View Final Report

      –––  Full Report  –––
     
       

Table of Contents

Abbreviations
List of Appendices
Executive Summary
ParasFINAL REPORT
Section 1:  Introduction
§  1            1.1  Terms of reference
§  2            1.2  Membership of Working Party
§  3 - 6            1.3  The Interim Report and Consultative Paper
§  7 - 8            1.4  The object of this Final Report
§  9Section 2:  A new code or selective amendment
§  10 - 12            2.1  The consultation response
           2.2  The Working Party's view
§  13 - 21                  (a)   The anticipated benefits of an entirely new code
§  22 - 24                  (b)   An entirely new code would mean more disruption
§  25 - 36                  (c)   The Working Party's approach
§  37 - 38Section 3:  Procedural reform and the Basic Law
§  39 - 45            3.1  The constitutional provisions and international counterparts
§  46 - 47            3.2  The focus of the case-law
           3.3  The principles
§  48 - 51                  (a)   The access and hearing rights are not absolute
§  52 - 60                  (b)   The access and hearing rights only apply to rules and proceedings which are decisive of rights and obligations
§  61 - 62                  (c)   The right of access to the courts in practice
§  63 - 65                  (d)   The right to a fair and public hearing as it operates at first instance
§  66                         (i)   Public hearing
§  67                         (ii)   Public pronouncement of judgment
§  68                         (iii)   Oral hearing
§  69                         (iv)   Presence at hearing
§  70                         (v)   Restricting evidence
§  71                         (vi)   Giving reasons
§  72 - 76                  (e)   The right to a fair and public hearing in appellate proceedings
§  77 - 82                  (f)   Applications for leave to appeal
§  83 - 84            3.4  Relevance to the proposed reforms
Section 4:  Overriding objective and case management powers
§  85 - 88            4.1  The approach adopted in the CPR
§  89            4.2  The consultation response
§  90 - 94            4.3  The different facets of the overriding objective and associated rules
§  95 - 100            4.4  The new code methodology facet
§  101 - 106            4.5  The proportionality facet
§  107 - 111            4.6  The facets concerning active case management and express powers
§  112 - 113Section 5:  Pre-action protocols
§  114 - 119            5.1  What pre-action protocols require of the parties under the CPR
§  120            5.2  Non-compliance with pre-action protocols under the CPR
§  121 - 123            5.3  The consultation response
§  124 - 133            5.4  The Working Party's view
§  134 - 138            5.5  Costs-only proceedings
§  139            5.6  The Working Party's recommendations
Section 6:  Commencement of Proceedings
§  140 - 141            6.1  The consultation response
§  142 - 150            6.2  The present position
§  151 - 159            6.3  Unnecessary complexity
§  160 - 161            6.4  Single mode of commencement
§  162            6.5  Recommendations
Section 7:  Disputing Jurisdiction
§  163            7.1  The consultation response
§  164 - 167            7.2  Commentary
Section 8:  Default Judgments and Admissions
§  168            8.1  The consultation response
§  169 - 174            8.2  Commentary
§  175 - 183            8.3  Withdrawal of admissions
§  184 - 186Section 9:  Pleadings
           9.1  The contents of pleadings
§  187 - 190                  (a)   Re-stating the requirements
§  191 - 198                  (b)   The fundamental approach
§  199 - 203                  (c)   Annexing documents and identifying witnesses in pleadings
§  204 - 206                  (d)   Pleading law
§  207 - 208            9.2  Requiring substantive defences to be pleaded
§  209 - 211                  (a)   Excessive detail in substantive pleading
§  212 - 214                  (b)   Application to subsequent pleadings
§  215 - 216                  (c)   The defence of tender before action
           9.3  Requiring pleadings to be verified
§  217 - 220                  (a)   The nature of the requirement
§  221 - 223                  (b)   Justification and consultation response
                 (c)   Reservations expressed
§  224 - 239                         (i)   Need to identify maker of statement of truth
§  240 - 243                         (ii)   Front-end loading of costs
§  244 - 245                         (iii)   Sufficient time to plead the defence
§  246 - 248                         (iv)   Overseas parties and commercial cases
§  249 - 261                         (v)   Contempt proceedings as a sanction
§  262 - 264                  (d)   Verifying inconsistent alternatives
           9.4  Clarifying pleadings
§  265 - 267                  (a)   Judicial scrutiny of pleadings
§  268 - 270                  (b)   Applications for further and better particulars
§  271                  (c)   Verification of voluntary particulars
§  272 - 273            9.5  Amending pleadings
§  274 - 275Section 10:  Summary Disposal of Proceedings
§  276 - 277            10.1  The consultation response
§  278 - 284            10.2  No practical difference
§  285            10.3  Undesirable differences
§  286 - 288            10.4  Recommendations
§  289 - 290            10.5  Basic Law considerations
Section 11:  Sanctioned offers and payments
§  291 - 294            11.1  Consultation response and recommendation
           11.2  Relevant Hong Kong considerations
§  295 - 299                  (a)   Offers and payments made by the defendant
§  300 - 303                  (b)   When sanctioned offers can be made
§  304 - 309                  (c)   Sufficiency of information
§  310 - 316                  (d)   Withdrawal only with leave
§  317 - 321                  (e)   The court's general discretion as to costs
§  322 - 324                  (f)   The court's general discretion as to interest
Section 12:  Interim remedies and Mareva injunctions in aid of foreign proceedings
§  325 - 326            12.1  Interim remedies generally
§  327            12.2  Mareva injunctions in aid of foreign proceedings
§  328 - 331                  (a)   The present law in Hong Kong
§  332 - 339                  (b)   Why reform should be considered
§  340 - 359                  (c)   The nature of the proposed reform
Section 13:  Case management timetabling and milestones
§  360 - 362            13.1  The thinking behind these Proposals
§  363 - 364            13.2  The consultation response
§  365 - 366            13.3  A timetabling procedure should be introduced
§  367 - 369            13.4  The timetable presently laid down in the RHC
§  370 - 376            13.5  A questionnaire-based timetable should be introduced as part of the summons for directions
§  377 - 378            13.6  The benefits of a questionnaire
§  379 - 381            13.7  Milestones and flexibility
§  382                  (a)   Starting with a realistic timetable
§  383                  (b)   Case management and the milestones
§  384 - 385                         (i)   Case management conferences
§  386 - 389                         (ii)   Pre-trial reviews, trial dates and trial periods
§  390 - 392                         (iii)   Time-limits between milestones
§  393 - 394                  (c)   Other reforms in support
§  395 - 398                  (d)   When cases œgo to sleep /a>
§  399 - 405            13.8  Running List for trials
§  406 - 407            13.9  Specialist Lists
Section 14:  Docket system, specialist lists and vexatious litigants
§  408 - 412            14.1  A docket system
§  413 - 416            14.2  Specialist lists and procedural autonomy
§  417 - 419                  (a)   Procedural autonomy should be retained
§  420 - 422                  (b)   Pre-action protocols and specialist lists
§  423 - 429                  (c)   New specialist lists
§  430            14.3  Vexatious litigants
§  431 - 434                  (a)   The present legislation
§  435 - 436                  (b)   The position in England and Wales
§  437 - 445                  (c)   Development of the Grepe v Loam jurisdiction
§  446 - 453                  (d)   The difficulties
§  454 - 462                  (e)   A new statutory basis for vexatious litigant orders and constitutional requirements
§  463                  (f)   Recommendations
Section 15:  Multi-party litigation and derivative actions
§  464 - 465            15.1  Multi-party litigation
§  466 - 468            15.2  Derivative actions
Section 16:  Discovery
§  469 - 471            16.1  Modifying the basic discovery obligations
§  472 - 477                  (a)The consultation response
§  478                  (b)Recommendations
§  479            16.2  Discovery by request
           16.3  Pre-action and non-party disclosure
                 (a)   Pre-action disclosure
§  480 - 482                         (i)   The present position
§  483 - 484                         (ii)   The position under the CPR
§  485                         (iii)   Consultation response
§  486 - 488                         (iv)   Recommendations
                 (b)   Non-party pre-trial disclosure
§  489 - 494                         (i)   The present position
§  495                         (ii)   The consultation response
§  496 - 499                         (iii)   Recommendations
§  500            16.4  Case managing discovery
§  501Section 17:  Interlocutory applications and summary assessment of costs
§  502 - 505            17.1  Encourage cooperation by the parties
§  506 - 508            17.2  Court making procedural orders nisi
§  509 - 515            17.3  Self-executing orders
§  516 - 526            17.4  Applications dealt with on the papers
§  527            17.5  Skipping the hearing before the master
§  528            17.6  Hearings without attending at court
§  529 - 532            17.7  The nature of a summary assessment of costs
§  533 - 534            17.8  The consultation response
§  535 - 536            17.9  The Working Party's view
§  537            17.10  Features of the rules envisaged
§  538 - 541            17.11  Inconsistent assessments and excessive reductions
§  542 - 545            17.12  Provisional summary assessments
§  546 - 549Section 18:  Wasted costs
§  550 - 551            18.1  The consultation response
§  552 - 554            18.2  The Working Party's view
§  555 - 562            18.3  Satellite litigation on wasted costs
§  563 - 570            18.4  Pressurising the opposition
§  571 - 572            18.5  Where privilege is not waived
§  573 - 574            18.6  Extending liability to barristers
§  575Section 19:  Witness statements and evidence
§  576 - 579            19.1  Consultation response to Proposals 35 and 36
§  580 - 584            19.2  The Working Party's view
§  585 - 586            19.3  Consultation response to Proposal 37
§  587 - 590            19.4  The Working Party's view
§  591 - 592Section 20:  Expert evidence
§  593            20.1  The consultation response
§  594 - 601            20.2  The court's present powers to control expert evidence
§  602 - 607            20.3  The effect of Proposal 38 and the Working Party's view
§  608 - 612            20.4  Proposal 39(a) to (c)
§  613 - 621            20.5  Proposal 39(d)
§  622 - 624            20.6  Proposal 39(e)
§  625 - 629            20.7  The consultation response
§  630 - 634            20.8  The Working Party's view
§  635 - 642Section 21:  Case managing trials
Section 22:  Leave to appeal
§  643 - 650            22.1  Leave requirement for interlocutory appeals
§  651 - 652            22.2  A leave requirement for final appeals
§  653 - 658            22.3  Threshold test for granting leave
§  659 - 663            22.4  Case management decisions and leave to appeal
§  664 - 670            22.5  Tiers of appeals
§  671 - 672Section 23:  Appeals
§  673 - 675            23.1  Case management provisions presently applicable
§  676 - 682            23.2  The consultation response
§  683 - 684            23.3  The present appellate approach
§  685 - 687            23.4  The CPR approach
§  688 - 689            23.5  The consultation response
Section 24:  General approach to inter-party costs
§  690 - 695            24.1  The present approach
§  696            24.2  The consultation response
§  697 - 701            24.3  The Working Party's view
Section 25:  Costs transparency
§  702 - 704            25.1  The context of these Proposals
§  705 - 716            25.2  Higher rights of audience and conditional fees
§  717 - 719            25.3  These Proposals
           25.4  The consultation response and the Working Party's views
§  720 - 726                  (a)   Proposal 52: costs-related disclosures to the client
§  727 - 738                  (b)   Proposal 53: voluntary publication of professionally relevant information
§  739 - 748                  (c)   Proposal 55: Benchmark costs
§  749 - 750                  (d)   Proposal 56: Disclosure of costs between the parties and to the court
§  751 - 752Section 26:  Challenging one's own lawyer's bill
§  753 - 755            26.1  The consultation response
§  756 - 763            26.2  The Working Party's view
§  764 - 784Section 27:  Taxing the other side's costs
                       The consultation response
§  785Section 28:  CPR Schedule
Section 29:  Alternative Dispute Resolution
§  786 - 793            29.1  The Proposals
§  794 - 796            29.2  The consultation response
§  797 - 800            29.3  The Working Party's position generally
           29.4  The five broad objections
§  801 - 804                  (a)  The constitutional argument
§  805 - 806                  (b)  The duty to entertain litigation point
§  807 - 813                  (c)  The lack of infrastructure point
§  814 - 820                  (d)  The voluntariness objection
§  821 - 825                  (e)  The additional costs point
           29.5  The specific proposals
§  826 - 827                  (a)  Proposal 68: Encouraging purely voluntary mediation
§  828 - 831                  (b)  Proposal 63: Mandatory mediation by statutory rule
§  832                  (c)  Proposal 65: Mandatory mediation by election of one party
§  833 - 838                  (d)  Proposal 66: Mediation as condition of legal aid
§  839 - 840                  (e)  Proposal 64: Mediation as a condition for proceeding with the action
§  841 - 854                  (f)  Proposal 67: Unreasonable refusal of mediation reflected in costs orders
§  855 - 866Section 30:  Unrepresented litigants
§  867 - 898Section 31:  Judicial review
§  899Section 32:  Material support for the reforms
§  900 - 901            32.1  The consultation response
§  902            32.2  The Working Party's view
§  903 - 905                  (a)  Training
§  906 - 913                  (b)  Monitoring
§  914 - 918                  (c)  Information technology
§  919 - 927                  (d)  Adequate resources
Proposals and Recommendations
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4