Access to documents

A new CPR rule 5.4 and accompanying Practice Direction make detailed provision for obtaining access to court documents depending upon whether or not the applicant is a party to proceedings. The only publicly accessible registers at present are at Chancery Chambers and the Central Office of the Queen’s Bench Division, but the new provision envisages that county courts will keep publicly accessed registers of claims in relation to documents issued out of it. A party to proceedings may obtain copies of a statement of case, a judgment or order given in public, an application notice and the written evidence relating to it, a notice of payment in, or an appellant’s or respondent’s notice. With permission, a party may also obtain a copy of any other document filed by a party or any communication between the court and any person relating to the proceedings. Non-parties may obtain copies of the claim form or judgment or order given in public, subject to restrictions contained in CPR rules 5.4(6) and 5.4(7), and, with permission, may obtain copies of other documents by an application under CPR Part 23, which, of course, incurs a fee in addition to the copying charges.