Simplifying civil procedure is CJ's task

Most civil cases in the High Court and Magistrates' Courts are decided under intricate procedural regimes contained in the Civil Procedure Act and elaborate rules contained in over 180 pages of subsidiary legislation. Some matters such as matrimonial and company law issues have their own procedures as do most tribunals.

The original Civil Procedure Act was enacted in 1924 being a carbon copy of the Indian enactment, and since then, the Act and Rules have been amended many times mainly in a haphazard fashion. In December 2010 the Rules Committee comprising two judges of the Court of Appeal, two judges from the High Court, the Attorney General and two advocates promulgated a new set of rules.