INDEXING; PAGINATING AND BINDING OF COOURT DOCUMENTS

1. South African courts require that the court documents must be

indexed and paginated for every matter it must adjudicate on.
2. In order to bind the court documents, there must be an Index
and the document must be paginated.
3. As the Applicant (application proceedings) or the plaintiff (in
action proceedings) are dominus litis (master of the case)
therefore it is their duty to ensure that courts documents are
properly indexed and paginated.

4. INDEX
4.1 Index means the compiling of a complete list of all the court
documents in the particular case with reference to the page
number where the document can be found.

5. PAGINATION
5.1 Pagination means the numbering of each and every page of
all the court documents in the particular case.

6. BIND
6.1 Binding of a court file is the process of physically assembling
the court documents in that particular case that are bound
together.
7. HOW TO INDEX, PAGINATE AND BIND.
7.1 The first step in indexing, paginating and binding of a court
file is to sort the court documents chronologically date
order from first to last.
7.2 E.g, on a Voluntary Surrender application case, we will start
with the Notice of Motion; followed by the founding affidavit,
then the annexures referred to in FA then thereafter other
supplementing documents such as advertisements, Notices
to creditors and the Master’s certificate.
7.3 The idea is to sort the documents in a way you to present
your evidence to the court. This shall ensure that your case
is presented in a logical and structured manner to make it
easy for yourself and to simplify it for the judge.
7.4 The ideal is that when the judge pre-reads the bundle of
court documents, it should read like a book and should give
the judge a clear picture of how the evidence will unfold.
7.5 After the court documents are sorted, you must number each
page. It is vital to note that each page must be numbered
and not the specific document.
7.6 Paginate numerically in the top right-hand corner of the
document.
7.7 Do not paginate too close to the edge of the page to avoid it
being outside printable margin.
7.8 Try to ensure that each page has only one number at the top
right-hand corner thereof. Remove or strike out previous
numbering.
7.9 Ater the court documents are sorted, and each page is
numbered, you may now complete the index.
7.10 The index is similar to an index or a book (table of content)
which points out what is in each chapter and on what page it
can be found.
7.11 When you Prepare your index, do ensure that you name
each document including annexures. Meaning, you write
annexure with its heading e.g annexure B – mechanic
quotation.
7.12 Letters and emails should clearly reference the content
thereof. That is, give a short description of what the letters
are about. E.g Letter from Lawfirm B to Law firm C
requesting them to file Plea dated 3 March 2024.
7.13 Once the index is completed, the court documents must be
bound together so that there are no loose pages in the file.
7.14 When binding the court documents, the index will be placed
at the top so to enable the judge to look at the index and
know what page to go to for a particular document of interest
at that particular moment.
7.15 When binding the court documents, you must bind it in such
a way that each document is still legible. E.g do so by
punching the whole document in the top left corner of the
cort documents and bind it together with a paper binder. This
will ensure that when turning to any page of the bundle of the
documents, the entire documents is visible and no
information on the specific documents is concealed.
7.16 While indexing and paginating the court file, you should also
index and paginate your own and that of the opposing party
file property so to ensure that at the trial of the matter is also
in order and analogous to that of the court file to ensure that
all role players are able to easily find information.