High Court Quarterly Bulletin for January to March 2010 (Provisional Figures)

Contents

Chancery

Queen’s Bench

Judicial Reviews

Probate

Wardship and Adoption

Matrimonial

Bails

Patients

Official Solicitors

Sitting days and times

High Court figures on Children’s Order cases, Crown Court cases, bail applications and appeals appear in other bulletins.

In the tables relating to time intervals, the total time from issue to disposal may not equal that of the individual time periods due to some dates not being applicable.

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

Summary
During Jan - Ma 2009:

Chancery

There were 1,693 cases received into the Chancery division. In total, 56% were chancery cases, 35% were bankruptcy cases and 9% were companies’ cases. There were 1,791 cases disposed of during the reporting period.

Queen’s Bench

There were 2,074 writs received in Queen’s Bench (Fig 1). Of those, 59% were negligence cases. There were 201 default judgments, 414 office disposals and 512 court disposals for writs during the quarter. There were 176 removals and remittals applications dealt with.

Judicial Reviews

There were 46 applications for leave to apply for Judicial Review and 15 applications for Judicial Review received during the quarter.

Probate

There were 1,478 grants issued during the quarter in the probate office.

Wardship and Adoption

There were 26 adoption applications received and 39 adoption applications disposed of during the quarter. It took, on average, 43 weeks for an adoption application to progress through the courts.

Matrimonial

There were 763 divorce petitions lodged in the High Court. Of these, 489 petitions were lodged by the wife. In total, 306 decrees nisi and 317 absolutes were issued.

Patients

There were 176 new referrals in the Patients section.

Official Solicitors

There were 546 certificates drafted in the Official Solicitors office.

Sitting days and times

There were 625 sitting days in the High Court during the quarter (Fig 2).

Chancery

Table 1: Chancery cases and applications received

Case Mortgages 771
Other land and property 29
Trade and business 9
Trusts 1
Other 131
Total 941
Application Notice of appointment 800
Summons 265
Notice of motion 10
Exparte application 108
Injunction 10
Total 1193

Table 2: Chancery cases setdown

Case Other land and property 10
Trade and business 1
Other 26
Total 38

Table 3: Chancery cases and applications disposed

High Court Judge Master Office disposal Not Coded Yet Total
Case Mortgages 2 750 . 325 1077
Other land and property 18 2 2 2 24
Trade and business 2 . . . 2
Trusts 1 2 . 1 4
Other 36 17 3 . 56
Total 59 71 5 328 1163
Application Notice of appointment . 35 . . 35
Summons 33 175 . . 208
Notice of motion 6 . . . 6
Exparte application 2 86 . . 88
Injunction 2 . . . 2
Transfer to Commercial List 1 . . . 1
Total 44 296 . . 340

Table 4: Bankruptcy cases and applications received

Case Petition by another person 325
Petition by debtor 195
Other petition 4
Originating application 53
Other 21
Total 598
Application Notice of motion 2
Ordinary application 237
Certificate of automatic discharge 6
Other 3
Total 248

Table 5: Bankruptcy cases and applications disposed

Master Total
Case Petition by another person 277 277
Petition by debtor 197 197
Other petition 4 4
Originating application 31 31
Other 23 23
Total 532 532
Application Ordinary application 183 183
Certificate of automatic discharge 7 7
Other 1 1
Total 191 191

Companies

Table 6: Companies cases and applications received

Case Winding up petition 108
Other petitions 5
Originating summons 20
Other 20
Missing value 1
Total 154
Application Notice of motion 3
Ordinary application 5
Other 1
Total 9

Table 7: Companies cases and applications disposed

High Court Judge Master Total
Case Winding up petition . 84 84
Other petitions 1 2 .
Originating summons 1 2 3
Other 1 5 6
Total 3 93 96
Application Notice of motion 2 1 3
Ordinary application . 4 4
Other . 1 1
Total 2 6 8

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks

Chancery Bankruptcy Companies
Case Application Case Application Case Application
Issue to first listing 24 8 4 2 7 2
First listing to disposal 6 5 5 2 5 14
Issue to disposal 30 10 10 4 12 14

Due to rounding, individual time intervals may not equal the overall time taken to progress through the courts

Queen’s Bench

Table 9: Queen's Bench cases and applications received

Writs and originating summons Negligence 1215
Breach 40
Road injuries 307
Personal injuries 110
Monies due 362
Other 40
Total 2074
Miscellaneous Foreign judgment 113
Other 30
Total 143
Applications Summons/interlocutory applications 498
Remittals and removals 195
Exparte applications 77
Other 157
Total 927

Table 10: Queen's Bench writs and originating summons received by amount claimed

Unliquidated Less than £1,000 £1,000-2,999 £3,000-14,999 Over £15,000 Total
Negligence 1215 . . . . 1215
Breach 39 . . 1 . 40
Road injuries 307 . . . . 307
Personal injuries 110 . . . . 110
Monies due 18 1 7 79 257 362
Other 37 . . 1 2 40
Total 1726 1 7 81 259 2074

Table 11: Queen's Bench writs and originating summons setdown by amount claimed

Unliquidated £3,000-14,999 Over £15,000 Total
Negligence 482 . 1 483
Breach 2 1 4 7
Road injuries 109 . 2 111
Personal injuries 45 . 2 47
Monies due 1 . 4 5
Other 13 . 2 15
Total 652 1 15 668

Table 12: Queen's Bench cases and applications disposed

High Court Judge Master Office disposal Default judgment Total
Writs and originating summons Negligence 330 4 154 4 492
Breach 5 . 3 6 14
Road injuries 82 5 161 3 251
Personal injuries 48 11 51 . 110
Monies due 9 2 16 180 207
Other 14 2 29 8 53
Total 488 24 414 201 1127
Miscellaneous Foreign judgment . 4 . . 4
Other 1 1 1 . 3
Total 1 5 1 . 7
Applications Summons/interlocutory applications 33 549 . . 582
Remittals and removals . 176 . . 176
Exparte applications 6 53 . . 59
Other 72 61 . . 133
Total 111 839 . . 950

Excludes commercial actions

Table 13: Queen's Bench writs and originating summons disposed of by amount

Unliquidated Less than £1,000 £1,000-2,999 £3,000-14,999 Over £15,000 Total
High Court Judge Negligence 227 2 45 56 330
Breach 3 . . 1 1 5
Road injuries 14 . . 16 52 82
Personal injuries 31 . . 6 11 48
Monies due 5 . . . 4 9
Other 11 1 . 1 1 14
Master Negligence 4 . . . . 4
Road injuries 5 . . . . 5
Personal Injuries 11 . . . . 11
Monies Due 2 . . . . 2
Other 1 . . 1 2
Default judgment Negligence 4 . . . . 4
Breach 3 . . 1 2 6
Road injuries 3 . . . 3
Monies due 8 . 8 52 112 180
Other 6 . . 1 1 8
Total 338 1 10 123 241 713

Excludes commercial actions

Table 14: Queen's Bench commercial actions setdown

Negligence 7
Breach 10
Personal injuries 13
Monies due 13
Other 8
Total 38

Table 15: Queen's Bench commercial actions disposed

High Court Judge Office Disposal Total
Negligence 10 3 13
Breach 16 1 17
Monies due 16 . 16
Other 5 . 5
Total 47 4 51

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

Writs and originating summons Commercial actions Miscellaneous Applications
Issue to setdown 94 137 . .
Issue to first listing 95 94 1 4
First listing to disposal 23 54 . 5
Issue to disposal 122 146 1 8

Excludes default judgments and office disposals

Due to rounding and not all writs and originating summons having a set-down date, individual time intervals may not equal the overall time taken to progress through the courts

Judicial Reviews

Table 17: Judicial Reviews applications received

Application for leave to apply for judicial review 46
Application for judicial review 15

Table 18: Judicial Reviews applications disposed

Granted Withdrawn /Refused/ Dismissed Other Total
Application for leave to apply for judicial review 13 27 10 50
Application for judicial review 1 13 10 24

Table 19: Time intervals in weeks

Application for leave to apply for judicial review Application for judicial review
Issue to first listing 2 8
First listing to disposal 13 25
Issue to disposal 18 33

Due to rounding, individual time intervals may not equal the overall time taken to progress through the courts

Probate

Table 20: Probate grants issued in non-contentious proceedings

District registry Probate Northern Ireland
By solicitor By solicitor
Letters of administration with will annexed 5 33 38
Letters of administration with will annexed (DBN) 1 8 9
Letters of administration 90 241 331
Grant of probate 187 903 1090
Letters of administration (DBN) 3 7 10
Total grants issued 286 1192 1478

Wardship and adoption

Table 21: Adoption cases and applications received

Adoption Order Application 13
Freeing Order Application 4
Interlocutory Application 3
Wardship Originating Summons 6
Total 26

Table 22: Adoption cases and applications disposed

High Court Judge Master Total
Adoption Order Application 24 1 25
Freeing Order Application 8 . 1
Interlocutory Application 1 . 1
Wardship Originating Summons 2 3 5
Total 35 4 39

Table 23: Family homes and domestic violence cases and applications received

App For Occup/Non Mol 2
Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol 4
Total 6

Table 24: Family homes and domestic violence cases and applications disposed

High Court Judge Master Total
App For Occup/Non Mol 1 . 1
Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol . 5 5
Total 1 5 6

Table 25: Time intervals in weeks

Adoption Family Homes And Domestic Violence
Issue to first listing 19 0
First listing to disposal 22 14
Issue to disposal 43 14

Due to rounding, individual time intervals may not equal the overall time taken to progress through the courts

Divorces

Table 26: Divorce petitions received

Filed by
Wife Husband Total
Divorce Petition 2 years with consent 181 136 315
5 years separation 131 94 225
Adultery 14 7 21
Unreasonable behaviour 122 17 139
Combination of grounds/other 41 20 61
Total 489 274 763

Table 27: Divorce petitions by type of Decree Nisi

Found by
Wife Husband Both Total
Decree Nisi 2 years with consent 76 42 118
5 years separation 39 20 . 59
Adultery 8 2 . 10
Unreasonable behaviour 58 9 . 67
Combination of grounds/other 36 12 1 49
Judicial Separation 5 years separation 1 1 . 2
Combination of grounds/other 1 . . 1
Total 219 86 1 306

Table 28: Divorce petitions by number of absolutes issued

Found by
Wife Husband Both Total
Divorce Petition 2 years with consent 69 43 . 112
5 years separation 35 23 . 58
Adultery 10 4 . 14
Unreasonable behaviour 52 6 . 58
Combination of grounds/other 46 27 2 75
Total 212 103 2 317

Table 29: Matrimonial applications received

Application Combination of grounds/other 6
Ancillary relief 157
Matrimonial application 178
Other 10
Total 351

Table 30: Matrimonial applications disposed

Judge Master Total
Application Ancillary relief 4 134 138
Matrimonial application 15 114 129
Other 7 2 9
Total 26 250 276

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

Divorce Petition
Issue to first listing 38
First listing to date decree granted 10
Issue to date decree granted 49
Date decree granted to date absolute issued 8

Due to rounding, individual time intervals may not equal the overall time taken to progress through the courts

Table 32: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications

Ancillary relief Matrimonial application Other
Issue to first listing 14 4 3
First listing to disposal 53 5 10
Issue to disposal 67 9 13

Due to rounding, individual time intervals may not equal the overall time taken to progress through the courts

Bails

Table 33: Number of bail applications received

Bail application 320
Bail pending appeal to county court 12
Compassionate bail application 40
Bail variation 132
Total 504

Table 34: Number of bail applications disposed in chambers

Granted Refused Other Total
Bail application 6 . 1 7
Compassionate bail application . 1 . 1
Bail variation 66 1 14 81
Total 72 2 15 89

Table 35: Number of bail applications disposed of in court

Granted Refused Other Total
Bail application 122 129 16 267
Bail pending appeal to county court 5 6 . 11
Compassionate bail application 18 10 4 32
Bail variation 11 8 3 22
Total 156 153 23 3322

Patients

Table 36: Patients

New referrals 176
EPA applications received 69
Orders issued 211
Certificates issued 1327
Reviews completed 256
Visits 1

Official Solicitors

Table 37: Official Solicitor Office statistics

Correspondence received 2162
New Referrals 3
Cases OS assisting OCP 22
OS appointed Controller Ad interim 2
Certificates drafted 546
OS appointed Full Controller 4

Sitting days

Table 38: High Court sitting days

Children Order 58
Other Family 37
Appeals 4
Queen's Bench 118
Chancery 48
Bails 97
Crown 159
Judicial Reviews 54
Criminal Appeals 25
Civil Appeals 25
Total 625

Table 39: High Court sitting times

Children Order 145:45
Other family 109:48
Appeals 07:05
Queens Bench 254:27
Chancery 129:35
Bails 136:43
Callover 00:00
Crown 400:59
Judicial reviews 112:45
Criminal appeals 54:00
Civil appeals 51:35
Sum 1402:42