The Civil Procedure Rules 1998

Court’s duty to manage casesE+W

1.4—(1) The court must further the overriding objective by actively managing cases.

(2) Active case management includes —

(a)encouraging the parties to co-operate with each other in the conduct of the proceedings;

(b)identifying the issues at an early stage;

(c)deciding promptly which issues need full investigation and trial and accordingly disposing summarily of the others;

(d)deciding the order in which issues are to be resolved;

(e)encouraging the parties to use an alternative dispute resolution(GL) procedure if the court considers that appropriate and facilitating the use of such procedure;

(f)helping the parties to settle the whole or part of the case;

(g)fixing timetables or otherwise controlling the progress of the case;

(h)considering whether the likely benefits of taking a particular step justify the cost of taking it;

(i)dealing with as many aspects of the case as it can on the same occasion;

(j)dealing with the case without the parties needing to attend at court;

(k)making use of technology; and

(l)giving directions to ensure that the trial of a case proceeds quickly and efficiently.

Commencement Information

I1Rule 1.4 in force at 26.4.1999, see Signature