Supreme Court Rules 2000

The Rules affect litigants, legal practitioners admitted in Tasmania, agents for legal practitioners, the Principal Registrar, the Deputy Registrar, the Assistant Deputy Registrar, the Sheriff and Sheriff's officers, judges of the Supreme Court including Associate Judges, mediators acting under court order, parties to overseas judgments registered in Tasmania, parties served with foreign process under Part 38 or Hague Convention process under Part 38A, and parties subject to enforcement processes including writs of fieri facias, attachment of debt, attachment of earnings, charging orders, the appointment of a receiver and committal and sequestration. Through Part 26, they also affect respondents to applications for relief similar to certiorari, mandamus and prohibition and to writs of habeas corpus.

Rule 78 sets out the form of any document filed, delivered or otherwise used in connection with any proceeding: it is to be printed on A4 paper with a space of not less than 4 millimetres between the lines, not be a carbon copy, have an inner margin of about 25 millimetres in width and an outer margin of about 19 millimetres in width, and not be handwritten except by leave of a registrar. Rule 79 requires the document to identify the party and, if represented by a practitioner, to set out the practitioner's name, address, telephone number and facsimile number, and the email address of the practitioner if the practitioner accepts service of documents by email. Rule 80 requires that dates and numbers be expressed in figures.

Rule 82 makes clear that only an officer may receive a document for filing in the Court, and rule 82A allows a registrar who considers a writ or process to be on its face an abuse of process or a frivolous or vexatious proceeding to seek directions before accepting it for filing.

Discovery and interrogatories obligations sit in Part 13. Pre-trial directions obligations are in Part 14. Trials are governed by Part 22. Recording of proceedings is governed by Part 23. Mediation procedures are in Part 20. Offers of compromise sit in Part 9.

Costs obligations are spread across Part 34 and Schedule 1. The standard practice is that costs follow the event unless the Court or a judge otherwise orders, with set-off of costs against any other sum payable in the same proceeding under rule 872.

The Court (a judge or, where applicable, an Associate Judge under Part 37 or a registrar under specific rules) has broad case-management powers. Rule 657 directs that an appeal from a judge to the Full Court is to be by way of rehearing and to be brought by notice of appeal in a summary way. Rule 658 allows an appeal from a judgment of a judge sitting in chambers, including the refusal of an ex parte application, to be instituted or made and heard even though some procedural steps have not been taken. Rule 660 sets the manner of institution of an appeal: filing the original notice of appeal in the Principal Registry and serving a copy on each party directly affected by it. Rule 664 deals with notices of cross-appeal.

Part 17 confers a power to grant injunctions, including interlocutory injunctions, on terms the Court or a judge thinks fit. Part 18 allows the appointment of receivers. Part 26 governs orders of the nature of certiorari, mandamus and prohibition and writs of habeas corpus, addressing the procedure to obtain prerogative-style relief. Part 35 confers enforcement powers including the order of issue of writs (rule 871), set-off of costs (rule 872), enforcement of orders for the payment of money (rule 873) by means including writ of fieri facias, attachment of debt, attachment of earnings and charging orders, and committal and sequestration where rule 876 applies subject to the constraints of rule 883.

Discretions on costs sit in Part 5 (jurisdiction as to costs) and the Suitors' Fund procedures in Part 6.

Service powers include personal service or service at the address for service (rule 661 in the appeal context), substituted service by court order, service of foreign process under Part 38, and service under the Hague Convention by Part 38A.

The Rules themselves do not impose criminal penalties. Civil enforcement consequences are extensive. Failure to comply with discovery obligations or pre-trial directions may attract dismissal of a claim or striking out of a defence under the Court's inherent and statutory case-management powers. Failure to comply with an undertaking given to the Court, a judge or to a person to pay a sum of money other than into Court may, under rule 873(3), be enforced as if the failure were a money judgment, including by the means in subrule (2). Committal and sequestration are available in the circumstances set out in rule 876, subject to the safeguards in rule 883.

For failure to satisfy a money judgment, Part 35 Divisions 5 and 6 provide for attachment of debt and attachment of earnings. Part 36 Divisions 1 and 2 provide for charging orders and the appointment of a receiver. Part 36 also covers miscellaneous penal procedures.

Time is set out in Part 4. Rule 78 sets formal requirements for documents. Filing rules are in Part 7 Division 2. Discovery and interrogatories sit in Part 13. Pre-trial directions sit in Part 14. Amendments to documents are in Part 15. Detention, preservation and inspection of property is in Part 16. Trial procedures are in Part 22 and recording in Part 23.

For appeals from a judge to the Full Court, the appellant must give notice of appeal for an ordinary sitting of the Full Court to be held on a date to be fixed by the Principal Registrar (rule 657(5)). The notice of appeal must state the part of the judgment being appealed, specifically and concisely the grounds of appeal, and what judgment is sought (rule 657(4)). Service is required on each party directly affected by the appeal (rule 660). Appeals brought from a district registry must also have a copy of the notice of appeal filed in the district registry, although a failure to comply does not affect the validity of the appeal (rule 662).

Service of foreign process under Part 38, and service under the Hague Convention by Part 38A, follow the procedural steps specified in those Parts including for translations and certifications.

The Rules sit beneath, and are framed for, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Tasmania. They interact with several core Tasmanian and Commonwealth statutes. Examples drawn from the body of the Rules include:

• The Land Titles Act 1980 (Tas), particularly section 146(1), for which the Rules' Schedule 1 Part 5 sets the costs to be endorsed on applications for possession of property.
• The Admiralty Rules 1988 of the Commonwealth, with rule 3A authorising court officers to perform the functions of the Registrar and Marshal under those Rules.
• The Civil Liability Act 2002 (Tas), as referenced in proceedings before the Court (a connection visible in stored cases such as Jadwan Pty Ltd v Rae & Partners [2020] FCAFC 62, which concerned a Tasmanian-commenced negligence proceeding).
• The Hague Convention regime, operationalised through Part 38A.
• Various particular statutes addressed in Part 32 (proceedings under particular statutes) and Part 25 (mortgages, estates, trusts and sale of land), which integrate the Rules with substantive Tasmanian property and equity legislation.

Tasmanian District Court and Magistrates Court rules sit alongside the Supreme Court Rules 2000 but are separate instruments.

The first gotcha is the email-service architecture introduced through the rule 79 requirement that a practitioner who accepts service of documents by email give the relevant email address on each filed document. A practitioner who routinely lists an email address that is not actively monitored exposes the client to deemed service and inadvertent default.

The second gotcha is the appeal-from-chambers rule. Rule 658 expressly allows an appeal from a judgment of a judge sitting in chambers including the refusal of an ex parte application, even where some procedural steps have not been taken. Practitioners sometimes assume that ex parte refusals must be taken back to the same judge, but Part 27 Division 1 contemplates an appeal to the Full Court as the principal pathway.

The third gotcha is the practical consequence of rule 78. While the rule appears to be a formality, registrars have refused to accept documents that fail to comply with the margin and printing requirements. Counsel relying on imported templates with non-standard margins should check this.

The fourth is the breadth of the enforcement menu in rule 873. A judgment for payment of money sits at the foot of a long ladder of enforcement options (writ of fieri facias, attachment of debt, attachment of earnings, charging orders, appointment of a receiver, committal and sequestration if rule 876 applies subject to rule 883). The choice of method has important downstream consequences for priority and cost.

A self-represented party seeking to appeal an interlocutory order made by a judge in chambers prepares a notice of appeal under rule 657, files it in the Principal Registry under rule 660(a), serves a copy on each directly affected party under rule 660(b), and applies to have the appeal listed for an ordinary sitting of the Full Court in accordance with rule 657(5).

A solicitor for a successful plaintiff seeks to enforce a money judgment of the Supreme Court. Under rule 873(2), a writ of fieri facias is issued, and if recovery proves insufficient, the solicitor moves on to attachment of debt under Division 5 of Part 35 or attachment of earnings under Division 6, with the option of a charging order under Division 1 of Part 36 or appointment of a receiver under Division 2 of Part 36. If the judgment debtor disregards an undertaking to pay money other than into Court, rule 873(3) operationalises the same enforcement menu.

A foreign litigant requires Tasmanian assistance to obtain evidence for use in a foreign court. Part 39 of the Rules provides the procedure for obtaining evidence for an external court or tribunal, working alongside the Foreign Evidence Act 1994 (Tas) and any applicable convention.