From 6 April 2019, a number of changes
to the Civil Procedure Rules will come into effect with
the intention of reinforcing the principle of
open justice and clarifying how it operates within the
civil justice system. While some of those changes simply bring the
rules into line with principles established in case law, there are
a number of new provisions which may have an impact on the conduct
of hearings in the civil courts, including a new power to direct
the compilation or sharing of a summary of a hearing with an
unrepresented party.
Open justice versus right to privacy
The concept of open justice is fundamental to the English
justice system and, arguably, to democracy itself. It recognises
that, in a system based on the rule of law, those who are subject
to the law must be able to see the law being made and applied and
to scrutinise the workings of the legal process. Indeed, recent
case law has confirmed that where the public has improperly been
excluded
