ABSTRACT
The court's duty to manage cases is set out at rule 1.4, which can be found above (see 1.6). This is expanded upon by rule 3.1(2):
Except where these Rules provide otherwise, the court may –
extend or shorten the time for compliance with any rule, practice direction or court order (even if an application for extension is made after the time for compliance has expired);
adjourn or bring forward a hearing;
require a party or a party's legal representative to attend the court;
hold a hearing and receive evidence by telephone or by using any other method of direct oral communication;
direct that part of any proceedings (such as a counterclaim) be dealt with as separate proceedings;
stay the whole or part of any proceedings or judgment either generally or until a specified date or event;
consolidate proceedings;
try two or more claims on the same occasion;
direct a separate trial of any issue;
decide the order in which issues are to be tried;
exclude an issue from consideration;
dismiss or give judgment on a claim after a decision on a preliminary issue;
take any other step or make any other order for the purpose of managing the case and furthering the overriding objective.