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8.2
Commentary
Proposal 8 canvasses adoption of certain features of Part 14 of the CPR aimed at
encouraging the parties to dispose of money claims by a default judgment process
which requires no appearance before a judge and so tends to save time and costs.
At present, the plaintiff is able to enter judgment against the defendant by such an
administrative process, but only where the defendant fails to file an acknowledgment
of service after being served with a writ or where he fails to file a defence after having
acknowledged service.
In other words, the process only applies where the defendant
unconditionally surrenders to the claim.
Where the defendant has no defence against debt-collection type claims, he will, in
most cases, face up to this and not resist the claim, allowing judgment to be entered
under the present rules. However, in a significant number of cases, although the
defendant (usually unrepresented) realises that he has no defence to the whole or most
of the claim, he may be unwilling, for various reasons, to allow judgment
unconditionally to be entered against him. This leads to more or less desperate
attempts to stave off judgment, requiring the plaintiff to incur the effort, delay and
expense of applying to the court for summary judgment or even of having to take the
matter towards trial.
Notes
Under O 13 and O 19 of the RHC, maintained in Part 12 of the CPR. Where the plaintiff's claim is
for a liquidated sum or solely for recovery of land (without involvement of a mortgage), final
judgment may be entered. If the claim is unliquidated or involves an unliquidated element,
interlocutory judgment is entered, establishing the defendant's liability but necessitating an
application to the court to quantify the amount of the judgment.
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