Draft Rules of Court 2011

Dear Members,

We append herewith a copy of the Draft Rules of Court 2011 for your perusal and comments. Kindly let the Perak Bar Committee have your comments regarding the same on or before the 15/11/2011.

A Copy of the draft rules can be downloaded HERE.


Perak Bar Blogmaster

NEW CIVIL COURT (NCvC)

Dear Members,

Beginning January 2011, The courts will be implementing the New Civil Courts to ensure to reduce the waiting period and to ensure the disposal of cases be speedier as well as to go digital from registration to hearings to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

The 2 circulars for your information are available HERE and HERE.

Thank you.

Perak Bar Blogmaster

Teste to the Writ of Summons

Dear Members,

For your information. Beginning the 1st November 2010, the teste to the writ of summons has been amended.

A copy of the circular and the new teste can be downloaded HERE.

Thank you.

Perak Bar Blogmaster

Guidelines in Approving Orders and Judgements

Dear Members,

It has come to the Perak Bar Committee's attention that there may be some confusion as to how the draft orders and/or judgements are supposed to be filed.

In order to eliminate all doubts. Please refer to the circular HERE.

Thank you.

Perak Bar Blogmaster

UPDATE - Joint Petitions in the High court of Malaya in Ipoh

UPDATE!

Dear Members,

Please be informed that the High Court has retracted the below featured requirements. All Petitioners will be required to attend together with their solicitors/counsels. Please take note.

Perak Bar Blogmaster

Dear Members,

For your information, the High Court of Malaya in Ipoh has recently put up a memo which can be seen on the Notice Board and is reproduced in the picture above that states that :-

Beginning the 29th June 2010 for all new cases and those filed in July 2010 all joint petitions will be heard without the need for the attendance of the lawyers and parties if the papers are in order.

All petitions in which a Decree Nisi has been granted will be informed via a notice on the Notice Board.

All Petitions should include a draft Decree Nisi for approval of court.

Kindly take note.

Perak Bar Blogmaster

Talk on Civil Appeals; Practice and Pitfalls - UPDATE

Dear Members,

It has come to my knowledge that some of you were unable to download the same from here. I have made some changes to the link below. I hope that you are able to now. If not. Kindly drop me an email at perakbarblog@gmail.com to let me know. Thank you.

For those who missed the talk on the above. The esteemed Speakers have graciously allowed us to reproduce the notes that they gave out during the talk for you to download.

The notes can be viewed and downloaded HERE.

Report on Talk on Civil Appeals; Practice and Pitfalls

A Report on the Professional Development Sub Committee talk held on 26.5.2010 at the Perak Bar Room between 3.30pm-5.00pm

I have the honour of presenting a report on the above. The speakers were Encik Ahmad Yani b. Aminuddin of Messrs Abbas & Ngan and Mr Edwin Seibel of Messrs Gibbs & Co. The topic presented was entitled “Civil Appeal; Procedure, Practice & Pitfalls. As suggested by the topic, the audience was taken to various pieces of primary legislation, subsidiary legislation, practice directions and authorities on the matter. A 30 page booklet entitled “Guidelines on Procedure for Appeal in Malaysian Civil & Criminal Courts” complete with an Annexure also prepared and distributed to the audience.

I must say that the talk was well attended and also well received. The audience exceeded expectation by 20% which resulted in the shortage of the aforementioned booklet before our Encik Zaizuraimy’s timely instruction to have it further copied even when the talk was in progress.

I must express my gratitude to the speakers and Ms. Chia Yuh Ning who has taken time in their busy schedule and effort in presenting the talk. It is my hope that for the talk scheduled on 18.6.2010 on 2 aspects of criminal matters would also be well received.

Thank you,

Norazali Nordin
Chair
Professional and Development
Sub Committee
Perak Bar
This report is dated 27.5.2010.

UPDATE ON THE PROPOSED NEW RULES OF COURT

To All Members of the Malaysian Bar

UPDATE ON THE PROPOSED NEW RULES OF COURT

1. The Task Force on Combined Rules of Court (Task Force) was appointed by the Bar Council in 2007 to liaise with the Judiciary on a proposal for a single set of civil procedure rules for the High Court and Subordinate Courts.

2. The Task Force has been working tirelessly with the Judiciary to ensure that the proposed rules achieve the desired balance between justice and fairness to the litigant and efficient and speedy determination of cases by the Court. Its final comments on the Judges' proposed amendments were submitted to the Judiciary on 13.3.2009. Following that, the Task Force has been invited to sit with the Judges Committee to finalise the amendments within a timeline of 2-3 months. The Attorney General's Chambers is also represented on this Committee. The 1st meeting was held on 10.7.2009.

3. The purpose of the said Rules is to improve the administrative and delivery process of the legal system.

4. The amendments proposed by the Judges Committee will have far-reaching implications on the way litigation is practised.

5. Some of the crucial changes proposed are highlighted hereinbelow:

• Extensions of time cannot be mutually agreed upon by the parties and will only be granted by Court

• The Court can decide whether an application should be disposed without a hearing

• The Court can decide whether a matter should be disposed by Affidavit evidence only

• Applications to set aside an Order must be made within 7 days of service

• The overriding objective of the Rules is to enable the Court to deal with cases justly and expeditiously

• The criteria for dealing with cases justly include:

- ensuring that the parties are on an equal footing;
- saving expense;
- dealing with the case in ways which are proportionate-

i) to the amount of money involved;
ii) to the importance of the case;
iii) to the complexity of the issues; and
iv) to the financial position of each party.

- ensuring that it is dealt with expeditiously and fairly; and

- allotting to it an appropriate share of the court's resources, while taking into account the need to allot resources to other cases.

• There will only be one (1) mode of originating process known as a Claim; and 1 application for all interlocutories

• There will be a new summary procedure which incorporates the current Order 14, Order 14A, Order 18 rule 19, Order 18 rule 11 and Order 33 rule 2 of the Rules of the High Court 1980

• The test in summary proceedings will be “the justice of the case' and not ‘triable issues”

• Some limited equitable jurisdiction (specific performance / rescission, etc) will be extended to the lower Courts

• All matters that are commenced will have a return date ie. similar to the current subordinate court practice of mention dates

• Statement of truth: The Rules require certain documents to be verified by a statement of truth by the party, his litigation friend or the legal representative of the party / litigation friend

6. The Bar Council is organising a Roadshow on the proposed Rules. The Roadshow will kick off with a forum at the Bar Council Auditorium on Tuesday, 11.8.2009 at 4.00 pm. [See Circular No. 225/2009 dated 3.8.2009]

In view of the imminent changes, members are urged to make every attempt to attend and participate in the discussion on 11.8.2009.

7. The Council is also engaging other stakeholders, namely the AG's Chambers and the Sabah & Sarawak Bars on some of the main objections to the proposed rules. This matter was discussed at the 2 nd Tripartite meeting with the Sabah & Sarawak Bars on 9.8.2009.

8. The Bar Council is working closely with the Judges Committee and hopes that collectively we can achieve a more effective and efficient judicial delivery system.

9. Please forward any comments or enquiries you may have on this matter to Vinodhini Samuel at the Secretariat at vino.bs@malaysianbar.org.my . For enquiries / information, please contact Vino at 03-2032 4184 / 03-2031 3003 ext 149.

Thanking you.

George Varughese
Secretary