{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/county-court-amendment-no-4-rules-1989/note",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/county-court-amendment-no-4-rules-1989/note.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1989/2426",
  "legislation_title": "The County Court (Amendment No. 4) Rules 1989",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/county-court-amendment-no-4-rules-1989",
  "path": "note",
  "kind": "note",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Explanatory note",
  "text": "(This note is not part of the Rules)\nThese Rules amend the County Court Rules 1981 so as—\n(a) to require the provision of a medical report and of a detailed statement of special damages when an action claiming damages for personal injuries is commenced (rules 2 to 4);\n(b) to provide for the making of awards of provisional damages (where the plaintiff’s medical condition may deteriorate in the future) (rules 5 and 6);\n(c) to reduce from 12 to 4 months the time within which a summons or an originating application may be served (except an originating application under Order 43, rule 6 where, as now, the application has to be served within 2 months) and to amend the rules on allowing extensions of the time for service (rules 7 to 11);\n(d) to provide for directions as to the future conduct of a personal injuries case to take effect automatically (rules 12 to 14);\n(e) to extend the power to grant summary judgment where the defendant has no real defence (rules 15 and 16);\n(f) to make express provision for the separate trial of separate issues (rule 17);\n(g) to enable interrogatories to be administered (on not more than two occasions) without a court order (rule 18);\n(h) to strengthen the power of the court to penalise in costs a party who unjustifiably fails to make admissions of facts or documents (rules 19 to 21);\n(i) to enable the court to require witness statements to be exchanged (rule 22);\n(j) to make a number of miscellaneous amendments to the provisions relating to certificates of judgment, oral examinations, transfer of warrants and judgment summonses (rules 23 to 27); and (k) to amend the venue provisions relating to appeals under section 56 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (rule 28).",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/2426/note",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T15:30:34.123805+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}