Supreme Court Rules 1987

These Rules may be cited as the Supreme Court Rules 1987.

In this Part:

commencement date means the date on which these Rules come into operation.

former Rules means the Rules of the Supreme Court as in force immediately before the commencement date.

pending proceeding means a civil proceeding in the Court to which, immediately before the commencement date, the former Rules applied.

(1) Subject to subrule (3), this Chapter applies to every civil proceeding commenced in the Court on or after the commencement date.

(2) Subject to this Part, this Chapter, with the necessary changes, applies to a pending proceeding, and anything required or permitted to be done under this

Chapter with respect to a proceeding commenced on or after the commencement date shall or may be done in a pending proceeding.

(3) This Chapter does not apply to a civil proceeding commenced in the Court on or after the commencement date to which any other Rules of the Supreme Court apply except as those other Rules provide.

(3A) This Chapter applies to any matter respecting an appeal, whether civil or criminal, only to the extent provided in rule 82.03.

(4) The repeal of the former

Rules does not affect anything done or omitted to be done in a pending proceeding before the commencement date and, except as provided in this Part, anything so done or omitted to be done before the commencement date shall be taken to have been done or omitted under this Chapter.

(5) Where the time for entering an appearance in a pending proceeding is limited by the originating process in the proceeding and, before the commencement date, a defendant had not entered an appearance in the proceeding, the time limited for the purpose of the filing by the defendant of an appearance under this Chapter is the time limited in the originating process.

(6) If before the commencement date an originating process issued in a pending proceeding for service on a defendant out of the Territory had not been served on that defendant, the former Rules continue to apply with respect to the service of the originating process on the defendant out of the Territory as if this Chapter had not been made and, in particular:

(a) the Court may make an order authorizing service of the originating process on the defendant out of the Territory;

(b) nothing in this Chapter affects an order authorizing such service made before the commencement date; and

(c) if the defendant is served out of the Territory in accordance with an order of the Court and does not file an appearance within the time limited, the plaintiff is entitled to enter or apply for judgment, and Order 21, with the necessary changes, applies as if the proceeding had been commenced by writ after the commencement date and the writ had been served on the defendant within the Territory.

(6.1) Where originating process issued in a pending proceeding has not been served on a defendant who is out of the Territory, the former Rules continue to apply with respect to the service of the originating process on the defendant out of the Territory as if these Rules had not been made.

(7) If an endorsement of claim on a writ of summons in a pending proceeding did not stand in place of or otherwise constitute a statement of claim under the former Rules, then, in respect of a defendant to whom the plaintiff had not delivered a statement of claim before the commencement date, the plaintiff shall serve a statement of claim on that defendant:

(a) if the defendant entered an appearance before the commencement date – within 14 days after the commencement date; or

(b) if the defendant files an appearance after the commencement date – within 14 days after appearance.

(8) An endorsement of claim on a writ of summons in a pending proceeding which stood in place of or otherwise constituted a statement of claim under the former Rules shall be taken to be a statement of claim for the purposes of these

Rules.

Nothing in this Chapter limits the jurisdiction, power or authority which the Court had immediately before the commencement date.

(1) Except as the Court otherwise orders, these Rules, with the necessary changes, apply to proceedings commenced in another court and remitted or transferred to or removed into the Court on or after the commencement date as if they were a proceeding commenced in the Court on the day they were remitted, transferred or removed.

(2) For the purpose of this

Part, a proceeding commenced in another court and remitted or transferred to or removed into the Court before the commencement date shall be taken to be a pending proceeding.

(1) In this rule a reference to a judgment entered or given includes a reference to an order made.

(2) Except as provided in this rule, this Chapter applies to a judgment entered or given in a pending proceeding as if it had been entered or given in a proceeding commenced after the commencement date.

(3) A judgment entered or given in a pending proceeding before the commencement date may be enforced in accordance with this Chapter but otherwise has the same force and effect as if this Chapter had not been made.

(4) Without limiting subrule

:

(a) no appeal may be brought, application to set aside or vary made or other proceeding taken in respect of a judgment entered or given before the commencement date which could not have been brought, made or taken in respect of that judgment under the former Rules immediately before the commencement date; and

(b) process commenced under the former Rules to enforce a judgment entered or given before the commencement date may be continued or carried out and aided in accordance with the former Rules.

(1) In this rule payment into court, in relation to a pending proceeding, means the payment into court of an amount of money in satisfaction of the claim in the manner provided by the former Rules, and includes the lodging with an Associate Judge of a notice offering to consent to judgment.

(2) Where a payment into court was made in a pending proceeding before the commencement date, the former Rules shall continue to apply with respect to the payment as if this Chapter had not been made.

(3) Without limiting subrule

, a second or further payment into court may be made in accordance with the former Rules or this Chapter.

(4) In a pending proceeding a plaintiff may serve an offer of compromise in accordance with this

Chapter on a defendant whether or not the defendant has made a payment into court.

(5) In a pending proceeding a defendant, whether or not he has made a payment into Court, may serve an offer of compromise on the plaintiff under Order 26.

Rule 36.01(6) and (8) does not apply to a pending proceeding.

(1) In this rule relevant date means the date declared under Rules amending this

Chapter to be the relevant date for the purposes of this rule.

(2) The amount of costs for work done in a pending proceeding before the relevant date shall be determined in accordance with the former Rules, with the necessary changes, and the amount of costs for work done in the proceeding on or after that date shall be determined in accordance with this

Chapter.

(3) For the purpose of this rule, work done in a pending proceeding on or after the relevant date in accordance with the former Rules shall, so far as practicable, be taken to have been done in accordance with this Chapter.

Part 2 Interpretation

(1) In this Chapter, unless the contrary intention appears:

Act includes an

Act of the Commonwealth.

bodily injury includes an impairment of mental condition and a disease.

Convention means a Convention (other than the Hague Convention) with a foreign country, made with or made and extended to the Commonwealth or the

Territory, with respect to legal proceedings in civil or criminal matters.

corporation means a body corporate, whether formed within or out of the

Territory.

document includes a video tape, audio tape, disc, film or other means of recording.

discovery means discovery and inspection of documents or discovery by written interrogatories or oral examination.

Hague Convention means the Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and

Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters done at the Hague on 15 November 1965.

Hague Convention country means a country, other than Australia, that is a party to the Hague

Convention.

judgment given means a judgment given by the Court at the trial of a proceeding or on the hearing of an application in a proceeding.

legal practitioner means:

(a) an Australian legal practitioner as defined in section 6(a) of the Legal Profession

Act 2006;

(b) the Secretary within the meaning of section 8 of the Law Officers Act 1978;

(c) the Secretary to the

Attorney-General's Department of the Commonwealth;

(d) the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions; or

(e) an AGS lawyer within the meaning of section 55I of the Judiciary Act 1903 of the

Commonwealth.

make discovery of documents means make an affidavit of documents complying with the requirements of this Chapter, file the affidavit and serve a copy on the party or person entitled to the discovery.

officer, in relation to a corporation, includes a director, secretary, receiver, receiver and manager, official manager, liquidator and trustee administering a compromise or arrangement made between the corporation and another person.

order made means an order made by the Court at the trial of a proceeding or on the hearing of an application in a proceeding.

originating process means process by which a proceeding is commenced, and includes a third party notice and, where a counterclaim is made against a person not previously a party to the proceeding in which the counterclaim is made, the counterclaim.

pleading includes an endorsement of claim on a writ which constitutes a statement of claim, and includes particulars of a pleading.

Proper Officer means an officer of the Court in charge of the Registry or an officer of the Court appointed by the Chief Justice in relation to the exercise of a power or the performance of a duty under this Chapter.

question means a question, issue or matter for determination by the Court, whether of fact or law or of fact and law, raised by the pleadings or otherwise at any stage of a proceeding by the Court, by a party or by a person, not a party, who has a sufficient interest.

Registrar includes an Associate Judge.

Registry means the Office of the Court at Darwin or Alice Springs.

solicitor means an Australian legal practitioner as defined in section 6(a) of the

Legal Profession Act 2006, other than a barrister as defined in that Act.

Taxing Master means the officer of the Court whose duty it is to tax costs in the

Court.

(2) In this Chapter, unless the contrary intention appears, a reference to:

(a) a Judge is a reference to the Court constituted by a Judge; and

(b) a proceeding commenced by writ includes a proceeding in respect of which an order has been made under rule 4.07.

(3) A reference in this

Chapter to a Form of a particular alphanumeric designation means the form with that designation as approved by the Chief Justice and published on the Court's website.

Part 2A Associate Judge's jurisdiction

(1) In exercising a power under this Chapter the Court:

(a) must endeavour to ensure that all questions in the proceeding are

resolved justly, promptly, economically and in proportion to the nature of the dispute; and

(b) may give any direction or impose any term or condition it thinks fit.

(2) The Court may exercise a power under this Chapter of its own motion or on the application of a party or of a person who has a sufficient interest.