Civil procedure

It was settled law that applications to set aside orders granting permission to appeal would have to clear a high hurdle to succeed. It was not enough to argue that such an order was made without knowledge of the full facts. At the heart of the jurisprudence was the notion of abuse of the process of the court.

To fail to disclose material information was to abuse the due process of the court and as a consequence to run the risk that the court would deprive the applicant of the fruits of the advantage wrongfully obtained. But there was no inexorable rule that an order granted without knowledge of the full facts had to be set aside. A sense of proportion always had to be observed. Too mechanistic a strike out would be an instrument of injustice.