Hearing

When the defendant has filed a statement of defence, the court will set a date for the hearing of parties. Here, both the claimant and the defendant, together with their lawyers, have to appear in court physically. During this hearing, the lawyers will be given the opportunity to present their pleadings, and the court may ask questions, both to (the counsel of) the defendant and (the counsel of) the claimant.

The parties can also try to effect a settlement; for this purpose, the court will often send them off into the hall to come to an agreement outside the courtroom. If a settlement is achieved, the agreements will immediately be recorded in an official report that is signed by both parties. This report will then result in removal of the case from the cause list, which ends the proceedings.

If no settlement is reached, the court will give judgment. In exceptional cases, the court may give verbal judgment immediately. In most cases, however, the court will determine a period within which a written judgment will follow. The court may also decide that the case needs to be further dealt with, such as by permitting an exchange of documents, by means of which the parties may furnish additional facts or respond to new documents submitted to the court.