Open or Closed

Can you please tell me whether district judges exercising insolvency jurisdiction and bankruptcy registrars sit in chambers or in open court? They do not seem to be able to make up their minds about this.

Whatever the court or room in which the judge sits, they can be expected to operate on the presumption that the hearing is open to the public, subject to any application for the hearing to be conducted in private (Civil Procedure Rules 1998 r 39.2). When they do sit in private (as they will, for example, when making orders in the course of boxwork dealt with in the absence of the parties) their orders will usually describe them in the modern way as sitting “in private” although “in chambers” is also still used. The High Court cause list does not expressly refer to public or private hearings but to whether the judge will be robed or unrobed which should be of use to legal representatives who have any doubts as