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G6.3. Streaming unrepresented litigants to small claims courts
| 165. | Lord Woolf recommended increasing the monetary jurisdiction limits of the small claims tribunal to £3,000. In fact, when the Woolf reforms were implemented, the small claims jurisdiction in England and Wales was increased to £5,000. (Note 122) In Hong Kong, the Small Claims Tribunal's monetary jurisdiction is comparable. It has, since 19 October, 1999, run to $50,000. |
| 166. | The idea of streaming larger disputes to special lists in the High Court is aimed at getting the dispute before a specially trained judge who will case manage the dispute appropriately. This is however a problematical suggestion. It may be a good idea where all parties are acting in person. However, the evidence suggests (Note 123) that in Hong Kong, only a very small fraction of High Court actions falls into that category. Where one or more of the parties is represented, consignment of the case to some special list may cause resentment and appear to involve a bias in favour of the unrepresented party. |
Note
| 122 | See Prof Michael Zander QC, "The State of Justice - The Hamlyn Lectures, 1999" (Sweet & Maxwell, London 2000), p 35. <back> |
| 123 | Appendix B, Tables 22 to 24. <back> |
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