A party asked the court to reconsider its judgment after it had been handed down saying that the judge had acted in error. Rix LJ referred to the need to balance the concern for finality against the ‘proper concern that courts should not be held by their own decisions in a straitjacket pending the formality of drawing up the order’. He continued: ‘Provided that the formula of ‘exceptional circumstances’ is not turned into a straitjacket of its own, and the interests of justice and its constituents as laid down in the overriding principle are held closely to mind, I do not think that the proper balance will be lost. Clearly, it cannot be in every case that a litigant should be entitled to ask the judge to think again. Therefore, on one ground or another the case must raise considerations, in the interests of justice, which are out of the ordinary, extraordinary or exceptional. An exceptional case does not have to be uniquely special. ‘Strong reasons’ is perhaps an acceptable alternative to ‘exceptional circumstances’. It will necessarily be in an exceptional case that strong reasons are shown for reconsideration.’
Rix LJ
[2001] 3 All ER 513, [2001] CP Rep 93, [2001] EWHC QB B1
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – TZ v General Medical Council Admn 17-Apr-2015
Appeal against decision of a Fitness to Practise Panel holding that the Appellant’s fitness to practise as a medical practitioner was impaired by reason of his misconduct. It directed that his name be erased from the Medical Register under section . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Litigation Practice
Updated: 17 January 2022; Ref: scu.545670