Interlocutory
Relating to interim or procedural steps taken during proceedings before the final hearing. An interlocutory injunction — now generally called an 'interim injunction' under the Civil Procedure Rules — is a temporary order preserving the position pending trial.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
The word survives in the statute that still underpins the High Court's injunction power. Section 37 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 provides that 'The High Court may by order (whether interlocutory or final) grant an injunction or appoint a receiver in all cases in which it appears to the court to be just and convenient to do so.' That single provision draws the basic distinction the term is built on: an interlocutory order is one made before the case is finally decided, as opposed to a final order made at its conclusion.
The same section shows the word doing real technical work rather than being purely archaic. It gives the court a specific power 'to grant an interlocutory injunction restraining a party to any proceedings from removing from the jurisdiction of the High Court, or otherwise dealing with, assets located within that jurisdiction', regardless of whether that party is based in England and Wales or not — the statutory root of what is now more commonly called a freezing injunction. The Civil Procedure Rules have since replaced 'interlocutory' with 'interim' as the everyday label for this kind of order, but the underlying statutory language has not changed.
Related terms
Official sources
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