Cross References

Civil Procedure News of 26 October drew attention to the bracketed cross-references in the CPR to other CPR provisions. This is one feature which distinguishes the CPR from the RSC and the CCR. However, in the Stationery Office version of the CPR, one finds, in addition to the formal cross-references, some cross-references to particular CPR provisions, which do not appear, and which have never appeared, in the primary text of the CPR. The provenance of (what could be called) these ‘informal’ cross-references and their status is unclear, certainly they have never been properly enacted as part of the CPR. Some of them have been amended from time to time (by what authority is not clear) by the Civil Procedure Rules Updates published by the Stationery Office. In the major text books, the informal cross-references are usually included, but no attempt is made to distinguish between the ‘formal’ and the ‘informal’. The article suggests that when questions as to the significance of cross-references as aids to the interpretation of the CPR provisions arise, it may be important to distinguish between ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ cross-references.