Civil Procedure Rules 1998
Last amended by S.I. 2026/817 (pending) in 2026. Further amendments — including a substituted Part 57A (Business and Property Courts) and changes across Parts 58–77 — are recorded on legislation.gov.uk as made but not yet applied/in force as at 31 July 2026.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
Summary
The Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR) are the procedural code governing civil litigation in the County Court, the High Court and the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal in England & Wales. Made under the Civil Procedure Act 1997 to implement Lord Woolf's 'Access to Justice' reforms, they came into force on 26 April 1999, replacing the Rules of the Supreme Court and County Court Rules (which survive only as re-enacted Schedules for specialist areas). The Rules open with the overriding objective of enabling the court to deal with cases justly and at proportionate cost (Part 1), which now expressly includes promoting or using alternative dispute resolution, and are built around active judicial case management, allocation of claims to the small claims, fast, intermediate or multi-track, costs management, Part 36 settlement offers, and specialist procedures (e.g. judicial review under Part 54, possession claims under Part 55). The CPR are amended several times a year by statutory instrument and supplemented by Practice Directions; legislation.gov.uk shows further amendments made by S.I. 2026/817 that were not yet in force at the start of August 2026.
Key Points
- Overriding objective: dealing with cases justly and at proportionate cost, including saving expense, proportionality, expedition and fairness, allotting an appropriate share of court resources, enforcing compliance, and promoting or using alternative dispute resolution (rule 1.1)
- Active case management duty on the court (rule 1.4), including ordering parties to engage in ADR where appropriate (post-2024 amendments following Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil)
- Claims allocated to the small claims track, fast track, intermediate track (added 1 October 2023) or multi-track (Parts 26–29)
- Extended fixed recoverable costs apply to most claims up to £100,000 via the intermediate track and Part 45 (from 1 October 2023)
- Part 36 offers to settle carry structured costs consequences designed to incentivise settlement
- Summary judgment (Part 24), default judgment (Part 12), disclosure (Part 31), evidence and experts (Parts 32–35)
- Judicial review procedure (Part 54), possession claims (Part 55), probate and specialist court procedures (Parts 57–63A)
- Appeals regime (Part 52) requiring permission in most cases
- Amended by statutory instrument several times each year; Practice Directions supplement the Rules but are not part of the SI
Amendments History
2013 — Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2013 (SI 2013/262)
Implemented the Jackson costs reforms from 1 April 2013: costs management and budgets, the new proportionality test, and amendments to rule 3.9 relief from sanctions.
2023 — Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2023 (SI 2023/572)
Introduced the intermediate track and extended fixed recoverable costs to most claims worth up to £100,000, restructuring Parts 26, 28 and 45 from 1 October 2023.
2024 — Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 3) Rules 2024 (SI 2024/839)
From 1 October 2024, amended rules 1.1, 1.4, 3.1, 28 and 44 to make clear the court may order (not merely encourage) the parties to engage in alternative dispute resolution, following Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil CBC.
2026 — S.I. 2026/817 (pending)
Further amendments — including a substituted Part 57A (Business and Property Courts) and changes across Parts 58–77 — are recorded on legislation.gov.uk as made but not yet applied/in force as at 31 July 2026.