Discovery
The former term for what the Civil Procedure Rules now call disclosure — the process by which parties to litigation identify and make available documents relevant to the issues in the case, whether or not those documents support their own case.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
What used to be called discovery is defined today, in Part 31 of the Civil Procedure Rules, as disclosure, and the rule is careful to explain that disclosing a document is a distinct step from letting the other side see it: '31.2 A party discloses a document by stating that the document exists or has existed.' A separate right of inspection then follows once disclosure has taken place.
The scope of the duty is deliberately limited rather than requiring every conceivably relevant document to be produced. The standard form of the obligation, 'standard disclosure', is defined by reference to specific categories: '31.6 Standard disclosure requires a party to disclose only—' documents a party relies on, and documents that adversely affect its own case, adversely affect another party's case, or support another party's case. That structured, categorised approach is what modern 'disclosure' means in place of the older, broader idea of 'discovery'.
Related terms
Official sources
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