Summary rejection

Slot v Isaac (CA The Independent 2 May)

The combined effect of s54 of the Access to Justice Act 1999 and CPR 52.1 and 3 is that after a lower court has refused permission to appeal, the dissatisfied litigant can make a new application for permission to appeal to the appellate court against the original decision, but not against the refusal of permission to appeal. If the appellate court refuses permission the litigant cannot appeal to a further appellate court against the refusal of permission to appeal. In future such applications will be rejected summarily, with no necessity for any reasoned judgment.