA shall be changed to "THIRD PARTY PROCEDURE AND CONTRIBUTION BETWEEN DEFENDANTS" and after Rule 12 of that Order there shall be inserted the following Rule—
"12A. A party to an action who, either as a third party or as one of two or more tortfeasors liable in respect of the same damage, stands to be held liable in the action to another party to contribute towards any debt or damages which may be recovered by the plaintiff in the action, and who, at any time before the trial of the action, makes a written offer to that other party (whether absolute or conditional and whether limited or not as respects the time for acceptance thereof) to contribute to a specified extent to the debt or damages, may, in making that offer, while stipulating that it is to be without prejudice to his defence (whether as against the plaintiff or as against the party to whom the offer is made or as against any other party to the action), nevertheless reserve the right to bring the offer to the attention of the judge at the trial as if it were a payment into court (that is to say, after all questions of liability and amount of debt or damages have been decided); and if such an offer is so brought to the attention of the judge in pursuance of a right so reserved, the judge shall, to such extent, if any, as he may think appropriate in all the circumstances, take the offer into account in exercising his discretion as to costs.".
4. For Order XXX (which relates to the summons for directions) there shall be substituted the following Order—
"ORDER XXX
SUMMONS FOR DIRECTIONS
1.—(1) In every action to which this Rule applies, the plaintiff shall, with a view to providing an occasion for the consideration by the court or a judge of the preparations for the trial of the action, so that—
(a) all matters which must or can be dealt with on interlocutory applications and have not already been dealt with may so far as possible be dealt with; and
(b) such directions may be given as to the future course of the action as appear best adapted to secure the just, expeditious and economical disposal thereof,
take out, within seven days from the time when the pleadings are deemed to be closed, a summons (in these Rules referred to as a summons for directions) returnable in not less than twenty-one days.
(2) This Rule applies to all actions commenced by writ of summons except—
(a) actions in which the plaintiff has applied for judgment under Order XIV or Order XIVA and directions have been given under those Orders respectively;
(b) actions in which an order for accounts has been made under Order XV;
(c) actions in which an order has been made under Rule 20 of Order XXXI for the trial of an issue or question before determining a right to discovery or inspection;
(d) actions which have been dealt with under Rule 9 of Order XXXIV (which relates to the trial of questions of fact where the parties are agreed as to the questions of fact to be decided between them);
(e) actions in which directions have been given under Rule 12A of Order L (which enables directions to be given on applications under that Order for orders of mandamus, for an injunction, for orders for the preservation or inspection of property or for any of the other purposes specified in that Order);
(f) actions in which an application for transfer to the commercial list is pending or which have been ordered to be transferred to the commercial list;
(g) actions which have been referred for trial to a referee; and
(h) actions for the infringement of a patent.
(3) If the plaintiff does not take out a summons for directions in accordance with paragraph (1) of this Rule, the defendant or any defendant may do so or may apply for an order to dismiss the action.
(4) Upon an application by a defendant to dismiss the action under paragraph (3) of this Rule, the court or judge may either dismiss the action on such terms as may be just or deal with the application as if it were a summons for directions.
(5) In the case of an action which is proceeding only as respects a counterclaim, references in this Rule to the plaintiff and defendant shall be construed respectively as references to the party making the counterclaim and the defendant to the counterclaim.
2.—(1) When the summons for directions first comes to be heard, the court or judge shall consider whether—
(a) it is possible to deal then with all the matters which, by the subsequent Rules of this Order, are required to be considered on the hearing of the summons for directions; or
(b) it is expedient to adjourn the consideration of all or any of those matters until a later stage,
and, in particular, whether those matters or some of them ought or ought not to be dealt with only after there has been discovery.
(2) If, when the summons first comes to be heard, the court or judge considers that it is possible to deal then with all the said matters, the court or judge shall deal with them forthwith and shall endeavour to secure that all other matters which must or can be dealt with on interlocutory applications and have not already been dealt with are also then dealt with.
(3) If, when the summons for directions first comes to be heard, the court or judge considers that it is expedient to adjourn the consideration of all or any of the matters which are by the subsequent Rules of this Order required to be considered on the hearing of the summons for directions, the court or judge shall deal forthwith with such of those matters as the court or judge considers can conveniently be dealt with forthwith and adjourn the consideration of the remaining matters and shall endeavour to secure that all other matters which must or can be dealt with on interlocutory applications and have not already been dealt with are dealt with either then or at a resumed hearing of the summons for directions.
(4) Subject to the provisions of paragraphs (5) and (6) of this Rule, no order under Rule 1 of Order XXXVI as to the place or mode of trial and no order fixing a date for the trial shall be made until all the matters which, by the subsequent Rules of this Order, are required to be considered on the hearing of the summons for directions have been dealt with.
(5) If, on the summons for directions, the action is ordered to be transferred to the county court, paragraph (4) of this Rule shall not apply and nothing in this Order shall be construed as requiring the court or judge to make any...
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