Introduction

2.1 This chapter considers the obligation on a party to discover documents to another party and the range of documents discoverable in civil proceedings in federal courts. This chapter raises issues about the need for court control over the availability of discovery and limitations on the ambit of discovery in federal courts. Legislative provisions, court rules, practice notes and significant cases dealing with the discovery of documents are discussed here. Chapter 3 discusses the way parties carry out a discovery process and the need for strong case management of the discovery stage in litigation.