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Section 19:
Witness statements and evidence
Proposal 35
A rule should be adopted giving the court express powers to exercise control over the
evidence to be adduced by the parties by giving directions as to the issues on which it
requires evidence; the nature of the evidence which it requires to decide those issues; and
the way in which the evidence is to be placed before the Court.,
Such power extends to
powers to exclude evidence that would otherwise be admissible and to the limiting of cross-
examination.
Proposal 36
For the avoidance of doubt, the High Court Ordinance should be amended to provide an
express rule-making power permitting the court to restrict the use of relevant evidence in
furtherance of the overriding objective.
Proposal 37
A rule should be adopted to promote flexibility in the court's treatment of witness statements,
by expressly catering for reasonable applications for witnesses to be allowed to amplify or to
add to their statements.
Interim Report paras 480-483
In relation to the evidence of witnesses of fact (as opposed to expert witnesses), the
Interim Report identified as an increasingly serious problem the practice
– especially
in heavy cases
– of the parties overloading the evidence and investing disproportionate
effort and expenditure in the preparation of witness statements. It noted that in
England and Wales, three strategies had been adopted in answer, namely: (i) giving
the court greater powers to limit the evidence adduced; (ii) introducing greater
flexibility in allowing witness statements to be supplemented; and (iii) deterring over-
elaboration with adverse costs orders.
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