BCL Law Notes Principles of Civil Procedure Notes
A collection of the best BCL notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (an Oxford law graduate) could find after combing through applications from outstanding students with the highest results in England and carefully evaluating each on accuracy, formatting, logical structure, spelling/grammar, conciseness and "wow-factor". In short, these are what we believe to be the strongest set of BCL notes available in the UK this year. This collection of notes is fully updated for recent exams, also making them...
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Finality
See also Appeals (reopening) & Collective redress notes (opt-out / binding opt-in)
The value of certainty
Ampthill Peerage Case (1977) per Lord Wilberforce
the need for justice, including certainty & finality, can prevail over need for truth
if rights can always be unwound, then are less valuable & creates uncertainty
Exceptions
Appeals, including out of time
Judgments to be attacked on grounds of fraud (at least of a party, if not of witnesses)
Extensions of limitation periods for mistake, fraud etc
Interests
Certainty of rights — favours finality, unless claim based on rights frustrated by factors beyond claimant’s control
Access to justice
Proportionate use of public & private resources — proportionality can cut both ways, so fact sensitive
For defendants, peace from litigation & vexation
Public interest in correct outcomes — but time erodes value of evidence
Avoiding inconsistent judgments
Rules for avoiding re-litigation
Time limits
Res judicata
Same parties cannot relitigate same issue — including (a) cause of action estoppel and (b) issue estoppel
Arises only in relation to final judgments — include default & consent judgments
Possibly only adversarial litigation — eg child welfare proceedings excluded
Can be waived — subject to public interest in overriding objective re fair allocation of resources
Applies only to same parties or their privies: Resolution Chemicals
Whether new party had interest in subject matter of previous litigation
Whether new party was in reality the party to the original proceeding
Whether it was just that the new party should be bound by the outcome of the previous litigation
Policy
Protects due process rights of strangers
Judgments inadmissible as evidence in other proceedings: Bairstow
Where one party is the same — eg should defendant to several actions on same issue be bound / permitted to relitigate losses or be able to invoke wins against strangers —
But parties invest resources in litigation based on value of dispute — not based on prospective claims
<> uses court resources, risk of inconsistent judgments
Taylor v Nugent — claimant outside group litigation bound by findings
—Cause of action estoppel
Once cause has been adjudicated, estopped from asserting or denying the cause in subsequent proceedings
Even if new argument, new evidence, or change in the law
Was considered to be an absolute bar — until Virgin Atlantic (claimant ordered to pay damages for infringement of patent — patent later revoked by EUPO with retrospective effect on grounds of prior use CA: damages still due for cause of action estoppel — SC: damages could be overturned)
Dilutes difference with issue estoppel
Consequence of concurrent jurisdictions
If had happened between two English proceedings?
Sumption — validity of patent was decided, but consequences of revocation by EUPO hadn’t been decided
But clearly, because EUPO was not in issue — would mean that any subsequent change in law could reopen
Neuberger — effect of revocation is retrospective so people are entitled to conduct themselves as though it never existed
—Issue estoppel
Parties are bound by findings in subsequent proceedings for separate cause of action between them—
If findings essential to final resolution to those proceedings
Based in proportionality analysis — if issue wasn’t necessary to resolution for dispute, may not have been fully argued & best evidence presented — so needn’t bar reargument
If issues are alternatives and only one succeeds, then may not be blocked by issue estoppel
Unless there are ‘special circumstances’, including if —
Fresh evidence could not have been obtained without reasonable diligence
There has been a material change in the law
Abuse of process — enlarged res judicata
Applies if—
issue has not been decided but could & should have been decided in earlier proceeding; or
Issue...
Buy the full version of these notes or essay plans and more in our Principles of Civil Procedure Notes.
A collection of the best BCL notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (an Oxford law graduate) could find after combing through applications from outstanding students with the highest results in England and carefully evaluating each on accuracy, formatting, logical structure, spelling/grammar, conciseness and "wow-factor". In short, these are what we believe to be the strongest set of BCL notes available in the UK this year. This collection of notes is fully updated for recent exams, also making them...
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