County Court Bulletin
April – June 2011 (Provisional Figures)

Contents

County court figures on Children Order cases, magistrates’ appeals and county court appeals appear in other bulletins.

Figures are run from an administrative database and may change due to late returns and further validations.

Summary

Civil Bills

Table 1: Number of ordinary civil bill cases and applications received
Case Antrim 163
Ards 250
Armagh and South Down 135
Belfast 2272
Craigavon 185
Fermanagh and Tyrone 140
Londonderry 153
Total 3298
Application Antrim 125
Ards 181
Armagh and South Down 107
Belfast 684
Craigavon 131
Fermanagh and Tyrone 91
Londonderry 142
Total 1461

Table 2: Number of ordinary civil bill cases with NIDs received by judicial level
  County court judge District judge Total
Antrim 122 60 182
Ards 170 86 256
Armagh and South Down 85 63 148
Belfast 563 258 821
Craigavon 126 73 199
Fermanagh and Tyrone 96 51 147
Londonderry 102 82 184
Total 1264 673 1937

Table 3: Number of ordinary civil bills cases and applications disposed
  Court result - CCJ Court result - DDJ Non court disposals Default judgement Office disposal Total
Case Antrim 67 73 84 3 33 260
Ards 134 127 54 5 27 347
Armagh and South Down 97 16 41   23 177
Belfast 389 213 123 11 93 829
Civil Processing Centre     34 575 26 635
Craigavon 130 30 58 8 38 264
Fermanagh and Tyrone 98 71 39   20 228
Londonderry 80 68 38 1 19 206
Total 995 598 471 603 279 2946
Application Antrim 26 8 19     53
Ards 34 31 26     91
Armagh and South Down 34 5 17     56
Belfast 115 21 102     238
Civil Processing Centre     19     19
Craigavon 43 6 25     74
Fermanagh and Tyrone 17 10 19     46
Londonderry 52 25 8     85
Total 321 106 235     662

Table 4: Number of ordinary civil bills cases by amount awarded
  No value Less than £1000 £1000-2999 £3000-4999 Over £5000 Total
Case Antrim 24 19 40 29 28 140
Ards 48 21 72 74 46 261
Armagh and South Down 25 9 31 17 31 113
Belfast 252 49 127 89 85 602
Craigavon 31 18 42 39 30 160
Fermanagh and Tyrone 48 14 40 29 38 169
Londonderry 42 14 37 27 28 148
Total 470 144 389 304 286 1593

Excludes cases that were adjourned generally, default judgements or had office disposals

Table 5: Outstanding civil bills with NID but no COR
  County court judge District judge Total
Antrim 344 118 462
Ards 264 128 392
Armagh and South Down 176 90 266
Belfast 1370 415 1785
Craigavon 294 120 414
Fermanagh and Tyrone 264 85 349
Londonderry 171 160 331
Total 2883 1116 3999

Table 6: Outstanding civil bills with COR
  County court judge District judge Total
Antrim 101 37 138
Ards 146 62 208
Armagh and South Down 65 32 97
Belfast 418 75 493
Craigavon 93 36 129
Fermanagh and Tyrone 78 34 112
Londonderry 47 51 98
Total 948 327 1275

Table 7: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill cases
  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 44
Ards 35
Armagh and South Down 54
Belfast 44
Craigavon 40
Fermanagh and Tyrone 49
Londonderry 51
Total 44

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill applications
  Issue to disposal
Application Antrim 3
Ards 5
Armagh and South Down 11
Belfast 4
Craigavon 6
Fermanagh and Tyrone 3
Londonderry 5
Total 5

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Equity

Table 9: Equity cases and applications received
Case Antrim 4
Ards 4
Armagh and South Down 7
Belfast 10
Craigavon 3
Fermanagh and Tyrone 13
Londonderry 4
Total 45
Application Antrim 3
Ards 2
Armagh and South Down 5
Fermanagh and Tyrone 8
Londonderry 1
Total 19

Table 10: Equity cases and applications disposed
  Court result - CCJ Court result - DDJ Non court disposals Total
Case Antrim 7   1 8
Ards 3     3
Armagh and South Down 7 1   8
Belfast 6     6
Craigavon 1     1
Fermanagh and Tyrone 4 1   5
Londonderry 3 1 1 5
Total 31 3 2 36
Application Ards     1 1
Armagh and South Down 1 1 1 3
Fermanagh and Tyrone 4   2 6
Londonderry 2 1   3
Total 7 2 4 13

Table 11: Outstanding equity cases
Case Antrim 42
Ards 39
Armagh and South Down 40
Belfast 64
Craigavon 17
Fermanagh and Tyrone 71
Londonderry 29
Total 302

Table 12: Time intervals in weeks
  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 88
Ards 69
Armagh and South Down 108
Belfast 99
Craigavon 56
Fermanagh and Tyrone 37
Londonderry 65
Total 82
Application Armagh and South Down 0
Fermanagh and Tyrone 1
Londonderry 21
Total 8

Ejectment

Table 13: Ejectment cases received
Case Antrim 13
Ards 31
Armagh and South Down 3
Belfast 127
Craigavon 21
Fermanagh and Tyrone 4
Londonderry 14
Total 213

Table 14: Ejectment cases disposed
  Court result - CCJ Court result - DDJ Non court disposals Total
Case Antrim   15 2 17
Ards 31 46 1 78
Armagh and South Down 2     2
Belfast   62   62
Craigavon 1 25 2 28
Fermanagh and Tyrone 2 4   6
Londonderry 1 20   21
Total 37 172 5 214

Table 15: Outstanding ejectment cases with NID
Case Antrim 5
Ards 5
Armagh and South Down 4
Belfast 11
Craigavon 2
Fermanagh and Tyrone 4
Londonderry 4
Total 35

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks
  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 16
Ards 14
Armagh and South Down 15
Belfast 12
Craigavon 10
Fermanagh and Tyrone 10
Londonderry 21
Total 14

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Small Claims

Table 17: Number of small claims cases and applications received
Case Antrim 57
Ards 60
Armagh and South Down 39
Belfast 3074
Craigavon 39
Fermanagh and Tyrone 67
Londonderry 32
Total 3368
Application Antrim 7
Ards 6
Armagh and South Down 6
Belfast 33
Craigavon 10
Fermanagh and Tyrone 8
Londonderry 4
Total 74

Table 18: Number of small claims cases with NODs received
Case Antrim 59
Ards 68
Armagh and South Down 35
Belfast 153
Craigavon 43
Fermanagh and Tyrone 54
Londonderry 31
Total 443

Table 19: Number of small claims cases and applications disposed
  Court disposal Non court disposal Office disposal Default judgement Total
Case Antrim 42 7 7 5 61
Ards 103 8 25 4 140
Armagh and South Down 57 5 3 1 66
Belfast 141 6 563 1473 2183
Craigavon 58 2 6 5 71
Fermanagh and Tyrone 47   6 4 57
Londonderry 35   6 2 43
Total 483 28 616 1494 2621
Application Antrim 5 1     6
Ards 8 2     10
Armagh and South Down 5 1     6
Belfast 27       27
Craigavon 5 1     6
Fermanagh and Tyrone 6       6
Londonderry 6       6
Total 62 5     67

Table 20: Outstanding small claims with NOD
Antrim 71
Ards 61
Armagh and South Down 32
Belfast 154
Craigavon 39
Fermanagh and Tyrone 107
Londonderry 52
Total 516

Table 21: Time intervals in weeks
  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 19
Ards 22
Armagh and South Down 17
Belfast 18
Craigavon 21
Fermanagh and Tyrone 26
Londonderry 16
Total 20
Application Antrim 6
Ards 9
Armagh and South Down 6
Belfast 4
Craigavon 6
Fermanagh and Tyrone 6
Londonderry 12
Total 6

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Criminal Damage

Table 22: Number of criminal damage cases and applications received
Case Belfast 4
Craigavon 1
Total 5

Table 23: Number of criminal damage cases and applications disposed
  Court disposal Total
Case Belfast 15 15
Total 15 15

Table 24: Outstanding criminal damage cases
Ards 2
Armagh and South Down 6
Belfast 41
Craigavon 15
Fermanagh and Tyrone 3
Londonderry 2
Total 69

Table 25: Time intervals in weeks
  Issue to disposal
Case Belfast 174
Total 174

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Divorce

Table 26: Divorce petitions by type of decrees Nisi
  2 years with consent 5 years separation Adultery Unreasonable behaviour Combination of grounds/other Total
Antrim 32 23   4 3 62
Ards 29 16   2 2 49
Armagh and South Down 10 16 1 3 1 31
Belfast 38 15 1 3 2 59
Craigavon 28 24 2 9 6 69
Fermanagh and Tyrone 12 11   2 3 28
Londonderry 15 20 1 3 6 45
Total 164 125 5 26 23 343

Table 27: Divorce petitions by number of absolutes issued
  2 years with consent 5 years separation Adultery Unreasonable behaviour Combination of grounds/other Total
Antrim 26 14 1 4 2 47
Ards 26 14 1 2 2 45
Armagh and South Down 12 14 1 2 4 33
Belfast 32 23 1 5 3 64
Craigavon 24 19   3 4 50
Fermanagh and Tyrone 18 6 1 4 5 34
Londonderry 18 14 1 11 5 49
Total 156 104 6 31 25 322

Table 28: Matrimonial applications received
  Ancillary relief Matrimonial application to a master Other Total
Antrim 7 1   8
Ards 3 1   4
Armagh and South Down 12     12
Belfast 10   28 38
Craigavon 5   3 8
Fermanagh and Tyrone 7   1 8
Londonderry 7 1 3 11
Total 51 3 35 89

Table 29: Matrimonial applications disposed
  Ancillary relief Matrimonial application to a master Other Total
Antrim 9 1 1 11
Ards 5     5
Armagh and South Down 4     4
Belfast 5     5
Craigavon 1   1 2
Fermanagh and Tyrone 7 1   8
Londonderry 12 1 4 17
Total 43 3 6 52

Table 30: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions
  Issue to date decree granted Date decree granted to date absolute issued
Antrim 31 8
Ards 28 8
Armagh and South Down 38 7
Belfast 22 7
Craigavon 28 5
Fermanagh and Tyrone 46 9
Londonderry 46 7
Total 32 7

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications
  Issue to disposal
Antrim 58
Ards 44
Armagh and South Down 96
Belfast 2
Craigavon 18
Fermanagh and Tyrone 21
Londonderry 55
Total 46

Excludes non-court disposals

Licences

Table 32: Licences received and dealt with
  Licences Received Licences Disposed
Antrim 11 9
Ards 3 3
Armagh and South Down 6 5
Belfast 18 6
Craigavon 6 6
Fermanagh and Tyrone 6 8
Londonderry 3 2
Total 53 39

County Court Judge & District Judge Sitting Days

Table 33: County Court Judge & District Judge Sitting Days
  Total time Total criminal time Total civil time Total family time
Number of sitting days Average sitting Total time
Antrim 127 03:10:10 402:32:00 244:47:00 146:50:00 10:55:00
Ards 130 03:54:52 508:54:00 322:00:00 172:04:00 14:50:00
Armagh and South Down 116 02:56:08 340:33:00 200:56:00 123:50:00 15:47:00
Belfast 382 03:34:14 1364:03:00 817:00:00 360:36:00 186:27:00
Craigavon 130 03:43:33 484:23:00 259:59:00 103:56:00 120:28:00
Fermanagh and Tyrone 128 02:26:28 312:29:14 173:50:00 113:14:14 25:25:00
Londonderry 133 02:46:06 368:12:00 228:28:00 75:35:00 64:09:00
Total 1146 03:17:57 3781:06:14 2247:00:00 1096:05:14 438:01:00

A court sitting day is counted as any day where the judiciary sit in court. It does not include time in chambers or days where the judiciary are sitting in chambers

Data source and validations:

Data from the Integrated Courts Operations System (ICOS) are used for this publication. This system has been chosen as it is the main system within the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS). The data are input to this system on a daily basis. A download from this system is supplied to the Statistics and Research team on a weekly basis on flat files.

This information is downloaded via SPSS and validations are produced from this system to ensure that the data are reliable and robust for use. Any inconsistencies are reported back to individual court offices and if required, any necessary amendments are made to the data. Once, these amendments have been checked, computer syntax is then used to produce the tables in the bulletin. The aggregated total figures in the bulletin are produced from the computer syntax. The data are broken down by court location as this is the established way of producing and presenting these data.

To ensure that timely data are used, the latest available extract is used to compile this bulletin.

For further information on this publication please contact:

C Darragh
Statistics and Research
Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service
Laganside House
23-27 Oxford Street
Belfast
BT1 3LA

Tel: 028 9072 8927