NEW RULES COMING INTO FORCE ON THE 6TH APRIL 2022 (3): THESE RULES, THEY AREN’T “NEW” ANY MORE

One small change in the rules means that they have left their infancy and, presumably, having now graduated, are entering early adulthood.

THE OLD RULE

CPR 1.1(1) currently reads

(1) These Rules are a new procedural code with the overriding objective of enabling the court to deal with cases justly and at proportionate cost.

THE CHANGE

Twenty three years after the rules were introduced the word “new” is going.

4.  In rule 1.1(1), omit “new”.

SYMBOLIC OR SUBSTANTIVE?

I suspect that the original purpose of the word was to distinguish the rules totally from the High Court and County Court rules that preceded it.  Now that these are a distant memory the Civil Procedure Rules can end their diffidence and state that they are now mature and don’t want to be regarded as young any more.