If justice requires that the severity of a rule should be relaxed, then it is of extreme importance that the court should relax it. Lord Esher MR said: ‘a Court cannot conduct its business without a code of procedure, I think that the relation of rules of practice to the work of justice is intended to be that of handmaid rather than mistress, and the Court ought not to be so far bound and tied by rules, which are after all only intended as general rules of procedure, as to be compelled to do what will cause injustice in the particular case.’
Lord Esher MR
[1907] 1 KB 1, [1906] UKLawRpKQB 137
Commonlii
England and Wales
Litigation Practice
Updated: 15 December 2021; Ref: scu.514986