On Monday, 26th April 1999 the existing Court Rules and Procedures in England were abolished and replaced by a new set of Civil Procedures Rules. The review of the Civil Justice System was begun under Lord Woolf and his recommendations were enacted by the Civil Procedure Act 1997. Key problems in the previous system were identified as cost, delay and complexity. The new system has been designed to try to keep these under control, primarily by simplifying the Rules and introducing greater judicial control. The overriding objective of the new Rules is to enable the Court to deal with cases justly.
Proceedings are informal and recoverable costs are limited.
Disclosure of documents, expert evidence and the length of trial are limited. Most shipping cases will clearly fall within this procedure. Whichever track is used, the duties of case management are placed in the hands of the judges who now take a much more pro-active role. The Courts will impose a strict time table for the preparation and presentation of a case. The amount of documents disclosed will, in general, be reduced and will be proportionate to the size of the claim.