p_tp_HighCourtBulletinJan2008Mar2008.html

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

Chancery
There were 1,536 cases received into the Chancery division. In total, 56% were chancery cases, 38% were bankruptcy cases and 6% were companies’ cases. There were 1,004 cases disposed of during the reporting period.
Queen’s Bench
There were 1,420 writs received in Queen’s Bench. Of those, 44% were negligence cases. There were 173 default judgments, 2,529 office disposals and 512 court disposals for writs during the quarter. There were 148 removals and remittals applications dealt with.
Judicial Reviews
There were 81 applications for leave to apply for Judicial Review and 39 applications for Judicial Review received during the quarter. Of the 43 applications for Judicial Review disposed of during the quarter, 9 were granted.
Probate
There were 1,429 grants issued during the quarter in the probate office.
Wardship and Adoption
There were 32 adoption applications received and 31 adoption applications disposed of during the quarter. It took, on average, 45 weeks for an adoption application to progress through the courts.
Matrimonial
There were 761 divorce petitions lodged in the High Court. Of these, 488 petitions were lodged by the wife. In total, 264 decrees nisi and 291 absolutes were issued.
Patients
There were 268 new referrals in the Patients section.
Official Solicitors
There were 1,066 certificates drafted in the Official Solicitors office.
Sitting days and times
There were 650 sitting days in the High Court during the quarter.

Figure 1: Number of writs received by type of writ

Figure 2: Number of sitting days by business type

Chancery

Table 1: Chancery cases and applications received

Case	Mortgages	754
	Other land and property	31
	Trade and business	2
	Trusts	8
	Other	68
	Total	863
Application	Notice of appointment	527
	Summons	180
	Notice of motion	12
	Exparte application	22
	Injunction	6
	Total	747

Table 2: Chancery cases setdown

Case	Mortgages	1
	Other land and property	8
	Trade and business	3
	Other	18
	Total	30

Table 3: Chancery cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Office disposal	Total
Case	Mortgages	1	328	1	330
	Other land and property	20	4	7	31
	Trade and business	2	2	3	7
	Trusts	3	1		4
	Other	19	5	5	29
	Total	45	340	16	401
Application	Notice of appointment	4	27		31
	Summons	23	81	1	105
	Notice of motion	6	1		7
	Exparte application	4	12		16
	Injunction	3	1		4
	Total	40	122	1	163

Table 4: Bankruptcy cases and applications received

Case	Petition by another person	445
	Petition by debtor	92
	Other petition	7
	Originating application	27
	Other	11
	Total	582
Application	Notice of motion	5
	Ordinary application	281
	Certificate of automatic discharge	24
	Other	8
	Total	318

Table 5: Bankruptcy cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Total
Case	Petition by another person		416	416
	Petition by debtor		73	73
	Other petition		15	15
	Originating application		12	12
	Other		9	9
	Total		525	525
Application	Notice of motion		3	3
	Ordinary application	1	200	201
	Certificate of automatic discharge		24	24
	Other		7	7
	Total	1	234	235

Table 6: Companies cases and applications received

Case	Winding up petition	72
	Other petitions	5
	Originating summons	9
	Other	5
	Total	91
Application	Ordinary application	6
	Other	1
	Total	7

Table 7: Companies cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Total
Case	Winding up petition		59	59
	Other petitions	1	8	9
	Originating summons	2	5	7
	Other		3	3
	Total	3	75	78
Application	Notice of motion		1	1
	Ordinary application		1	1
	Other	1		1
	Total	1	2	3

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks

	Chancery		Bankruptcy		Companies
	Case	Application	Case	Application	Case	Application
Issue to first listing	24	3	6	2	6	2
First listing to disposal	10	5	4	2	6	9
Issue to disposal	38	8	10	3	13	7

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	624
	Breach	37
	Road injuries	285
	Personal injuries	130
	Monies due	200
	Other	144
	Total	1420
Miscellaneous	Foreign judgement	94
	Other	10
	Total	104
Applications	Summons/interlocutory applications	599
	Remittals and removals	148
	Exparte applications	93
	Other	96
	Total	936

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

	Unliquidated	£1,000-2,999	£3,000-14,999	Over £15,000	Total
Negligence	624				624
Breach	35			2	37
Road injuries	285				285
Personal injuries	130				130
Monies due	104	8	33	55	200
Other	101		13	30	144
Total	1279	8	46	87	1420

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

	Unliquidated	£3,000-14,999	Over £15,000	Total
Negligence	269			269
Breach	4	1	3	8
Road injuries	140		5	145
Personal injuries	47	2	4	53
Monies due	4		1	5
Other	14	1		15
Total	478	4	13	495

Table 12: Queen's Bench cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Office disposal	Default judgement	Total
Writs and originating summons	Negligence	281		1259	10	1550
	Breach	13		5	2	20
	Road injuries	120	1	1209	6	1336
	Personal injuries	56	5	34		95
	Monies due	8	2	8	113	131
	Other	25	1	14	42	82
	Total	503	9	2529	173	3214
Miscellaneous	Other	2		3		5
Miscellaneous	Total	2		3		5
Applications	Summons/interlocutory applications	21	527			548
	Remittals and removals		148			148
	Exparte applications	8	76			84
	Other	37	62			99
	Total	66	813			879

Excludes commercial actions

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

		Unliquidated	£1,000-2,999	£3,000-14,999	Over £15,000	Total
High Court Judge	Negligence	151	1	57	72	281
	Breach	8	1	2	2	13
	Road injuries	17		16	87	120
	Personal injuries	29		13	14	56
	Monies due	2		2	4	8
	Other	20		1	4	25
Master	Road injuries	1				1
	Personal injuries	5				5
	Monies due	1			1	2
	Other				1	1
Default judgement	Negligence	10				10
	Breach	2				2
	Road injuries	6				6
	Monies due	7	5	45	56	113
	Other	3	2	27	10	42
Total		262	9	163	251	685

Excludes commercial actions

Table 14: Queen's Bench commercial actions setdown

Negligence	3
Breach	8
Road injuries	1
Monies due	19
Other	2
Total	33

Table 15: Queen's Bench commercial actions disposed

	High Court Judge	Office disposal	Total
Negligence	21	2	23
Breach	28		28
Road injuries	1		1
Monies due	33	1	34
Other	9		9
Total	92	3	95

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

	Writs and originating summons	Commercial actions	Miscellaneous	Applications
Issue to setdown	87	112	233	.
Issue to first listing	103	65	252	3
First listing to disposal	29	34	77	6
Issue to disposal	132	99	328	8

Excludes default judgements 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	81
Application for judicial review	39
Ancillary applications	1

Table 18: Judicial Reviews applications disposed

	Granted	Withdrawn/Refused/Dismissed	Other	Total
Application for leave to apply for judicial review	30	16	30	76
Application for judicial review	9	19	15	43

Table 19: Time intervals in weeks

	Application for leave to apply for judicial review	Application for judicial review
Issue to first listing	4	17
First listing to disposal	5	31
Issue to disposal	9	53

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
	By solicitor	Personal	By solicitor	Northern Ireland
Letters of administration with will annexed	10		36	46
Letters of administration with will annexed (DBN)	2		2	4
Letters of administration	75		236	311
Grant of probate	216		843	1059
Letters of administration (DBN)	1	1	7	9
Total grants issued	304	1	1124	1429

Wardship and adoption

Table 21: Adoption cases and applications received

Adoption Order Application	20
Child Abduction Originating Summons	3
Freeing Order Application	3
Human Fertilisation Originating Summons	1
Interlocutory Application	3
Wardship Originating Summons	2
Total	32

Table 22: Adoption cases and applications disposed

	High Court Judge	Master	Total
Adoption Order Application	21	1	22
Child Abduction Originating Summons	1		1
Freeing Order Application	3		3
Human Fertilisation Originating Summons	1		1
Interlocutory Application	2		2
Wardship Originating Summons		2	2
Total	28	3	31

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

App For Occup/Non Mol	1
Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol	13
Total	14

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

	Master	Total
App For Occup/Non Mol	1	1
App For Occup/Non Mol	3	3
Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol	15	15
Total	19	19

Table 25: Time intervals in weeks

	Adoption	Family Homes And Domestic Violence
Issue to first listing	18	1
First listing to disposal	28	20
Issue to disposal	45	21

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

Matrimonial

Table 26: Divorce petitions received

Wife

		Filed by		Total
		Wife	Husband	Total
Divorce Petition
	2 years with consent	185	147	332
	5 years separation	133	82	215
	Adultery	19	5	24
	Unreasonable behaviour	107	23	130
Combination of grounds/other		44	16	60
Total		488	273	761

Table 27: Divorce petitions by type of Decree Nisi

Wife

		Found by			Total
		Wife	Both	Husband	Total
Decree Nisi
	2 years with consent	67	23		90
	5 years separation	30	20		50
	Adultery	6	1		7
	Unreasonable behaviour	45	5		50
Combination of grounds/other		46	19	1	66
Nullity	Combination of grounds/other	1			1
Total		195	68	1	264

Table 28: Divorce petitions by number of absolutes issued

Wife

		Found by		Total
		Wife	Husband	Total
Divorce Petition
	2 years with consent	73	43	116
	5 years separation	34	33	67
	Adultery	5	3	8
	Unreasonable behaviour	49	4	53
Combination of grounds/other		36	11	47
Total		197	94	291

Table 29: Matrimonial applications received

Application	Combination of grounds/other	3
	Ancillary relief	139
	Matrimonial application	176
	Other	8
Total		326

Table 30: Matrimonial applications disposed

		Judge	Master	Total
Application	Ancillary relief	9	120	129
	Matrimonial application	7	128	135
	Other	2		2
Total		18	248	266

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

	Divorce Petition
Issue to first listing	35
First listing to date decree granted	10
Issue to date decree granted	45
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	8	5	1
First listing to disposal	35	3	5
Issue to disposal	42	8	6

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

Table 33: Number of bail applications received

Bail application	246
Bail pending appeal to county court	3
Compassionate bail application	38
Application to revoke bail	6
Schedule 2 breach	4
TIM	1
Bail variation	134
Total	432

Table 34: Number of bail applications disposed in chambers

Bail application	4
Compassionate bail application	2
Application to revoke bail	1
Bail variation	82
Total	89

Table 35: Number of bail applications disposed of in court

	Granted	Refused	Revoke	Other	Total
Bail application	90	108	2	25	225
Bail pending appeal to county court	3				3
Compassionate bail application	18	12		2	32
Application to revoke bail	2		3	1	6
Schedule 2 breach	1		1		2
Bail variation	15	5	1	3	24
Total	129	125	7	31	292

Patients

Table 36: Patients workload figures


New referrals	268
EPA applications received	85
Orders issued	223
Certificates issued	1804
Reviews completed	207
Visits	16

Official Solicitors Office

Table 37: Official Solicitor Statistics

Correspondence received	2193
New Referrals	8
Cases OS assisting OCP	6
OS appointed Controller Ad interim	3
Certificates drafted	1066
OS appointed Full Controller	15

Sitting days and times

Table 38: High Court sitting days

Children Order	34
Other Family	46
Appeals	3
Queen's Bench	157
Chancery	60
Bails	61
Crown	165
Judicial Reviews	85
Criminal Appeals	12
Civil Appeals	27
Total	650

Table 39: High Court sitting times

Children Order	98:20:00
Other family	75:45:20
Appeals	6:08:00
Queen's bench	285:16:00
Chancery	104:18:00
Bails	97:00:05
Crown	432:42:24
Judicial reviews	165:26:00
Criminal appeals	23:31:00
Civil appeals	39:23:00
Total time	1327:49:49