This was an appeal to the judge in chambers in encl 17 against the decision of the senior assistant registrar ('the registrar') who had on 22 March 1996 dismissed the defendants' application in encl 8 to strike out the plaintiff's writ indorsed with the statement of claim in encl 2. The defendants relied solely on O 18 r 19(1)(a) of the Rules of the High Court 1980 ('the RHC') to advance their application in encl 8 and for convenience that rule is reproduced hereinunder:

(19) (l) The court may at any stage of the proceedings order to be struck out or amended any pleading or the indorsement, of any writ in the action, or anything in any pleading or in the indorsement, on the ground that—(a) It discloses no reasonable cause of action or defence, as the case may be; …

The defendants did not file a supporting affidavit to back up their application in encl 8. The plaintiff filed two affidavits to challenge encl 8. One was in encl 10 that was affirmed on 9 June 1995 and filed on 15 June 1995. The other was in encl 15 that was affirmed on 6 February 1996 and filed on 9 February 1996. The issue that arose was whether in an application under O 18 r 19(l)(a) of the RHC th