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Section 5: Practice directions.

Civil Procedure Act 1997 · 1997 c. 12View on legislation.gov.uk

Practice directions may be given in accordance with Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.

Practice directions given otherwise than under subsection (1) may not be given without the approval of—

the Lord Chancellor, and
the Lord Chief Justice.

Practice directions (whether given under subsection (1) or otherwise) may provide for any matter which, by virtue of paragraph 3 of Schedule 1, may be provided for by Civil Procedure Rules.

The power to give practice directions under subsection (1) includes power—

to vary or revoke directions given by any person;
to give directions containing different provision for different cases (including different areas);
to give directions containing provision for a specific court, for specific proceedings or for a specific jurisdiction.

Subsection (2)(a) does not apply to directions to the extent that they consist of guidance about any of the following—

the application or interpretation of the law;
the making of judicial decisions.

Subsection (2)(a) does not apply to directions to the extent that they consist of criteria for determining which judges may be allocated to hear particular categories of case; but the directions may, to that extent, be given only—

after consulting the Lord Chancellor, and
with the approval of the Lord Chief Justice.

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This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.