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Queen's Bench Guide

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Guide:

1.1.1 This Guide has been prepared by the Senior Master, acting under the authority of the President of the Queen's Bench Division and provides a general explanation of the work and practice of the Queen's Bench Division with particular regard to proceedings started in the Central Office, and is designed to make it easier for parties to use and proceed in the Queen's Bench Division.

1.1.2 The Guide must be read with the Civil Procedure Rules ("CPR") and the supporting Practice Directions. Litigants and their advisers are responsible for acquainting themselves with the CPR; it is not the task of this Guide to summarise the CPR, nor should anyone regard it as a substitute for the CPR. It is intended to bring the Guide up to date at regular intervals as necessary.

1.1.3 The Guide does not have the force of law, but parties using the Queen's Bench Division will be expected to act in accordance with this Guide. Further guidance as to the practice of the Queen's Bench Division may be obtained from the Practice Master (see paragraph 6.1 below).

1.1.4 It is assumed throughout the Guide that the litigant intends to proceed in the Royal Courts of Justice. For all essential purposes, though, the Guide is equally applicable to the work of the District Registries, which deal with the work of the Queen's Bench Division outside London, but it should be borne in mind that there are some differences.

1.1.5 The telephone numbers and room numbers quoted in the Guide are correct at the time of going to press.

1.2 The Civil Procedure Rules:

1.2.1 The Overriding Objective set out in Part 1 of CPR is central to civil proceedings and enables the court to deal with cases justly. To further this aim the work is allocated to one of three tracks - the small claims track, the fast track and the multi-track - so as to dispose of the work in the most appropriate and effective way combined with active case management by the court.

1.2.2 The CPR are divided into Parts. A particular Part is referred to in the Guide as Part 7, etc., as the case may be. Any particular rule within a Part is referred to as Rule 6.4(2), and so on.

1.3 The Practice Directions:

1.3.1 Each Part - or almost each Part - has an accompanying Practice Direction or Directions, and other Practice Directions deal with matters such as the Pre-Action Protocols and some former Rules of the Supreme Court and the County Court Rules, which are still applicable, and scheduled to Part 50.

1.3.2 The Practice Directions are made pursuant to statute, and have the same authority as do the CPR themselves. However, in case of any conflict between a Rule and a Practice Direction, the Rule will prevail. Each Practice Direction is referred to in the Guide with the number of any Part that it supplements preceding it; for example, the Practice Direction supplementing Part 6 is referred to as the Part 6 Practice Direction. But where there is more than one Practice Direction supplementing a Part it will also be described either by topic, for example, Part 25 Practice Direction - Interim Payments, or where appropriate, the Part 40B Practice Direction.

1.4 The Forms:

1.4.1 The Practice Direction supplementing Part 4 (Forms) lists the practice forms that are generally required to be used by or referred to in the CPR, and also those referred to in such of the Rules of the Supreme Court and the County Court Rules as are still in force (see Part 50 of the CPR; Schedules 1 and 2).

1.4.2 Those listed in Table 1 with a number prefixed by the letter N are forms that are referred to in and generally required to be used by Rules or Practice Directions. Those listed in Table 2 are Practice Forms that may be used as precedents. The Civil Procedure Forms Volume contains a comprehensive set of forms for use in the High Court and the county courts; these are listed under the same numbers that previously identified them.

1.4.3 The forms may be modified as circumstances in individual cases require, but it is essential that a modified form contains at least as full information or guidance as would have been given if the original form had been used.

1.4.4 Where the Royal Arms appears on any listed form it must appear on any modification of that form. The same format for the Royal Arms as is used on the listed forms need not be used. All that is necessary is that there is a complete Royal Arms.

1.4.5 Forms are available from the Court Service website at http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/

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1.5 The Queen's Bench Division:

1.5.1 The Queen's Bench Division is one of the three divisions of the High Court, together with the Chancery Division and Family Division. A Lord Justice of Appeal, currently Lord Justice Judge has been appointed by the Lord Chief Justice to be the President of the Queen's Bench Division and Lord Justice May has been appointed as Vice-President; a High Court Judge is appointed as Judge in charge of the Lists and is currently Mr Justice Eady.

1.5.2 Outside London, the work of the Queen's Bench Division is administered in provincial offices known as District Registries. In London, the work is administered in the Central Office at the Royal Courts of Justice. The work in the Central Office of the Queen's Bench Division is the responsibility of the Senior Master, acting under the authority of the President of the Queen's Bench Division.

1.5.3 The work of the Queen's Bench Division is (with certain exceptions) governed by the CPR. The Administrative Court, the Admiralty Court, the Commercial Court and the Technology and Construction Court are all part of the Queen's Bench Division. However, each does specialised work requiring a distinct procedure that to some extent modifies the CPR.  For that reason each has an individual Part of the CPR, its own Practice Direction and (except for the Administrative Court) its own Guide, to which reference should be made by parties wishing to proceed in the specialist courts.

1.5.4 The work of the Queen's Bench Division consists mainly of claims for;

1. damages in respect of:
   1. personal injury, 
   2. negligence,
   3. breach of contract, 
   4. libel and slander (defamation),
   5. other tortious acts 
   6. breach of statutory duty
2. non-payment of a debt, and
3. possession of land or property.

Proceedings retained to be dealt with in the Central Office of the Queen's Bench Division will almost invariably be multi-track claims.

1.5.5 In many types of claim - for example claims in respect of negligence by solicitors, accountants, etc. or claims for possession of land - the claimant has a choice whether to bring the claim in the Queen's Bench Division or in the Chancery Division. However, there are certain matters that may be brought only in the Queen's Bench Division, namely:

1. High Court Enforcement Officer's interpleader proceedings,
2. applications for the enrolment of deeds,
3. registration of foreign judgments under the Civil Jurisdictions and Judgments Act 1982 or the European Regulation
4. applications for bail in criminal proceedings,
5. applications under the Administration of Justice Act 1920 and the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement)   Act 1933 and European Regulations.
6. registration and satisfaction of Bills of Sale,
7. Election Petitions,
8. applications for orders to obtain evidence for foreign courts.

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1.6 The Central Office:

1.6.1 The information in this and the following paragraph is to be found in the Part 2 Practice Direction at paragraph 2; it is reproduced here for the convenience of litigants. The Central Office is open for business from 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. on every day of the year except;

1. Saturdays and Sundays, 
2. Good Friday and the day after Easter Monday, 
3. Christmas Day and Boxing Day and, if these days are a Friday or Saturday, the Bank Holidays allotted in their place, then 28th December, 
4. Bank Holidays in England and Wales (under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971), and
5. such other days as the Lord Chancellor, with the concurrence or the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls, the President of the Family Division and the Chancellor, may direct.

1.6.2 One of the Masters of the Queen's Bench Division is present on every day on which the Central Office is open for the purpose of superintending the business administered there and giving any directions that may be required on questions of practice and procedure.   S/he is normally referred to as the "Practice Master". (See paragraph 6.1 below for information about the Practice Master and Masters in general.)

1.6.3 The Central Office consists of the Action Department, the Masters' Support Unit, the Foreign Process Section, the Masters' Secretary's Department, the Queen's Bench Associates' Department, the Clerk of the Lists, the Registry of the Technology and Construction Court and the Admiralty and Commercial Registry.

1.6.4 The Action Department deals with the issue of claims, responses to claims, admissions, undefended and summary judgments, enforcement, drawing up certain orders, public searches, provision of copies of court documents, enrolment of deeds and registration of foreign judgments.

1.6.5 The Masters' Secretary's Department covers three discrete areas of work;

1. the Masters' Support Unit, which provides support (a) to the Masters, including assisting with case-management, and (b) to the Senior Master, 
2. Foreign Process, and
3. Investment of Children's Funds.
   Also one of the staff acts as the Chief Clerk to the Prescribed Officer for Election Petitions (the Senior Master).

1.6.6 The Queen's Bench Associates sit in court with the Judges during trials and certain interim hearings. The Chief Associate manages the Queen's Bench Associates and also provides support to the Senior Master as the Queen's Remembrancer. The Associates draw up the orders made in court at trial and those interim orders that the parties do not wish to draw up themselves, or directed by a Master to be drawn by the Court.

1.6.7 The Clerk of the Lists lists all trials and matters before the Judges (see Section 8 below).

1.6.8 The Technology and Construction Court deals with claims which involve issues or questions which are technically complex or for which a trial by a Judge of that court is for any other reason desirable (see the Part 49C Practice Direction - Technology and Construction Court).

1.6.9 The Admiralty and Commercial Court deals mainly with shipping collision claims and claims concerning charters and insurance and commercial arbitrations. See the Commercial Court Guide and the Part 49D Practice Direction – Commercial Court, the Part 49F Practice Direction - Admiralty and the Part 49G Practice Direction – Arbitrations.

1.7 The Judiciary:

1.7.1 The judiciary in the Queen's Bench Division consist of the High Court Judges (The Honourable Mr/Mrs Justice ............... and addressed in court as my Lord/my Lady) and in the Royal Courts of Justice, the Masters (Master ...........); in the District Registries the work of the Masters is conducted by District Judges.

1.7.2 Trials normally take place before a High Court Judge (or Deputy High Court Judge) who may also hear pre-trial reviews and other interim applications. Wherever possible the judge before whom a trial has been fixed will hear any pre-trial review. A High Court Judge will hear applications to commit for contempt of court, applications for injunctions and most appeals from Masters' orders. (See the Practice Direction to Part 2B Allocation of cases to levels of Judiciary, and see paragraphs 7.11 and 7.12 below for more information on hearings and applications.)

1.7.3 The Masters deal with interim and some pre-action applications, and manage the claims so that they proceed without delay. The Masters' rooms are situated in the East Block of the Royal Courts of Justice. Hearings take place in these rooms or (short hearings only) in the Bear Garden.

1.7.4 Cases are assigned on issue by a court officer in the Action Department to Masters on a rota basis, and that Master is then known as the assigned Master in relation to that case. (See paragraphs 6.2 and 6.3 below for more information about assignment and the Masters' lists.)

1.7.5 General enquiries about the business dealt with by the Masters should initially be made in writing to the Masters' Support Unit in Room E16