| 6.1 |
This Chapter deals with listing arrangements for hearings before judges and Masters in the Royal Courts of Justice.
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| 6.2 |
Subject to the direction of the Chancellor the Clerk of the Lists (Room WG3, Royal Courts of Justice) has overall responsibility for listing. Day by day management of Chancery listing is dealt with by the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer (Room WG4). All applications relating to listing should, in the first instance, be made to the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer, who will refer matters, as necessary, to the Clerk of the Lists. Any party dissatisfied with any decision of the Clerk of the Lists may, on one clear day's notice to all other parties, apply to the judge in charge of the list. Any such application should be made within seven days of the decision of the Clerk of the Lists and be arranged through the Chancery Judges' Listing Office.
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| 6.3 |
There are three main lists in the Chancery Division: the Trial List, the General List and the Interim Hearings List. In addition there is a separate Patents List which is also controlled on a day-to-day basis by the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer in Room WG4 (see Chapter 23).
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| 6.4 |
This comprises a list of all trials to be heard with witnesses.
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| 6.5 |
This list comprises interim applications and appeals from Masters.
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| 6.6 |
This list comprises other matters including revenue, bankruptcy and pension appeals, Part 8 proceedings, applications for judgment and all company matters.
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| 6.7 |
The procedure for listing Chancery cases to be heard in the Royal Courts of Justice and listed in the Trial List is that at an early stage in the claim the court will give directions with a view to fixing the period during which the case will be heard. In a Part 7 claim that period (the Trial Window) will be determined by the court either when the case is allocated or subsequently at any case management conference or other directions hearing. In a Part 8 claim covered by this procedure, that is to say a Part 8 claim to be heard with witnesses, similar directions will be given when the Part 8 claim is listed for preliminary directions or for a case management conference. It is only in a small minority of Part 8 claims that the claim is tried by a judge in the Trial List and the Trial Window procedure applies. The bulk of Part 8 claims are heard on written evidence either by the Master or by the judge. Additionally, many Part 8 claims, even where oral evidence is to be called, will be heard by the Master pursuant to the jurisdiction set out in paragraph 4.1 of PD 2B -- Allocation of Cases to Levels of Judiciary.
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Allocation of Cases to Levels of Judiciary
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| 6.8 |
In determining the Trial Window the court will have regard to the listing constraints created by the existing court list and will determine a Trial Window which provides the parties with enough time to complete their preparations for trial. A Trial Window, once fixed, will not readily be altered. A list of current trial windows is published on the HMCS website. When determining the Trial Window the court will direct that one party, normally the claimant, makes an appointment to attend on the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer (Room WG4) to fix a trial date within the Trial Window, by such date as may be specified in the order and gives notice of that appointment to all other parties. It is to be understood that an order to attend on the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer imposes a strict obligation of compliance, without which the Trial Window that has been given will be lost.
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| 6.9 |
At the listing appointment, the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer will take account, insofar as it is practical to do so, of any difficulties the parties may have as to the availability of counsel, experts and witnesses. The Chancery Judges' Listing Officer will, nevertheless, try to ensure the speedy disposal of the trial by arranging a firm trial date as soon as possible within the Trial Window. If a Case Summary has been prepared (see PD 29 paragraphs 5.6 and 5.7) the claimant must produce a copy at the listing appointment together with a copy of the particulars of claim and any orders relevant to the fixing of the trial date. If, exceptionally, at the listing appointment, it appears to the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer that a trial date cannot be provided by the court within the trial window, he may fix the trial date outside the trial window at the first available date.
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| 6.10 |
A party wishing to appeal a date allocated by the Chancery Judge's Listing Officer must, within 7 days of the allocation, make an application to the judge nominated to hear such applications. The application notice should be filed in the Chancery Judges' Listing Office and served, giving one clear day's notice to the other parties.
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| 6.11 |
A trial date once fixed will, like a Trial Window, only rarely be altered or vacated. An application to adjourn a trial date will normally be made to the judge nominated to hear such applications (see further paragraph 7.38). Such an application will however be entertained by the Master if, for example, on the hearing of an interim application or case management conference it becomes clear that the trial date cannot stand without injustice to one or both parties.
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| 6.12 |
On each Friday of term and on such other days as may be appropriate, the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer will publish a Warned List, showing the matters that are liable to be heard in the following week. Any matters for which no date has been arranged will be liable to appear in the list for hearing with no warning save that given by the next day's list of cases, posted each afternoon outside Room WG4. Where a case is listed in the Warned List, the parties may agree to offer the case for a specified date, in accordance with the statement of Chancery Judges' Listing Office practice on offering cases issued by the Clerk of the Lists.
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| 6.13 |
If after a case is listed the estimated length of the hearing is varied, or if the case is settled, withdrawn or discontinued, the solicitors for the parties must forthwith inform the Chancery Judges Listing Officer in writing. Failure so to do may result in an adverse costs order being made. If the case is settled but the parties wish the Master to make a consent order, the solicitor must notify the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer in writing, whereupon he or she will take the case out of the list and notify the Master. The Master may then make the consent order.
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| 6.14 |
Seven days before the date for the hearing, the claimant's solicitors must inform the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer whether there is any variation in the estimate of duration, and, in particular, whether the case is likely to be disposed of in some summary way. If the claimant is a litigant in person, this must be done by the solicitor for the first-named defendant who has instructed a solicitor. If a summary disposal is likely, the solicitor must keep the Chancery Listing Officer informed of any developments as soon as they occur.
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| 6.15 |
Where a case has been listed for hearing and because of the timing of the hearing an application is urgent, any application in the case may be made to the Interim Applications judge if the application cannot be heard by a Master without the hearing being delayed. Parties should not however list an application before the Interim Applications judge without first consulting the Masters' clerks (Room TM7.09) as to the availability of the assigned Master or, in an appropriate case, applying to the Master himself. Provision can be made for urgent applications to be dealt with by the Chief Master or a deputy (see further paragraph 6.29).
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Appeals
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| 6.16 |
All appeals for hearing by High Court judges in the Division are issued by the Clerk of the Lists, High Court Appeals Office (Room WG8). Enquiries relating to such appeals are to be made in the first instance to that office, except as provided by paragraph 6.18 below.
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| 6.17 |
This list, known as the Daily Cause List, is available on the Courts Service website: www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk.
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| 6.18 |
Appeals from Masters
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(1) |
Appeals from Masters, where permission has been given, will appear in the Appeals Warned List. Such appeals (stamped with the appropriate fee) must be filed with the Clerk of the Lists' Office in Room WG7. When an appeal is filed an appeal number will be allocated and any future order will bear both the original claim number and the appeal number. On being satisfied that the case has been placed in the Warned List, solicitors should forthwith inform the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer whether they intend to instruct counsel and, if so, the name or names of counsel.
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(2) |
Any order made on appeal from a Master will be placed on the court file. However, practitioners should co-operate by ensuring that a copy of any relevant order is available to the Master at any subsequent hearing.
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| 6.19 |
Applications for permission to appeal from Masters
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Applications for permission to appeal from a decision of a Master (stamped with the appropriate fee) must be lodged in the clerk of the Lists' Office in Room WG7. If permission to appeal is granted the appeal will appear in the Interim Hearings List and the procedure set out above will apply.
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| 6.20 |
Bankruptcy Appeals
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Notice of appeal from the decision of a Registrar or of a county court should be lodged in the Clerk of the Lists' Office, Room WG7. The appeal will be entered in the Appeals Warned List, usually with a fixed date. The date of the hearing will be fixed by the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer in the usual way.
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| 6.21 |
Bankruptcy Applications
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All originating applications to the judge should be lodged with the Deputy Court Manager in Bankruptcy. Urgent applications without notice for (i) the committal of any person to prison for contempt or (ii) injunctions or the modification or discharge of injunctions will be passed directly to the clerk to the Interim Applications judge for hearing by that judge. All applications on notice for (i) and (ii) above, and applications referred to the judge by the Registrar, will be listed by the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer. Applications estimated not to exceed two hours will be heard by the Interim Applications judge. The Chancery Judges' Listing Officer is to give at least three clear days' notice of the hearing to the applicant and to any respondent who attended before the Registrar. Applications over two hours will be placed in the General List and listed accordingly.
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| 6.22 |
Companies Court
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Matters for hearing before the Companies judge, such as petitions for an administration order, petitions for approval by the court of schemes of arrangement and applications for the appointment of provisional liquidators, may be issued for hearing on any day of the week in term time (other than the last day of each term) and will be dealt with by the Interim Applications judge as Companies judge. Applications or petitions which are estimated to exceed two hours are liable to be stood over to a date to be fixed by the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer. Urgent applications will also be dealt with by the Interim Applications judge. Applications and petitions referred to the judge by the Registrar will be placed in the General List and listed accordingly.
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| 6.23 |
Applications referred to the judge
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Applications referred by the Master to the judge will be added to the Interim Hearings List. The power to refer applications made to the Master and in respect of which the Master has jurisdiction is now very sparingly exercised. The proper use of judicial resources dictates that where the Master has jurisdiction in respect of an interlocutory matter he should ordinarily exercise that jurisdiction.
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| 6.24 |
Judge's Applications
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Reference should be made to Chapter 5.
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| 6.25 |
Revenue Appeals
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Appeals will be entered in the Appeals Warned List, usually with fixed dates, and will be heard by such judges as are available. The dates for hearing are settled in the usual way on application to the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer. Where it would assist counsel and solicitor with their other commitments, the Chancery Listing Officer, if requested, will endeavour to fix two or more revenue appeals so that they will come on consecutively.
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| 6.26 |
Short Applications
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An application for judgment in default made to a judge (because the Master has no jurisdiction) should be made to the Interim Applications judge.
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| 6.27 |
Summary Judgment
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Where an application for summary judgment includes an application for an injunction, it usually has to be made to a judge because in most cases the Master cannot grant an injunction save in terms agreed by the parties. In such cases the application should be made returnable before the judge instead of the Master and will be listed in the General List. The return date to be inserted in the application notice should be a Monday at least 14 clear days after the application notice has been served. The application notice should be issued in the Chancery Judges' Listing Office (Room WG4) when there must be lodged two copies of the application notice and the witness statements or affidavits in support together with their exhibits. On the return date the application will normally be adjourned to a date to be fixed if the hearing is likely to take longer than thirty minutes. The adjourned date will be fixed in the usual way through the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer, and a certificate signed by an advocate as to the estimated length of the hearing must be lodged with the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer.
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If the applicant informs the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer at the time of issue of an application notice for summary judgment returnable before a judge that directions have been agreed, or are not necessary, the application will be listed for a substantive hearing without being listed for directions.
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If, subsequent to issue, the parties agree directions the Chancery Judges' Listing Officer will, on application, re-list the application for a substantive hearing and any directions hearing will be vacated. Time estimates should be agreed.
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| 6.28 |
Variation of Trusts: Application to a judge
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Applications under the Variation of Trusts Act 1958Acts for a hearing before the judge may be listed for hearing in the General List without any direction by a Master on the lodgment in Room WG4 of a certificate signed by advocates for all the parties, stating (i) that the evidence is complete and has been filed; (ii) that the application is ready for hearing; and (iii) the estimated length of the hearing.
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| 6.29 |
The general rule is that cases are assigned to the Masters in accordance with the last digit of the claim number. At present cases are allocated as follows:
| 0 and 1 |
Master Bragge
| | 2 and 3 |
Master Teverson
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Master Bowles
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Master Price
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Master Moncaster
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In view of administrative responsibilities, the Chief Master does not have assigned cases. He will take individual cases or classes of case in his own discretion and arrangements will be made accordingly through the Court Manager. Where an application is required to be heard at short notice or is urgent but the assigned Master's list cannot accommodate an early date for the length of hearing necessary, arrangements can often be made for it to be listed before the Chief Master. Application should first be made to the assigned Master, who will determine whether the case is one which it is appropriate to release to the Chief Master. In that event arrangements are made by the Court Manager (Room TM6.06)
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Applications by the Official Solicitor under rule 21.12 to be appointed a guardian of a minor's estate are normally dealt with by the Chief Master. All applications for a Group Litigation Order in the Chancery Division have to be made to the Chief Master: see paragraph 3.13.
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| 6.30 |
An important exception to the general rule is that all registered trade mark claims are assigned to Master Bragge. Practitioners must, therefore, ensure, both at the date of issue of proceedings and when any application is to be made, that the court staff are aware that the claim is a registered trade mark claim and that, irrespective of the claim number, the claim and any application in the claim is assigned to and should be listed before Master Bragge. Each month in term time a day or more is usually set aside in Master Bragge's list specifically for trade mark applications and practitioners should, if possible, seek to have applications listed on that day. If the provisions of this paragraph are ignored and an application in a registered trade mark claim is listed other than before Master Bragge, it is likely that the Master before whom it is listed will refuse to hear it. If Master Bragge is away it is to be expected that the claim will be heard by the Deputy sitting for him.
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| 6.31 |
In addition, from time to time, the Chief Master assigns particular classes of case to particular Masters. This will normally relate to managed litigation where the particular parties will be aware that their cases have been specifically assigned.
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| 6.32 |
Masters are normally available to hear short oral applications without notice at Applications without Notice time between 2.15pm and 2.45pm on working days. Notice should be given to the Master's Appointments section in Room TM7.09, or by telephone or fax, by 4.30pm on the previous working day (except in cases of real emergency when notice may be given at any time) so that the file will be before the Master. If this procedure is not followed the Master will be likely to refuse to deal with the application. The Master will expect notice of such an application to have been given in an appropriate case to the other party. Applications without Notice time must not be used as a substitute for cases where the issue and service of an Application Notice is appropriate. (See paragraph 5.41 above).
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| 6.33 |
If the assigned Master is not available on any particular day, the applicant will be informed and (except in cases of emergency) asked to come when the assigned Master is next available. Applications will only be heard by another Master in cases of emergency or when the assigned Master is on vacation.
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| 6.34 |
See also Chapter 5, paragraphs 5.35 to 42 (Applications to Masters).
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