Court Rules

1. Any act required by these Rules to be done by a party may be done by him in person or by his Solicitor.

2. All documents and forms for filing in the Office, or for service in connection with proceedings in the Court, with the exceptions of accounts, maps and plans, shall be written, printed or typewritten on A4 size paper. All documents intended for filing shall be properly indorsed with the short title of the proceeding upon a page left blank for that purpose.

3. The Court, where necessary, shall order in what newspapers any advertisements which may from time to time be necessary in any action or matter shall be inserted.

4. The Schedules to these Rules shall be taken to be part of the Rules, and all forms therein contained, or suitable forms to the like effect, may be used where the same are applicable, and shall be good and sufficient. Where by these Rules any party is required to give notice according to a form mentioned in any Schedule to these Rules, it shall be sufficient if the notice complies substantially with such form.

5. Where no forms are provided, parties shall frame the documents, using as guides the forms contained in the Schedules.

6.[1][2] (1) Subject to sub-rule (2) and to any relevant provision of statute, the Court shall have power to enlarge or abridge the time appointed by these Rules, or fixed by any order enlarging time, for doing any act or taking any proceeding, and may also declare any step taken or act done to be sufficient, upon such terms (if any) as the Court may direct, and any such enlargement may be ordered or such direction given although the application for same is not made until after the expiration of the time appointed or allowed.

(2) Sub-rule (1) does not apply to any application to which Order 12 applies.

7. Application to set aside proceedings for irregularity shall be made to the Court on notice, but no application to set aside any proceedings for irregularity shall be allowed unless made within a reasonable time, or if the party moving has taken any fresh step after knowledge of the irregularity, and any notice of any such motion shall contain the objections intended to be relied on.

8. [3] …

9. Where by these Rules any document is required to be lodged in the Office the same may be sent by pre-paid post so as to reach the Office before the expiration of the time limited for such lodgment as aforesaid. 

10. [4] (1) Subject to sub-rule (2), a party suing or defending by a Solicitor shall be at liberty to change his Solicitor, or to discharge his Solicitor and sue or defend in person, and any party suing or defending in person shall be at liberty to appoint a Solicitor without an order for the purpose. Notice of such change, discharge or appointment shall be filed in the Office, and served on the opposite party, or his Solicitor (if any), and on the Solicitor discharged.

(2) Notwithstanding sub-rule (1), a party seeking to discharge his Solicitor and sue or defend in person in any proceedings to which Order 59 or 59A applies shall not do so without an order of the Court, such order to be applied for by motion on notice to the Solicitor.

11. The application for re-hearing in any of the proceedings referred to in Section 42 of the County Officers and Courts (Ireland) Act, 1877, shall set forth fully the grounds upon which the re-hearing is sought, and notice thereof shall be filed in the Office and served upon the opposite party, or his successor in interest, not less than fourteen days before the opening day of the Sittings at which the application is to be made, or, in the Dublin Circuit, not less than six days before the day upon which the application is to be made. 

12. Where the time for doing any act or taking any proceedings expires on a Saturday or Sunday or other day on which the Office is closed, and by reason thereof such act or proceeding cannot be done or taken on that day, such act or proceeding, shall, so far as regards the time of doing or taking the same, be held to be duly done or taken if done or taken on the day on which the Office shall next be open. 

13. Any entry in any cause book or other books or record required to be made by these Rules shall be deemed to be made in accordance with such Rules if made in any computer or other form of record approved from time to time by the President of the Circuit Court. 

14. Any court file or record may be kept in such form as may be approved from time to time by the President of the Circuit Court. 

15. Non-compliance with any of these Rules, or with any practice for the time being in force in the Court, shall not render the proceedings void unless the Court shall so direct, but such proceedings may be set aside wholly or in part as irregular, or may be amended or otherwise dealt with in such manner or upon such terms, as the Court shall think fit.

16. Where there is no Rule provided by these Rules to govern practice or procedure, the practice and procedure in the High Court may be followed.

 

[1] Order 67 rule 6 substituted by SI 526 of 2005, effective 20 September 2005.
[2] Order 67 rule 6 substituted by SI 221 of 2019, effective 19 June 2019.
[3] Order 67 rule 8 deleted by SI 251 of 2009, effective 28 July 2009.
[4] Order 67 rule 10 substituted by SI 22 of 2019, effective 19 February 2019.