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9.1
The contents of pleadings
(a)
Re-stating the requirements
Proposal 9
Rules should be adopted aimed at returning pleadings to a simpler form, comprising a
concise statement of the nature of the claim and of the facts relied on, together with any
relevant point of law.
Proposal 9 had little support. Many respondents
expressed the view that such a re-
statement is unnecessary and would not add anything to the RHC as they presently
exist. Thus, O 18 r 7(1) already provides that :-
"...... every pleading must contain, and contain only, a statement in a summary form of the
material facts on which the party pleading relies for his claim or defence ...... but not the
evidence by which those facts are to be proved, and the statement must be as brief as the
nature of the case admits."
Further guidance as to what pleadings should contain is provided by O 18 r 7A in
relation to personal injury cases and by O 18 r 8 as to pleading such matters as
limitation, fraud and illegality. In O 18 r 12, guidance is given as to the need for
particulars when alleging certain states of mind, misrepresentation, fraud, breach of
trust and so forth.
There is much force in the view that the rules already state sufficiently what is
required. Where pleadings fail properly to set out the facts or to identify the issues, or
are long-winded or require many subsequent amendments, this is not due to any lack
of a rule. Such defects may be attributable to incompetence on the part of the pleader
or inadequate instructions or insufficient thought given to the nature of a party's case.
As Lord Woolf noted, many have pointed out that such shortcomings :-
"...... do not arise from defects in the rules of court, but from the repeated failure of parties
and lawyers to observe those rules and of the court to police them."
Notes
Including the Bar Association, the BSCPI, the Law Society, one set of barristers' chambers and a
firm of solicitors. The proposal was, however, endorsed by the BCC.
WIR, p 154, §6.
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