The Rules of the Supreme Court (RSC) were the rules which governed

civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or case may be commenced; what ki ...

in the

Supreme Court of Judicature of England and Wales The courts of England and Wales, supported administratively by His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, are the Civil law (common law), civil and Criminal law, criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in England and Wales ...

from its formation in 1883 until 1999. The RSC applied to all

civil cases Civil law is a major branch of the law. Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1982. p. 2. In common law legal systems such as England and Wales and the United States, the term refers to non- criminal law. The law r ...

in the Supreme Court in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

commenced after the merger of the courts of

Common Law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

and

Equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

in 1883 by the

Judicature Acts In the history of the courts of England and Wales, the Judicature Acts were a series of Acts of Parliament, beginning in the 1870s, which aimed to fuse the hitherto split system of courts of England and Wales. The first two Acts were the Supre ...

until they were superseded by the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 Courts in civil ...

(CPR) in 1999 on 26 April 1999. Civil proceedings in the

county court A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high ...

s during this period were governed by the separate

County Court Rules A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

. The RSC were designed to replace the individual rules of the courts of Law and Equity which were subsumed into the Supreme Court providing one harmonised set of procedural rules for all civil cases.

History

The original 1883 Rules

Beginning in 1873 the

merged the previously separate English courts of

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

and

equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

into the new Supreme Court of Judicature made up of the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

and

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cou ...

. The rules and procedures of the old courts and systems of law differed greatly. As common law and equity would now be applied in the same courts, the judiciary felt that there should be common procedural rules for both systems of law. The RSC were created in 1883 and were made up of Orders and

Acts of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliament ...

. Over time the original orders and acts were supplemented by further of the same. By 1951 the RSC were made up of some 144 separate Orders and Rules and nine Acts of Parliament.

The revised 1965 Rules

In 1951 the Evershed Committee on Supreme Court Practice and Procedure published its Second Interim Report in which it strongly recommended that "a complete revision of the Rules be immediately put in hand".Evershed Committee on Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Second Interim Report in 1951 (Cmd. 8176, para. 117) The process consisted of a Rule Committee of the Supreme Court revising and re-writing the entire body of rules governing civil procedure in the Supreme Court. The process was undertaken in two stages. First, around half of the Rules were revised and reintroduced on 1 January 1964 by R. S. C. (Revision) 1962 (SI 1962/2145). Second, the remaining original Rules were revised and reintroduced by R.S.C. (Revision) 1965 (SI 1965/1776) which also embodied the 1962 Revised Rules. This gave the Supreme Court, for the first time, one complete, integral body of procedural rules. The revised RSC came into force on 1 October 1966.

Format

The RSC consisted of Orders which concerned specific topics and paragraphs within each order on the specifics. For example, RSC Order 5 concerned the Mode of Beginning Proceedings in High Court, with paragraphs concerning when proceedings must be issued by

writ In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, a ...

, originating summons, originating motion or

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...

. Appendix A of the RSC contained Form Precedents which were compulsory in cases governed by the Rules. These included, inter alia, writs of summons, writs of subpoena, writs and notices for use in enforcement, judgements.

Replacement

The RSC are being gradually replaced by the CPR following 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 civil procedure used by the Court of Appeal, High Court of Justice, and County Courts in civi ...

. Most of the procedural rules were replaced on 26 April 1999 when the CPR came into force. Some elements of the RSC, especially concerning enforcement of judgments, were integrated into Schedule 1 of the CPR. These are being slowly replaced by new CPR rules as the law in the areas covered by the RSC Orders is reformed. Only 11 RSC Orders now remain in CPR Schedule 1.

References