Civil restraint order
In the law of England and Wales, a civil restraint order is a court order intended to prevent vexatious litigation.
Courts have the means of escalating the sanctions against a litigant who makes applications to the court that are "totally without merit":
There are three types of CRO: limited, extended and general, with different scopes of application:
- a limited civil restraint order where two or more applications totally without merit are made in a single proceedings. No further application may be made in the proceedings without the permission of the court.
- an extended civil restraint order for "persistently vexatious behaviour" lasts for a specified period of no more than three years for "applications touching upon instant matters" and can only be granted by a judge of the Court of Appeal, High Court or a designated civil judge.
- a general civil restraint order for a maximum of three years for all proceedings in the High Court or specified county courts.
HM Courts Service maintains a list of vexatious litigants.