A Master or district judge may refer to a judge any matter which he thinks should properly be decided by a judge, and the judge may either dispose of the matter or refer it back to the Master or district judge.

An application notice must, in addition to the matters set out in rule 23.6, be signed and include:

(1)	the title of the claim,

(2)	the reference number of the claim,

(3)	the full name of the applicant,

(4)	where the applicant is not already a party, his address for service, including a postcode. Postcode information may be obtained from www.royalmail.com or the Royal Mail Address Management Guide, and

(5)	either a request for a hearing or a request that the application be dealt with without a hearing.

(Practice Form N244 may be used.)

An application may be made without serving an application notice only:

(1)	where there is exceptional urgency,

(2)	where the overriding objective is best furthered by doing so,

(3)	by consent of all parties,

(4)	with the permission of the court,

(5)	where paragraph 2.10 above applies, or

(6)	where a court order, rule or practice direction permits.

Unless the court otherwise directs or paragraph 3 of this practice direction applies the application notice must be served as soon as practicable after it has been issued and, if there is to be a hearing, at least 3 clear days before the hearing date (rule 23.7(1)(b)).

Where an application notice should be served but there is not sufficient time to do so, informal notification of the application should be given unless the circumstances of the application require secrecy.

All applications made before a claim is commenced should be made under Part 23 of the Civil Procedure Rules. Attention is drawn in particular to rule 23.2(4).

In this paragraph –

(a)   ‘designated legal representative’ means the applicant’s legal representative (if any), or the legal representative of such other party as the court directs to arrange the telephone hearing; and (b)   ‘telephone conference enabled court’ means – (i)   a district registry of the High Court; or (ii)   a county court, in which telephone conferencing facilities are available.

Subject to paragraph 6.3, at a telephone conference enabled court the following hearings will be conducted by telephone unless the court otherwise orders –

(a)   allocation hearings; (b)   listing hearings; and (c)   interim applications, case management conferences and pre-trial reviews with a time estimate of no more than one hour.

No party, or representative of a party, to an application being heard by telephone may attend the judge in person while the application is being heard unless every other party to the application has agreed that he may do so.

If an application is to be heard by telephone the following directions will apply, subject to any direction to the contrary –

(1)	The designated legal representative is responsible for arranging the telephone conference for precisely the time fixed by the court. The telecommunications provider used must be one on the approved panel of service providers (see Her Majesty’s Courts Service website at www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk).

(2)	The designated legal representative must tell the operator the telephone numbers of all those participating in the conference call and the sequence in which they are to be called.

(3)	It is the responsibility of the designated legal representative to ascertain from all the other parties whether they have instructed counsel and, if so, the identity of counsel, and whether the legal representative and counsel will be on the same or different telephone numbers.

(4)	The sequence in which they are to be called will be – (a)   the designated legal representative and (if on a different number) his counsel; (b)   the legal representative (and counsel) for all other parties; and (c)   the judge.

(5)	Each speaker is to remain on the line after being called by the operator setting up the conference call. The call shall be connected at least ten minutes before the time fixed for the hearing.

(6)	When the judge has been connected the designated legal representative (or his counsel) will introduce the parties in the usual way.

(7)	If the use of a ‘speakerphone’ by any party causes the judge or any other party any difficulty in hearing what is said the judge may require that party to use a hand held telephone.

(8)	The telephone charges debited to the account of the party initiating the conference call will be treated as part of the costs of the application.

The designated legal representative must file and serve a case summary and draft order no later than 4pm on the last working day before the hearing –

(a)   if the claim has been allocated to the multi-track; and (b)   in any other case, if the court so directs.

Where a party seeks to rely on any other document at the hearing, he must file and serve the document no later than 4 p.m. on the last working day before the hearing.

Where the parties to a matter wish to use video conferencing facilities, and those facilities are available in the relevant court, they should apply to the Master or district judge for directions.

(Paragraph 29 and Annex 3 of Practice Direction 32 provide guidance on the use of video conferencing in the civil courts)

The procedural judge should keep, either by way of a note or a tape recording, brief details of all proceedings before him, including the dates of the proceedings and a short statement of the decision taken at each hearing.

The requirement for evidence in certain types of applications is set out in some of the rules and practice directions. Where there is no specific requirement to provide evidence it should be borne in mind that, as a practical matter, the court will often need to be satisfied by evidence of the facts that are relied on in support of or for opposing the application.

Rule 40.6 sets out the circumstances where an agreed judgment or order may be entered and sealed.

Where all parties affected by an order have written to the court consenting to the making of the order a draft of which has been filed with the court, the court will treat the draft as having been signed in accordance with rule 40.6(7).

Where a consent order must be made by a judge (i.e. rule 40.6(2) does not apply) the order must be drawn so that the judge’s name and judicial title can be inserted.

The parties to an application for a consent order must ensure that they provide the court with any material it needs to be satisfied that it is appropriate to make the order. Subject to any rule or practice direction a letter will generally be acceptable for this purpose.

Where rule 23.8(b) applies the parties should so inform the court in writing and each should confirm that all evidence and other material on which he relies has been disclosed to the other parties to the application.

Where rule 23.8(c) applies the court will treat the application as if it were proposing to make an order on its own initiative.

An application for the stay of civil proceedings pending the determination of related criminal proceedings may be made by any party to the civil proceedings or by the prosecutor or any defendant in the criminal proceedings.

Every party to the civil proceedings must, unless he is the applicant, be made a respondent to the application.

The evidence in support of the application must contain an estimate of the expected duration of the stay and must identify the respects in which the continuance of the civil proceedings may prejudice the criminal trial.

In order to make an application under paragraph 11A.1, it is not necessary for the prosecutor or defendant in the criminal proceedings to be joined as a party to the civil proceedings.

Except in the most simple application the applicant should bring to any hearing a draft of the order sought. If the case is proceeding in the Royal Courts of Justice and the order is unusually long or complex it should also be supplied on disk for use by the court office.

Attention is drawn to the costs practice direction^pdp-43 and, in particular, to the court’s power to make a summary assessment of costs.

Attention is also drawn to rule 44.13(i) which provides that if an order makes no mention of costs, none are payable in respect of the proceedings to which it relates.