The Judge’s decision is final…but what happens if they make a mistake?

Generally at the end of a Final Hearing a Judgement is delivered and the Judge’s role is over, adopting the historical Latin terminology, they are functus officio - their function is complete and they have no further input into the matter. However what happens if they have made a mistake?

Where an error arises in an order that was inadvertent, clerical or administrative in nature, the Court has the opportunity to fix this under “the slip rule”. The slip rule is available in only limited circumstances including where the order does not reflect the intention of the Court, where there is a clerical mistake in the order or where there is an error arising from an accidental slip or omission. The cases which have applied the slip rule make it very clear that there can be no ambiguity as to the intention of the Court for the rule to be invoked.

The most common application of the rule is where a mathematical error has been made in calculating a financial order, a typographical error has occurred, or an order pronounced by the Court fails to be, or is incorrectly, recorded in the written orders.

At the end of the day Judges are human and mistakes can be made; the slip rule exists to manage those circumstances as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation