PRACTICE DIRECTION 29D – COURT OFFICERS MAKING CORRECTIONS TO ORDERS

This practice direction supplements rule 29.16 FPR 2010

1.1 Rule 29.10 FPR provides that the court may correct an accidental slip or omission in a judgment or order. Corrections under that rule must be approved by a judge, or by a Justices’ Legal Adviser where Practice Direction 2C so provides.

1.2 A court officer may make an amendment to an order, without prior reference to a judge or Justices’ Legal Adviser (as applicable), in the following circumstances-

(a) where a court officer has wrongly transposed details in the draft order approved by the court;

(b) where the error is obviously typographical such as-

(i) the spelling of a party’s name, a date of birth, a place of birth or marriage, where that can be corrected by reference to the application or supporting evidence on the court file such as a birth or marriage certificate; or

(ii) a nonsensical word clearly included in error (but see paragraph 1.4);

(c) changes to references in the order to the venue at which a hearing took place, where this can be verified from the court file, court diary or cause list;

(d) the date of the order, where this can be verified from the court file, court diary or cause list;

(e) details of a party’s legal representatives at a hearing when this can be verified from the court file or other record of hearing;

(f) the date of a hearing, where the court officer has listed a matter for hearing but transposed the details incorrectly into the order that notifies the parties of the hearing date;

(g) to improve the formatting (but not the numbering) of an order.

1.3 If a court officer concludes that-

(a) it would be inappropriate to make an amendment to an order even where they consider that a case falls within paragraph 1.2; or

(b) they are not certain whether or not a case falls within paragraph 1.2 (for example whether an error is obviously typographical),

the court officer must refer the matter to a judge to determine whether to make the amendment.

1.4 Save as specified in paragraph 1.2, a court officer must never make linguistic, grammatical or textual amendments to an order, or alter its numbering,  without reference to a judge or, where Practice Direction 2C applies, to a Justices’ Legal Adviser.

1.5 A court officer must never make an amendment to a judgment or written ruling without reference to a judge or, where Practice Direction 2C applies, to a Justices’ Legal Adviser.