Practice directions (PDs) provide guidance to matters of court practice.

They may be made by judges but they are made under statutory powers, now conferred by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Sch2, Part 1, and are “designated” (para 1). It is for the Lord or Lady Chief Justice (LCJ), or a judicial office holder nominated by the LCJ, to make designated directions. They must then be agreed to by the Lord Chancellor. This system applies for civil proceedings, criminal and family proceedings by amendments to Civil Procedure Act 1997, s 5, Courts Act 2003 s 73 and s 81 respectively. For family proceedings it is the President of the Family Division (instead of the LCJ) who makes PDs with concurrence of the Lord Chancellor.

If and to the extent that a Practice Direction contains a statement of the law which is wrong, it will carry no authority at all: see per Brooke LJ in U v Liverpool City Council (Practice Note) [2005] EWCA Civ 475; [2005] 1 WLR 2657 at [48]:

“It is sufficient for present purposes to say that a practice direction has no legislative force. Practice directions provide invaluable guidance to matters of practice in the civil courts, but in so far as they contain statements of the law which are wrong they carry no authority at all.”

As approved in In re NY (A Child) [2019] UKSC 49, [2019] 3 WLR 962, [2019] 2 FLR 1247 at [38] per Lord Wilson.

PDs are statutory to the extent described above. They are not to be confused with non-statutory “guidance” (qv), often referred to eg as “practice guidance”.