The amendment to Civil Procedure Rule (CPR) 5.4, now in force, has reversed the default position that statements of case (except the claim form) in civil litigation would only be released to the public from the court file if the court gave permission. Now the position is that all statements of case are available simply at the request of any non-party unless the court orders otherwise.
This is a significant change to a longstanding principle of English procedural law – namely that the details of a dispute have remained private between the parties to civil litigation except and until the point at which they have emerged at a public hearing.
