The Court’s Power To Vary, Revoke And Rescind Its Own Order

Mark J. Forté, Tameka Davis • Posted 12/02/2010 • Under Articles

The extent to which the BVI Court had the power to vary or revoke an order previously made has been the subject of some recent scrutiny - particularly in BVI’s Companies Court’s jurisdiction to rescind a winding up order, The scrutiny has been in the case of the former by the express power to do so under the UK Civil Procedure Rules; and in the case of the latter, the English Insolvency Rule 7.47, which allows the Companies court to rescind its own order.

In the BVI there is no express power under the Eastern Caribbean Civil Procedure Rules 2000 (“the Rules”) to vary or revoke an order, and there is no statutory equivalent to English Insolvency Rule 7.47 in the BVI.

The purpose of this article is to examine the likely scope of the Court’s jurisdiction in the BVI. This will no doubt be of interest to potential litigants who may wish to vary, revoke or rescind an order of the BVI High Court, in circumstances where an appeal against that order may not in fact be desirable.