BPTC Law Notes BPTC Civil Ligitation Notes
A collection of the best BPTC notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (an Oxford law graduate) could find after combing through dozens of samples 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 BPTC notes available in the UK this year. This collection of BPTC notes is fully updated for recent exams, ...
The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our BPTC Civil Ligitation Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:
WITNESS STATEMENTS
Court's power to Control Evidence
General power - court may
give directions on
issues on which it requires evidence
nature of evidence required to decide issues
way evidence to be placed before court
exclude otherwise admissible evidence
limit XX
Specific power to limit W evidence - court may
identify or limit issues
identify Ws who may be called
identify Ws whose evidence is to be read
limit length and format of WSs
allow Ws to give evidence by video link / other means
Preparation of WSs
“WS” - signed statement by a person which contains evidence that person would be allowed to give orally.
WS should represent the W's evidence-in-chief
Formalities
Heading
Formal heading with title
Top right-hand corner: party on whose behalf made, initials and surname of W, identifiers for exhibits, date made
Body
in W's own words - first person
if professional capacity: name and address of employer, position, whether employee of party
occupation
indicate which statements from own belief and which are matters of information / belief + source
number exhibits sequentially across statements
Format
A4 – one sided
paginated, numbered paragraphs
numbers and dates expressed as figures
documents referenced in margin or emboldened in body
securely-bound – otherwise, each should bear claim no and initials of Wi.
Statement of Truth
Must include signed statement that W believes facts stated are true.
Form: “I believe the facts stated in this WS are true.”
may be contained in document it verifies or served separately
if no statement of truth
WS is still properly served
but court may decide is inadmissible
false statement without honest belief in truth – contempt of court and, if knowingly false, perjury
Amendments
initialled by maker, otherwise need court's permission to use
Exchange of WSs
Court will order party to serve WS on other parties of all Ws whose oral evidence intends to rely on.
Failure to serve within time specified in directions (allocation / CMC) – W may not be called to give oral evidence without Court's permission.
Other party can apply for compliance / sanctions.
Court may also strike out claim / defence.
N.B. a statement is properly served if it is signed, even if not verified by a statement of truth.
Usually court orders simultaneous exchange, few weeks after disclosure and inspection. May order sequential disclosure.
By serving (disclosing) WS, privilege is waived, even if W not called at trial.
No obligation to disclose WSs of “Ws” not calling.
W Summaries
Summary of evidence which would have been in WS, may be:
unsigned draft WSs, or
indication of issues W could deal with.
If unable to obtained signed WSs before time due, may apply for permission to serve W summaries instead.
Only grant permission if party unable to obtain the relevant WSs
Summary must be served by deadline for exchange of WSs (unless Court orders otherwise)
WS as Evidence-in-Chief
Exchanged WSs stand as that W's evidence-in-chief unless Court orders otherwise.
Must call the W to give oral evidence (unless Court orders otherwise) or put WS in as hearsay.
If serve WS but don't call or put WS in as hearsay, other party may put WS in as hearsay.
Amplification
If Court...
Buy the full version of these notes or essay plans and more in our BPTC Civil Ligitation Notes.
A collection of the best BPTC notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (an Oxford law graduate) could find after combing through dozens of samples 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 BPTC notes available in the UK this year. This collection of BPTC notes is fully updated for recent exams, ...
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