County Court Bulletin
July – September 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 149
Ards 229
Armagh and South Down 113
Belfast 2096
Craigavon 174
Fermanagh and Tyrone 145
Londonderry 132
Total 3038
Application Antrim 83
Ards 126
Armagh and South Down 81
Belfast 661
Craigavon 114
Fermanagh and Tyrone 49
Londonderry 93
Total 1207

Table 2: Number of ordinary civil bill cases with NIDs received by judicial level
  County court judge District judge Total
Antrim 89 49 138
Ards 136 104 240
Armagh and South Down 70 39 109
Belfast 477 183 660
Craigavon 105 63 168
Fermanagh and Tyrone 90 40 130
Londonderry 66 55 121
Total 1033 533 1566

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 59 37 33 1 35 165
Ards 99 60 85 9 32 285
Armagh and South Down 57 8 35 7 14 121
Belfast 212 106 163 4 95 580
Civil Processing Centre     53 528 48 629
Craigavon 106 4 58 6 26 200
Fermanagh and Tyrone 68 8 21 2 12 111
Londonderry 42 35 21 3 14 115
Total 643 258 469 560 276 2206
Application Antrim 39 11 5     55
Ards 32 9 38     79
Armagh and South Down 27   9     36
Belfast 58 25 72     155
Civil Processing Centre     26     26
Craigavon 27   17     44
Fermanagh and Tyrone 24 2 8     34
Londonderry 16 11 11     38
Total 223 58 186     467

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 16 16 20 23 21 96
Ards 42 10 40 41 26 159
Armagh and South Down 16 11 15 11 12 65
Belfast 128 28 71 54 37 318
Craigavon 39 12 22 17 20 110
Fermanagh and Tyrone 26 5 14 15 16 76
Londonderry 24 9 18 14 12 77
Total 291 91 200 175 144 901

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 334 129 463
Ards 238 136 374
Armagh and South Down 180 74 254
Belfast 1421 373 1794
Craigavon 296 104 400
Fermanagh and Tyrone 271 85 356
Londonderry 169 165 334
Total 2909 1066 3975

Table 6: Outstanding civil bills with COR
  County court judge District judge Total
Antrim 110 48 158
Ards 159 66 225
Armagh and South Down 89 44 133
Belfast 512 115 627
Craigavon 89 54 143
Fermanagh and Tyrone 88 43 131
Londonderry 67 55 122
Total 1114 425 1539

Table 7: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill cases
  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 46
Ards 41
Armagh and South Down 52
Belfast 47
Craigavon 55
Fermanagh and Tyrone 49
Londonderry 52
Total 48

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks for civil bill applications
  Issue to disposal
Application Antrim 6
Ards 16
Armagh and South Down 4
Belfast 6
Craigavon 10
Fermanagh and Tyrone 14
Londonderry 6
Total 8

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

Equity

Table 9: Equity cases and applications received
Case Antrim 4
Ards 6
Armagh and South Down 6
Belfast 10
Craigavon 2
Fermanagh and Tyrone 13
Londonderry 1
Total 42
Application Ards 1
Armagh and South Down 1
Belfast 1
Fermanagh and Tyrone 8
Londonderry 1
Total 12

Table 10: Equity cases and applications disposed
  Court result - CCJ Non court disposals Total
Case Antrim 2 4 6
Ards 4 2 6
Armagh and South Down 3   3
Belfast 6   6
Craigavon 2   2
Fermanagh and Tyrone 6   6
Total 23 6 29
Application Antrim 1   1
Ards 1   1
Armagh and South Down 1 1 2
Belfast 1   1
Fermanagh and Tyrone 6   6
Londonderry   1 1
Total 10 2 12

Table 11: Outstanding equity cases
Case Antrim 38
Ards 40
Armagh and South Down 43
Belfast 71
Craigavon 21
Fermanagh and Tyrone 77
Londonderry 32
Total 322

Table 12: Time intervals in weeks
  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 83
Ards 108
Armagh and South Down 59
Belfast 32
Craigavon 65
Fermanagh and Tyrone 31
Total 56
Application Antrim 11
Ards 11
Armagh and South Down 4
Belfast 1
Fermanagh and Tyrone 8
Total 7

Ejectment

Table 13: Ejectment cases received
Case Antrim 3
Ards 32
Armagh and South Down 7
Belfast 83
Craigavon 25
Fermanagh and Tyrone 2
Londonderry 5
Total 157

Table 14: Ejectment cases disposed
  Court result - CCJ Court result - DJ Non court disposals Total
Case Antrim 1 5   6
Ards 16 14 1 31
Armagh and South Down   4   4
Belfast   47 1 48
Craigavon 1 6   7
Fermanagh and Tyrone 4 1   5
Londonderry 1 7   8
Total 23 84 2 109

Table 15: Outstanding ejectment cases with NID
Case Antrim 6
Ards 3
Armagh and South Down 5
Belfast 14
Craigavon 4
Fermanagh and Tyrone 3
Londonderry 3
Total 38

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks
  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 16
Ards 24
Armagh and South Down 12
Belfast 19
Craigavon 18
Fermanagh and Tyrone 20
Londonderry 67
Total 24

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Small Claims

Table 17: Number of small claims cases and applications received
Case Antrim 55
Ards 69
Armagh and South Down 68
Belfast 2837
Craigavon 57
Fermanagh and Tyrone 40
Londonderry 35
Total 3161
Application Antrim 3
Ards 9
Armagh and South Down 10
Belfast 38
Craigavon 7
Fermanagh and Tyrone 5
Londonderry 4
Total 76

Table 18: Number of small claims cases with NODs received
Case Antrim 42
Ards 52
Armagh and South Down 42
Belfast 179
Craigavon 44
Fermanagh and Tyrone 52
Londonderry 26
Total 437

Table 19: Number of small claims cases and applications disposed
  Court disposal Non court disposal Office disposal Default judgement Total
Case Antrim 26 5 4 3 38
Ards 23 6 13 3 45
Armagh and South Down 26 9 1 2 38
Belfast 139 4 524 1536 2203
Craigavon 16 3 1   20
Fermanagh and Tyrone 41   5 1 47
Londonderry 36   2 2 40
Total 307 27 550 1547 2431
Application Antrim 3       3
Ards 2 4     6
Armagh and South Down 8 1     9
Belfast 36       36
Craigavon 5       5
Fermanagh and Tyrone 3       3
Londonderry 1       1
Total 58 5     63

Table 20: Outstanding small claims with NOD
Antrim 90
Ards 93
Armagh and South Down 49
Belfast 212
Craigavon 68
Fermanagh and Tyrone 118
Londonderry 50
Total 680

Table 21: Time intervals in weeks
  Issue to disposal
Case Antrim 27
Ards 25
Armagh and South Down 20
Belfast 30
Craigavon 23
Fermanagh and Tyrone 20
Londonderry 22
Total 26
Application Antrim 10
Ards 10
Armagh and South Down 11
Belfast 8
Craigavon 11
Fermanagh and Tyrone 12
Londonderry 7
Total 9

Excludes default judgements, non-court disposals and office disposals

Criminal Damage

Table 22: Number of criminal damage cases and applications received
Case Belfast 1
Craigavon 1
Fermanagh and Tyrone 1
Total 3
Application Craigavon 1
Total 1

Table 23: Number of criminal damage cases and applications disposed
  Court disposal Non court disposal Total
Case Belfast 2   2
Total 2   2
Application Craigavon   1 1
Total   1 1

Table 24: Outstanding criminal damage cases
Ards 1
Armagh and South Down 4
Belfast 41
Craigavon 15
Fermanagh and Tyrone 4
Londonderry 2
Total 67

Table 25: Time intervals in weeks
  Issue to disposal
Case Belfast 93
Total 93
Application Craigavon 0
Total 0

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 33 22 2 3 5 65
Ards 23 20 1   1 45
Armagh and South Down 19 16 1 4 1 41
Belfast 25 25   4 5 59
Craigavon 27 12   7 4 50
Fermanagh and Tyrone 8 10   2 3 23
Londonderry 15 20   2 3 40
Total 150 125 4 22 22 323

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 39 25 1 6 3 74
Ards 23 14   1 2 40
Armagh and South Down 8 16   5   29
Belfast 37 20   3 3 63
Craigavon 16 13 1 6 1 37
Fermanagh and Tyrone 13 8       21
Londonderry 13 14 1 9 3 40
Total 149 110 3 30 12 304

Table 28: Matrimonial applications received
  Ancillary relief Matrimonial application to a master Other Total
Antrim 11   2 13
Armagh and South Down 2 1   3
Belfast 4   22 26
Craigavon 3   1 4
Fermanagh and Tyrone 3     3
Londonderry 5 2 4 11
Total 28 3 29 60

Table 29:  Matrimonial applications disposed
  Ancillary relief Matrimonial application to a master Other Total
Antrim 4   1 5
Ards 4     4
Armagh and South Down 4     4
Belfast 2     2
Craigavon 2     2
Fermanagh and Tyrone 4     4
Londonderry 10 1 2 13
Total 30 1 3 34

Table 30: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions
  Issue to date decree granted Date decree granted to date absolute issued
Antrim 20 8
Ards 23 8
Armagh and South Down 40 6
Belfast 35 8
Craigavon 27 8
Fermanagh and Tyrone 45 .
Londonderry 23 8
Total 29 8

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications
  Issue to disposal
Antrim 30
Ards 45
Armagh and South Down 64
Belfast 8
Craigavon 36
Fermanagh and Tyrone 42
Londonderry 72
Total 51

Excludes non-court disposals

Licences

Table 32: Licences received and dealt with
  Licences Received Licences Disposed
Antrim 3 2
Ards 11 6
Armagh and South Down 4 0
Belfast 24 17
Craigavon 4 4
Fermanagh and Tyrone 5 3
Londonderry 4 3
Total 55 35

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 64 02:55:13 186:54:10 106:52:00 70:47:10 09:15:00
Ards 74 03:25:10 253:03:00 158:08:00 90:05:00 04:50:00
Armagh and South Down 59 02:09:46 127:37:00 69:35:00 50:19:00 07:43:00
Belfast 223 03:19:11 740:19:24 434:39:24 203:50:00 101:50:00
Craigavon 74 03:38:51 269:56:00 133:14:00 76:50:00 59:52:00
Fermanagh and Tyrone 55 02:55:56 161:17:00 95:09:00 49:03:00 17:05:00
Londonderry 52 02:32:00 131:44:00 64:54:00 34:30:00 32:20:00
Queen's Bench division 1 00:50:00 00:50:00 00:50:00 00:00:00 00:00:00
Total 602 03:06:32 1871:40:34 1063:21:24 575:24:10 232:55:00

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