Posts Tagged ‘commercial court’
What goes on in the Commercial Court?
It used to be the case that the work of the Commercial Court and the Admiralty Court (now constituent parts of the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales) was the subject of an Annual Report. But there has been no such report for a number of years.
The lead judge of the Court, Mr Justice Teare, has now decided that the practice of providing Annual Reports should be revived. In February 2019, the first of the new series of reports, covering the year April 2017-March 2018, was published.
Although the number of cases coming before both the Commercial and Admiralty Courts is not that high, the value of these cases are often substantial. And a high percentage of the cases involve issues which have arising outside the UK. This reflects the fact that London is seen in many jurisdictions as the place where commercial disputes can and should be resolved – in turn reflecting the expertise of the major law firms based in London.
The report is available at https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/6.5310_Commercial-Courts-Annual-Report_v3.pdf
What’s in a name? ‘Business and Property Courts’
From June 2017, ‘The Business and Property Courts’ will be the new name for England and Wales’ international dispute resolution jurisdictions and will act as a single umbrella for business specialist courts across England and Wales.
This is rather more than a simple re-branding. The main objective of the new arrangements is that it will enable appropriately qualified judges to be deployed more flexibly so that their expertise can be used in whatever forum it is needed.
Business and Property Courts brings under a single umbrella the following existing courts and lists:
- The Commercial Court (covering all its existing subject areas of shipping, sale of goods, insurance and reinsurance etc.)
- The Admiralty Court.
- The Mercantile Court.
- The Technology and Construction Court (covering all its traditional areas of major technology and construction cases).
- The Financial List (covering banking and financial markets).
- The Companies and Insolvency Court.
- The Patents Court.
- The Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court (the “IPEC”).
- The Competition List.
Other courts and lists will be added in future to include the existing business and property cases in the Chancery Division.
There will also be Business and Property Courts in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol and in Cardiff, with expansions to Newcastle and Liverpool likely in the future.
Although the framework will be new, existing practices and procedures will be retained, at least for the time being.
The details are in https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/announcements/business-and-property-courts-media-release/
The financial list – recent developments
On 1 August 2015, I noted the decision to create a new financial list and set out a diagram explaining how this would operate in the High Court.
In October 2015, further guidance on the financial list was published, and a formal event to launch the new list was held on 21 October 2015.
It will be overseen by the Chancellor of the Chancery Division and the Judge in charge of the Commercial Court of the Queens Bench Division. Cases will be heard in the Rolls Building in London.
This is an important strategic move by the judiciary, in collaboration with those groups of the legal profession who deal with these major financial cases, to try to ensure that London remains the litigation forum of choice for these kinds of cases.
One of the interesting points that was made at the time of the launch was the extent to which judicial decisions emanating from these arrangements will (or will not) align with rulings from Financial Regulators.
To read the guide, go to https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-list-guide
To read some remarks of the Lord Chief Justice on the launch of the list go to https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/announcements/financial-list-press-release/
Martin Partington: Introduction to the English Legal System 15th ed 2021
Oxford University Press Learning Link Resources
Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System 