County Court Bulletin January - March 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.

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.

Summary

Number of Civil Bills with NID's received and dealt with (excluding the Civil Processing Centre)

Belfast Londonderry Antrim Fermanagh & Tyrone Armagh &S Down Ards Craigavon
Received 810 163 218 179 158 261 185
Disposed 81 188 206 199 186 331  

Civil Bills

Table 1: Number of ordinary civil bill cases and applications received

Case Antrim 214
Ards 290
Armagh and South Down 157
Belfast 2424
Craigavon 218
Fermanagh and Tyrone 184
Londonderry 170
Total 3654
Application Antrim 83
Ards 174
Armagh and South Down 69
Belfast 737
Craigavon 120
Fermanagh and Tyrone 85
Londonderry 134
Total 1402

Table 2: Number of ordinary civil bill cases with notice of intention to defend (NIDs) received by judicial level

  County court judge District judge Total
Antrim 151 67 218
Ards 185 76 261
Armagh and South Down 97 61 158
Belfast 601 209 810
Craigavon 118 67 185
Fermanagh and Tyrone 121 58 179
Londonderry 72 91 163
Total 1345 629 1974

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 73 51 58 5 19 206
Ards 108 124 63 3 33 331
Armagh and South Down 108 22 36 4 16 186
Belfast 385 217 180 5 104 891
Civil Processing Centre     32 530 24 586
Craigavon 89 85 61 6 35 276
Fermanagh and Tyrone  81 69 28 3 18 199
Londonderry 70 60 39   19 188
Total 914 628 497 556 268 2863
Application Antrim 28 6 20     54
Ards 22 28 23     73
Armagh and South Down 26 6 11     43
Belfast 120 26 78     224
Civil Processing Centre     44     44
Craigavon 15 11 16     42
Fermanagh and Tyrone  21 19 15     55
Londonderry 36 18 10     64
Total 268 114 217     599

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 13 12 29 35 35 124
Ards 43 16 77 52 44 232
Armagh and South Down 38 4 34 15 39 130
Belfast 175 36 171 133 87 602
Craigavon 44 19 50 31 30 174
Fermanagh and Tyrone  50 22 29 23 26 150
Londonderry 36 7 36 27 24 130
Total 399 116 426 316 285 1542

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

Table 5: Outstanding civil bills with notice of intention to defend (NID) but no certificate of readiness (COR)

  County court judge District judge
Total
Antrim 372 117 489
Ards 281 120 401
Armagh and South Down 179 79 258
Belfast 1330 364 1694
Craigavon 295 140 435
Fermanagh and Tyrone 274 90 364
Londonderry 163 164 327
Total 2894 1074 3968

Table 6: Outstanding civil bills with certificate of readiness (COR)

  County court judge District judge Total
Antrim 95 50 145
Ards 163 56 219
Armagh and South Down 77 28 105
Belfast 415 101 516
Craigavon 109 26 135
Fermanagh and Tyrone 93 40 133
Londonderry 64 45 109
Total 1016 346 1362

Table 7: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill cases

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 41
Ards 41
Armagh and South Down 47
Belfast 44
Craigavon 53
Fermanagh and Tyrone 47
Londonderry 47
Total 45

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill applications

  Issue to disposal
Application Antrim 7
Ards 10
Armagh and South Down 6
Belfast 5
Craigavon 10
Fermanagh and Tyrone 4
Londonderry 5
Total 6

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Equity

Table 9: Equity cases and applications received

Case Antrim 4
Ards 3
Armagh and South Down 8
Belfast 11
Craigavon 3
Fermanagh and Tyrone 8
Londonderry 8
Total 45
Application Ards 3
Armagh and South Down 3
Belfast 5
Fermanagh and Tyrone 5
Londonderry 2
Total 18

Table 10: Equity cases and applications disposed

  Court result - CCJ Court result - DDJ Non court disposals Total
Case Antrim 3     3
Ards 8   2 10
Armagh and South Down 5 3   8
Belfast 10     10
Fermanagh and Tyrone 9     9
Londonderry 4     4
Total 39 3 2 44
Application Ards   1 1 2
Armagh and South Down 1     1
Belfast     3 3
Craigavon 1     1
Fermanagh and Tyrone 7     7
Total 9 1 4 14

Table 11: Outstanding equity cases

Case Antrim 47
Ards 39
Armagh and South Down 39
Belfast 81
Craigavon 17
Fermanagh and Tyrone 61
Londonderry 32
Total 316

Table 12: Time intervals in weeks

  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 79
Ards 123
Armagh and South Down 25
Belfast 76
Fermanagh and Tyrone 65
Londonderry 53
Total 71
Application Ards 1
Armagh and South Down 2
Craigavon 43
Fermanagh and Tyrone 9
Total 11

Ejectment

Table 13: Ejectment cases received

Case Antrim 9
Ards 74
Armagh and South Down 3
Belfast 96
Craigavon 26
Fermanagh and Tyrone 7
Londonderry 16
Total 231

Table 14: Ejectment cases disposed

  Court result - CCJ Court result - DDJ Non court disposals Total
Case Antrim 1 8   9
Ards 1 43 8 52
Armagh and South Down 2 9   11
Belfast   58   58
Craigavon   31 1 32
Fermanagh and Tyrone   17   17
Londonderry 2 22 1 25
Total 6 188 10 204

Table 15: Outstanding ejectment cases with notice of intention to defend (NID)

Case Antrim 3
Ards 6
Armagh and South Down 3
Belfast 8
Craigavon 1
Fermanagh and Tyrone 1
Londonderry 6
Total 28

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 24
Ards 21
Armagh and South Down 19
Belfast 15
Craigavon 14
Fermanagh and Tyrone 19
Londonderry 13
Total 17

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Small Claims

Table 17: Number of small claims cases and applications received

Case Antrim 49
Ards 100
Armagh and South Down 49
Belfast 2972
Craigavon 65
Fermanagh and Tyrone 51
Londonderry 57
Total 3343
Application Antrim 9
Ards 10
Armagh and South Down 4
Belfast 37
Craigavon 7
Fermanagh and Tyrone 7
Londonderry 8
Total 82

Table 18: Number of small claims cases with notice of dispute (NODs) received

Case Antrim 35
Ards 79
Armagh and South Down 39
Belfast 164
Craigavon 55
Fermanagh and Tyrone 39
Londonderry 48
Total 459

Table 19: Number of small claims cases and applications disposed

  Court disposal Non court disposal Office disposal Default judgement Total
Case Antrim 98 12 7   117
Ards 61 6 30 6 103
Armagh and South Down 49 4 1 1 55
Belfast 176 6 589 1682 2453
Craigavon 51 2 12 4 69
Fermanagh and Tyrone 45 2 7   54
Londonderry 44   5 2 51
Total 524 32 651 1695 2902
Application Antrim 7       7
Ards 6 1     7
Armagh and South Down 2       2
Belfast 40       40
Craigavon 6       6
Fermanagh and Tyrone 5       5
Londonderry 4       4
Total 70 1     71

Table 20: Outstanding small claims with notice of dispute (NOD)

Antrim 61
Ards 106
Armagh and South Down 46
Belfast 129
Craigavon 51
Fermanagh and Tyrone 100
Londonderry 57
Total 550

Table 21: Time intervals in weeks

  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 106
Ards 22
Armagh and South Down 15
Belfast 16
Craigavon 19
Fermanagh and Tyrone 23
Londonderry 29
Total 35
Application Antrim 5
Ards 5
Armagh and South Down 6
Belfast 7
Craigavon 4
Fermanagh and Tyrone 8
Londonderry 4
Total 6

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Criminal Damage

Table 22: Number of criminal damage cases and applications received

Case Armagh and South Down 2
Belfast 2
Craigavon 1
Londonderry 1
Total 6
Application Armagh and South Down 1
Belfast 1
Total 2

Table 23: Number of criminal damage cases and applications disposed

  Court disposal Total
Case Belfast 15 15
Total 15 15
Application Belfast 1 1
Total 1 1

Table 24: Outstanding criminal damage cases

Ards 2
Armagh and South Down 6
Belfast 53
Craigavon 14
Fermanagh and Tyrone 3
Londonderry 3
Total 81

Table 25: Time intervals in weeks

  Issue to disposal
Case Belfast 166
Total 166
Application Belfast 4
Total 4

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Divorces

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 22 15   6 2 45
Ards 20 13   2 2 37
Armagh and South Down 6 8 1 1 2 18
Belfast 34 26 2 3 5 70
Craigavon 22 14 2 6 3 47
Fermanagh and Tyrone 17 9   2 2 30
Londonderry 12 12   9 4 37
Total 133 97 5 29 20 284

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 23 21 1 10 4 59
Ards 21 20   2 5 48
Armagh and South Down 16 10 1 3 1 31
Belfast 37 27 1 4 4 73
Craigavon 25 15 1 2 3 46
Fermanagh and Tyrone 9 18   1 3 31
Londonderry 18 15 1 10 4 48
Total 149 126 5 32 24 336

Table 28: Matrimonial applications received

  Ancillary relief Matrimonial application to a master Other Total
Antrim 14   1 15
Ards 2     2
Armagh and South Down 7   1 8
Belfast 3 1 30 34
Craigavon 6     6
Fermanagh and Tyrone 8 1   9
Londonderry 15 1 7 23
Total 55 3 39 97

Table 29: Matrimonial applications disposed

  Ancillary relief Matrimonial application to a master Other Total
Antrim 10   1 11
Ards 2   1 3
Armagh and South Down 16   3 19
Belfast 6 1 1 8
Craigavon 11     11
Fermanagh and Tyrone 7     7
Londonderry 16 2 5 23
Total 68 3 11 82

Table 30: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

  Issue to date decree granted Date decree granted to date absolute issued
Antrim 39 8
Ards 35 9
Armagh and South Down 39 8
Belfast 27 9
Craigavon 30 8
Fermanagh and Tyrone 24 9
Londonderry 30 9
Total 31 9

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications

  Issue to disposal
Antrim 38
Ards 18
Armagh and South Down 42
Belfast 11
Craigavon 75
Fermanagh and Tyrone 25
Londonderry 40
Total 40

Excludes non-court disposals

Licences

Table 32: Licences received and disposed

  Licences Received Licences Disposed
Antrim 3 2
Ards 2 2
Armagh and South Down 3 1
Belfast 15 8
Craigavon 3 5
Fermanagh and Tyrone 6 7
Londonderry 2 2
Total 34 27

Sitting Days

Table 33: County Court Sitting Days

  Total time Total criminal time Total civil time Total family time
Number of sitting days Average sitting Total time
Antrim 136 02:56:39 400:25:10 261:19:00 127:36:10 11:30:00
Ards 133 02:58:56 396:38:27 210:19:24 177:29:03 08:50:00
Armagh and South Down 131 02:50:45 372:49:00 234:41:00 115:33:00 22:35:00
Belfast 435 03:48:32 1656:52:21 1007:54:24 436:56:57 212:01:00
Craigavon 143 03:40:25 525:20:00 263:40:00 143:55:00 117:45:00
Fermanagh and Tyrone 149 02:51:55 426:56:00 281:03:00 124:23:00 21:30:00
Londonderry 133 02:51:04 379:12:24 250:45:24 87:55:00 40:32:00
Total 1260 03:18:00 4158:13:22 2509:42:12 1213:48:10 434:43:00

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

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