§ 3.12 p.m.
§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Mackay of Clashfern)My Lords, I beg to move the Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper. The Motion seeks the approval of the House to amendments to the Judicial Standing Orders which are intended to give effect to certain procedural changes which have been agreed by my noble and learned friends the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary.
The first amendment abolishes the order of service. This is the order made by the House which the appellants are required to serve on the respondents ordering them to lodge a case in answer to the petition of appeal within a certain time limit. Our proposal is that cases for both the appellants and the respondents should be replaced by a joint statement of facts and issues and that the case proper should become a less formal document lodged nearer the time of the hearing of the appeal. If this change is adopted, the formal order of service becomes unnecessary, and I therefore propose that it should be discontinued.
Amendment No. 2 deals with exemptions from the requirements to pay security for costs and brings the terms of the standing order into line with current practice. The other amendments are consequential upon the replacement of the cases with the joint statement of facts and issues.
I should say that representatives of the legal profession were consulted before it was decided to recommend these changes, the main object of which is to achieve a more effective use of judicial time. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the following amendments be made to the Judicial Standing Orders of the House: