England and Wales

• Author: Christopher Hodges
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716208328286
• Published date: 01 March 2009
• Date: 01 March 2009
• Subject Matter: Articles

ANNALS, AAPSS, 622, March 2009 105

England and Wales have rules on managing multiple

similar claims (the Group Litigation Order) and partic-

ular representative procedures for consumer protec-

tion cases and for competition cases. The competition

procedure permits representative damages claims and

reforms may introduce damages more widely. But the

most interesting feature is the development of over-

sight of collective compensation by public regulatory

authorities and alternative dispute resolution or volun-

tary mechanisms.

Keywords: civil litigation; representative actions; con-

sumer protection; competition enforcement;

Group Litigation Order; collective redress

The Civil Litigation System

This report covers England and Wales: the

separate jurisdictions of Scotland and Northern

Ireland have similar public law provisions but not

collective court procedures.1England and Wales

make up a common law system: the common law

is declared by being applied by judges in a prag-

matic approach to particular problems (Slapper

and Kelly 2006) within a hierarchy of rules, along

with primary and secondary legislation.

Decisions on liability and quantum in civil

cases are made by judges.2Civil procedure is

traditionally adversarial, with the parties con-

trolling the issues in dispute, discovery of doc-

uments (which can be extensive and costly),

production of experts for each side, and strong

emphasis on oral argument at trial. Significant

reforms from 1999 have introduced far greater

judicial control through case management,

however, with court power to limit the numbers

England and

Wales

By

CHRISTOPHER HODGES

Christopher Hodges is head of the CMS Research in

Civil Justice Systems at the Centre for Socio-Legal

Studies, Oxford University.

NOTE: The author gratefully acknowledges the assis-

tance of Dr. Magdalena Tulibacka in researching the

consumer and competition provisions and of Professor

Mark Mildred for comments on the draft.

DOI: 10.1177/0002716208328286