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Practical Law UK Glossary 2-205-6230 (Approx. 4 pages)
Glossary
Document
In the context of the disclosure process in civil litigation (under the disclosure regime set out in Civil Procedure Rule (CPR) 31, Practice Direction (PD) 31A and PD 31B), anything in which information of any description is recorded (see CPR 31.4). This includes:
- Electronic documents including:
- email and other electronic communications;
- word-processed documents; and
- databases.
- Documents that are stored on servers and back-up systems.
- Electronic documents that have been deleted.
- Additional information stored and associated with electronic documents known as metadata.
(PD 31A.2A.1.)
A similarly wide definition of "document" applies for cases in the Business and Property Courts that are subject to PD 57AD ("Disclosure in the Business and Property Courts") (see PD 57AD.2.2 and PD 57AD.2.5 to 2.7).
For more information on what constitutes a document in the context of the disclosure process, see Practice note, Disclosure: what is a document and which documents must be disclosed?.
For details of our materials on the approach to disclosure under PD 57AD, see Disclosure in the B&PCs toolkit.