5.3.5. Issue of the claimant's statement of case

The claim is issued by attending at the county court or district registry, or by post. The relevant number of copies are produced and the court fee paid. This fee is on a sliding scale up to a maximum figure of £500 depending on the maximum value of the claim.

5.4. Service of proceedings and other documents

It is perhaps important to clarify technical terms in relation to what is done with documents in the course of proceedings.

Issue indicates that something is taken to or sent to the court to be processed by the court usually on payment of a fee, whereupon the court will affix its seal on the form and will initiate the proceedings or some step in them.

Filing is defined as 'delivering a document by post or otherwise to the court office', which indicates that the document then goes into the court file and will remain there as part of the official record of proceedings. Most important documents generated in the course of a claim have to be filed at court and eventually, when the case is prepared for trial before a judge, it will be up to the claimant to file at court (or 'lodge' to use an alternative term) a 'trial bundle' of the relevant documents. The judge will wish to read all the documents in advance of the case, including not merely the statements of case of each party, but in all probability all the witness statements, experts' reports and other documents disclosed between the parties during proceedings which it is thought important for the judge to see (including in some cases a great deal of correspondence between the parties and between their solicitors).

Service indicates the process of bringing a document to the attention of the opposite party by delivering it to him personally, or by post or by some other approved method.

5.4.1. Service of documents

Service of any document which the court has issued or prepared (remembering that the court itself may generate documents on its own initiative) may be effected either by the court or the party who put in motion the stage of proceedings which led to the document being created. It is up to the party concerned initially how a document is to be served. This applies not just to the claim form, but to application notices, court orders and other documents.

5.4.2. Service by the court

If a party wishes the court to serve a document, he must file an extra copy at the court which will then decide which method of service to use (CPR, r. 6.3(2)). This will usually be done by first-class post and the court will then notify the claimant that the claim form has been served, and what was the deemed date of service (in the case of first-class post, the second day after it was posted: CPR, r. 6.7). If for any reason the court has been unable to effect service, it will notify the party concerned indicating what method was attempted (e.g., if the letter was returned marked 'not known at this address'). Self-evidently the court will have sent out notice of deemed service by the time they receive the information that the document was not in fact served. Once the court has failed to effect service, it is up to the party concerned to try to effect service (PD 6, para. 8.2).