Skip to main content

Practice directions

Practice directions

The Supreme Court has its own Directions which replace the Civil, Criminal and Taxation Directions and standing orders of the Appellate Committee Practice of the House of Lords.

The withdrawal of the UK from the European Union affects the provisions of the Practice Directions relating to references to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Following the withdrawal of the UK, there are instances where the Supreme Court will be asked to depart from any retained EU case law or, where the application or appeal relates to a decision by the court appealed from, to depart from any retained EU case law.
Revisions are made to the court forms and to Practice Directions 3, 4 and 11 to reflect these developments.

Please see the practice note issued by Lord Reed in April 2023 here.

Please see the tracked changes documents referred to in the practice note below:

Amendments to intervention paragraphs in UKSC PD 6 and JCPC PD6

Amendments to judgments paragraphs in UKSC PD 6 and JCPC PD 6

Amendments to JCPC PD 8

Amendments to UKSC PD 13

Earlier practice notes

Practice Note October 2022

Practice Note March 2022

Please note that the paper copies are no longer required except where explicitly requested in the PD for appeal hearings.

Web version Details
Practice direction 1 General note and the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
Practice direction 2 The registry of the Supreme Court
Practice direction 3 Applications for permission to appeal
Practice direction 4 Notice of appeal
Practice direction 5 Papers for the appeal hearing
Practice direction 6 The appeal hearing
Practice direction 7 Applications, documents, forms and orders
Practice direction 8 Miscellaneous matters
Practice direction 9 The Human Rights Act 1998
Practice direction 10 Devolution jurisdiction
Practice direction 11 The European Court of Justice
Practice direction 12 Criminal proceedings
Practice direction 13 Costs
Practice direction 14 Filing documents in the registry of the Supreme Court by electronic means