The Civil Procedure Rules 1998

General provisionsE+W

Rule 4—(1) Any proceedings in which the jurisdiction conferred on the High Court by section 19 or section 20 of the Act is invoked shall be assigned to the Queen’s Bench Division and be heard by a single judge, unless the Court directs that the matter shall be heard by a Divisional Court; and the Court may, at any stage direct that any officer or member of the body to whose accounts the application of appeal relates be joined as a respondent.

(2) Except in so far as the Court directs that the evidence on any such application or appeal shall be given orally, it shall be given by witness statement or affidavit.

(3) The applicant or appellant must forthwith after filing any witness statement or affidavit under rule 2 (3) or 3 (3) serve a copy thereof on every respondent and any person intending to oppose the application or appeal must, not less than four days before the hearing, serve on the applicant or appellant a copy of any witness statement or affidavit filed by him in opposition F1....

(4) Except by permission of the Court, no witness statement or affidavit may be used at the hearing unless a copy thereof was served in accordance with paragraph (3).