As of 6 April, every statement of truth must carry extra wording to the effect that the maker of the statement understands that they may be liable for contempt of court if their statement contains falsehoods. The changed format, introduced with the 113th update to Practice Direction Amendments, can be found in Practice Direct 22.
Writing in NLJ , Peter Thompson QC, general editor of the Civil Court Practice (the Green Book), assesses the need for such a change, and what difference it may make.
Thompson warns that, as of 6 April, ‘the legal representative has an additional duty, which is to warrant that the litigant understands the consequences of misleading the court by an untruth.
‘For a proper understanding the litigant should have committal proceedings explained and should be advised as to the various kinds of punishment that await the contemnor. What if the representative fails to give such advice?... Such a dereliction of duty would expose the legal representative (but not the litigant) to punishment for contempt under CPR 32.14. Practitioners beware!’
Read more of Peter Thompson’s article, ‘The truth, the whole truth and nothing like the truth’ .
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