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14.2
Specialist lists and procedural autonomy
By O 1 r 2, the RHC are made applicable to all proceedings in the High Court save for
proceedings in seven specified classes
which are governed by their own legislation.
However, Order 72 gives the Chief Justice power to make provision for certain classes
of cases to be separately listed, with a judge placed in charge of a particular list.
Where this occurs, O 72 r 2(3) provides that the judge in question "shall have control
of the proceedings in his particular list" and, subject to any directions he may give,
hear all chambers applications himself. This in practice means that the specialist list
judge has a high degree of procedural autonomy enabling him (often with the
assistance of a consultative group of court users) to propose and develop procedures
designed to take into account the peculiar needs of cases of the kind dealt with on the
list. To this end, the application of particular provisions of the RHC may be excluded
or varied by practice direction applicable to the specialist list generally or by specific
order in relation to a particular case.
Currently, four specialist lists have been designated pursuant to O 72: the Commercial;
Personal Injury; Construction and Arbitration; and Constitutional and Administrative
Law Lists, respectively. The Commercial List is the longest established and models
its practice along the well-documented lines of the practice of the Commercial Court
in London. This tends to involve a robust style of case management which demands a
degree of competence among the legal advisers who frequent the court. Guidance has
also been given locally in judicial pronouncements in reported cases.
This approach
has been adopted in the Construction and Arbitration List.
Although, it has been
pointed out that the "Admiralty List" is not strictly an Order 72 list,
it is in practice
treated as a list run on the same lines as the Commercial List.
Notes
Bankruptcy, winding-up, non-contentious probate, Prize Court, matrimonial, adoption and domestic
violence proceedings.
See a summary of the approach of judges in the Commercial List at HKCP 2002, 72/2/10.
Thus, PD 6.1.10(j) requires users to note the practice and procedure set out in the Guide To
Commercial Court Practice on matters not expressly regulated in the List's standard directions or the
court's orders.
HKCP 2002, 72/1/3.
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