HAMLYN - College of Social Sciences and International Studies ...

Civil Justice
Some changes seem perversely designed actually to make
matters worse. That applies to the recent significant increase in
court fees combined with the deplorable decision that the costs
of running the civil courts, including even the costs of judicial
salaries, should be recovered in full from litigants. The increase
in fees has aroused widespread condemnation from all sides. 47
The policy of making the courts self-financing which was
introduced by Lord Mackay 48 did not at the time provoke the
uproar that might have been expected. But Sir Richard Scott,
Vice Chancellor and Head of Civil Justice, was one who did
speak up, describing the policy as "indefensible from a constitutional
point of view". The civil justice system, with the criminal
justice system and the police, he said, was one of the three
pillars on which the structure of justice in a civilised community
stood. No-one would suggest that the criminal justice system or
the police should be self-financing. Why, Sir Richard said,
should it be suggested of the civil justice system?
"A policy which treats the civil justice system merely as a service to
be offered at cost in the market place, and to be paid for by those
who choose to use it, profoundly and dangerously mistakes the
nature of the system and its constitutional function". 49
He expressed the hope that the then new Labour Government
would consign the policy of making the civil justice system selffinancing
to the dustbin. Instead, Lord Irvine continued the
policy, ratcheting up the fees even higher and adding the new
ingredient that the farther the case goes, the higher the fees.
There is probably now no hope that this highly objectionable
policy will be reversed.
In April of this year, the civil justice system underwent the
most radical reform of the century through the implementation
of the Woolf reform package. Lord Woolf's proposals were
welcomed by almost everyone. I was one of the few who did
47 The £80 fee payable on allocation of cases to their appropriate track has
aroused particular ire. In January 2000 it was announced that it would be
abolished for claims under £1000, but a Consultation Paper in February
proposed further increases in fees—see Law Society's Gazette (February 3,
2000), p. 1.
48 In 1988/1989 the Conservative Government adopted the policy that the civil
justice system should be self-financing. In 1991 it decided that this should
include judicial salaries.
49 Transcript of a speech to the County Court Advisers' Group, May 16, 1997.
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