8.5.0 Introductie

In English civil procedure law, the court has traditionally been provided with the necessary powers to manage litigation such that where a large number of individual claims with (several) common factual or legal issues only one or a small number of actions are prosecuted to final deterrnination.1 This selection is usually a matter for the parties to decide upon. The court has the power to stay the other cases either on its own initiative or with the parties' consent.2 The judgments in the test cases have precedential effect in respect of the stayed or future proceedings. However, there is no formal binding effect. In addition to this selection mechanism, the Civil Procedure Rules provide other mechanisms to prosecute a large number of individual claims simultaneously. In the following order, I will discuss consolidation of claims, a representative action and a group litigation order.