Fletcher Moulton LJ considered the rule allowing a case to be struck out as an abuse of process: ‘Now it is unquestionable that, both under the inherent power of the Court and also under a specific rule to that effect made under the Judicature Act, the Court has a right to stop an action at this stage if it is wantonly brought without the shadow of an excuse, so that to permit the action to go through its ordinary stages up to trial would be to allow the defendant to be vexed under the form of legal process when there could not at any stage be any doubt that the action was baseless . . To my mind it is evident that our judicial system would never permit a plaintiff to be `driven from the judgment seat’ in this way without any Court having considered his right to be heard, excepting in cases where the cause of action was obviously and almost incontestably bad.’
Cozens Hardy MR said that a declaration might be granted where it would ‘guide (the parties’) action in the future.’
Judges:
Fletcher Moulton LJ, Cozens Hardy MR
Citations:
[1911] 1 KB 410, [1912] 1 Ch 158
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Balamoody v United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting CA 6-Dec-2001
The claimant had been struck from the register of nurses after convictions arising from failures of his staff at his nursing home with regard to drug management. He had then brought claims of unlawful race discrimination against the health authority . .
Cited – Rolls-Royce plc v Unite the Union CA 14-May-2009
The parties disputed whether the inclusion of length of service within a selection matrix for redundancy purposes would amount to unlawful age discrimination. The court was asked whether it was correct to make a declaratory judgment when the case . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Litigation Practice
Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.277522