Publisher's Synopsis
Vexatious Litigants and Civil Restraint Orders is a detailed and practical work on this growing area of procedure and law. Aimed at lawyers, judges and civil court litigants generally, it provides a 'one-stop' guide and explanation of the law relating to the court's jurisdiction to control vexatious and/or unmeritorious court claims and applications. The book explains the historical origins of and responses to vexatious litigation, it analyses the legislation and rules designed to meet this threat in the modern era, principally under the civil restraint order provisions of the Civil Procedure Rules and section 42 of the Senior Courts Act 1981. The relevant case law explaining and developing the court's jurisdiction and powers under the legislation and rules, case management strategies for preventing and controlling the worst excesses of obsessive litigants, how parties, facing actual or threatened restrictions on their right of access to the courts, can resist and respond to such applications and orders, and the deficiencies, weakness and limitations of the current rules regime relating to vexatious litigants and litigation are examined. The book also deals with how the tribunals system and family courts have developed their own rules and procedures to combat abuses of process perpetrated by vexatious litigants. Finally, the book traces, through cases studies, the evolution of parties from the early stages of their litigious careers into fully developed vexatious litigants. Central governments cuts to the civil court budget are likely to place even more emphasis on ensuring legitimate use of court time and limited financial resources, and courts will with greater frequency resort to making orders restricting the ability of litigants to persistently misuse the courts processes. Vexatious Litigants and Civil Restraint Orders guides the court, the practitioner and self-representing litigants around the law and rules, with particular detail given as to the type and procedure of applications that are provided for under the Senior Courts Act and in the civil restraint order regime, and appeals and judicial review against restraint orders that are made.
