A Model Civil Procedure Code for England and Wales

Civil procedure law is integral to our understanding of access routes to justice, dispute resolution, and ultimately the rule of law. However, the field is rapidly changing, shifting dispute resolution away from courts and judgments, towards other legal pathways such as negotiation, mediation, arbitration and Ombudsman. Similarly, the increasing digitisation of society and looming potential of AI will profoundly influence future reforms. Civil justice is thus at a critical turning point. In response, John Sorabji proposes a new model civil procedure code for England and Wales. Building on the work of the ALI/UNIDROIT Principles of Transnational Civil Procedure and the ELI-UNIDROIT Model European Rules of Civil Procedure, he articulates a simplified, principle-based, seventeen-part approach that covers all major stages from issue to enforcement, with sections on costs and funding, provisional measures, access to evidence and privileges, case statements, hearings, and dispute management. Highlighting that civil courts are just one part of a wider civil justice ecosystem, Sorabji promotes the wealth of avenues available for dispute resolution and charts how these should be co-ordinated in the future. He outlines new ways to efficiently incorporate breakthroughs in digitisation and preventive and consensual forms of justice, and also explores likely shifts in the purpose of procedural codes as digitisation evolves, while underscoring the consistent need for judicial independence and accountability. Ultimately, Sorabji posits that procedural codes should guide not only the process of litigation, but those who design digital procedures and test their propriety in the future.

Table of Contents:
I: PRELIMINARY TO THE CODE GOVERNANCE OF THE CIVIL DISPUTE RESOLUTION SYSTEM II: A MODEL CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE 1: GENERAL PRINCIPLES 2: CIVIL COURT ADMINISTRATION 3: COSTS 4: FUNDING 5: PRE-ACTION DISPUTE MANAGEMENT 6: PARTIES 7: JURISDICTION, SCOPE, AND TERMINATION 8: CASE STATEMENTS 9: AMENDMENT 10: SERVICE 11: DISPUTE MANAGEMENT 12: ACCESS TO EVIDENCE AND PRIVILEGES 13: PROVISIONAL MEASURES 14: HEARINGS 15: JUDGMENTS AND ORDERS 16: ENFORCEMENT 17: APPEALS

About the Author :
John Sorabjiis Associate Professor ofLaw at University College London and a memberof the Civil Justice Council. He has previouslyserved as the Deputy Private Secretary to HMKing Charles III and, separately, as the PrincipalLegal Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice and theMaster of the Rolls. He has also been a visitingprofessor at Université Pantheon-Assas. He is the author of many titles including English CivilJustice after Woolf and Jackson: A Critical Analysis(CUP, 2014), a contributing editor and author of Fosketton Compromise(Sweet & Maxwell,2015, 2020 and 2024), CivilLitigation in a Comparative Context(West Academic Press,2nd edition,2017),Zuckerman on Civil Procedure(Sweet & Maxwell,2021),and the ELI-UNIDROIT Model European Rules ofCivil Procedure(OUP, 2021). He is also a General Editorof Civil Procedure (The White Book) (Sweet & Maxwell, 2024).