45. Norwich Pharmacal and related disclosure orders

This chapter considers a number of other special forms of disclosure orders, the best known of which is the Norwich Pharmacal order. Norwich Pharmacal orders are primarily used for finding the identity of an unknown potential defendant. They can only be sought against a person who facilitated and got ‘mixed up’ in the wrongdoing. Norwich Pharmacal orders therefore cannot be made against ‘mere witnesses’. Pre-action disclosure orders bring forward the time when disclosure of documents takes place to the period before a claim is issued. Disclosure against non-parties enables the court to order a witness to produce documents in advance of the trial, thus avoiding adjournments when documents are produced at the last minute at trial.