header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
14 July 2023 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8033 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way , CPR
printer mail-detail

Civil way: 14 July 2023

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
Service without a seal; reducing tax penalties; no jokes: the Glancing blow; coughing impecuniosity; actuarial bunfight; chancery talk.

LOOK NO SEAL

For £10,000, you would have thought the fees office at the Royal Courts of Justice would stick the court seal on the claims form, wouldn’t you? An unsealed claims form is about as good as a teabag without a cup. The Court of Appeal did not put it exactly like that in the second-tier appeal in Walton v Pickerings Solicitors and another [2023] EWCA Civ 602. What they did say was that on issue of proceedings, the court must seal the claim form (CPR 2.6(1)(a)) to indicate that it has been issued, so that until sealing there has been no issue and the proceedings have not been started. The claimant’s copies of his claim form, which were handed back to him in return for his cheque, were unsealed but, nevertheless, he served them. When in due course he got copies from the court—there were some changes from the first

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Divorce ‘nuclear weapon’ freezes assets but entangles outsiders
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
NLJ this week: What counts as ‘rent’? Court says labour alone won’t do
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Your magistrates’ court needs you!
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
NLJ this week: Freed but failed—justice system leaves the innocent empty-handed
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
NLJ this week: Clarity on whistleblowing, settlements and tribunal limits
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll