High Court Bulletin

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

Chancery
There were 1,975 cases received into the Chancery division. In total, 57% were chancery cases, 36% were bankruptcy cases and 7% were companies’ cases. There were 1,479 cases disposed of during the reporting period.
Queen’s Bench
There were 1,626 writs received in Queen’s Bench. Of those, 49% were negligence cases. There were 197 default judgments, 520 office disposals and 460 court disposals for writs during the quarter. There were 145 removals and remittals applications dealt with.
Judicial Reviews
There were 71 applications for leave to apply for Judicial Review and 30 applications for Judicial Review received during the quarter. Of the 44 applications for Judicial Review disposed of during the quarter, 15 were granted.
Probate
There were 1,674 grants issued during the quarter in the probate office.
Wardship and Adoption
There were 29 adoption applications received and 33 adoption applications disposed of during the quarter. It took, on average, 26 weeks for an adoption application to progress through the courts.
Matrimonial
There were 649 divorce petitions lodged in the High Court. Of these, 423 petitions were lodged by the wife. In total, 264 decrees nisi and 241 absolutes were issued.
Patients
There were 201 new referrals in the Patients section.
Official Solicitors
There were 688 certificates drafted in the Official Solicitors office.
Sitting days and times
There were 700 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	1020
	Other land and property	18
	Trade and business	3
	Trusts	2
	Other	79
	Total	1122
Application	Notice of appointment	907
	Summons	242
	Notice of motion	7
	Exparte application	82
	Injunction	5
	Total	1243

Table 2: Chancery cases setdown

Case	Other land and property	10
	Trade and business	3
	Other	15
	Total	28

Table 3: Chancery cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Office disposal	Total
Case	Mortgages		743		743
	Other land and property	18		1	19
	Trade and business	4			4
	Other	32	4	4	40
	Total	54	747	5	806
Application	Notice of appointment	1	36		37
	Summons	24	124		148
	Notice of motion	3	1		4
	Exparte application	6	74		80
	Injunction	3			3
	Total	37	235		272

Table 4: Bankruptcy cases and applications received

Case	Petition by another person	403
	Petition by debtor	165
	Other petition	4
	Originating application	113
	Other	29
	Total	714
Application	Ordinary application	288
	Certificate of automatic discharge	9
	Other	10
	Total	307

Table 5: Bankruptcy cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Office disposal	Total
Case	Petition by another person		369		369
	Petition by debtor		155		155
	Other petition		5		5
	Originating application		15		15
	Other		30	1	31
	Total		574	1	575
Application	Notice of motion	1	1		2
	Ordinary application	3	219		222
	Certificate of automatic discharge		9		9
	Other		5		5
	Total	4	234		238

Table 6: Companies cases and applications received

Case	Winding up petition	86
	Other petitions	5
	Originating summons	38
	Other	10
	Total	139
Application	Notice of motion	5
	Ordinary application	9
	Other	2
	Total	16

Table 7: Companies cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Total
Case	Winding up petition	2	70	72
	Other petitions	2	2	4
	Originating summons	5	11	16
	Other	1	5	6
	Total	10	88	98
Application	Notice of motion	2		2
	Ordinary application	2	1	3
	Other	2	1	3
	Total	6	2	8

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks

	Chancery		Bankruptcy		Companies
	Case	Application	Case	Application	Case	Application
Issue to first listing	20	4	5	2	7	1
First listing to disposal	6	5	5	3	8	0
Issue to disposal	26	7	9	4	16	1

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	798
	Breach	41
	Road injuries	344
	Personal injuries	95
	Monies due	277
	Other	71
	Total	1626
Miscellaneous	Foreign judgement	98
	Other	19
	Total	117
Applications	Summons/interlocutory applications	554
	Remittals and removals	138
	Exparte applications	74
	Other	132
	Total	898

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

	Unliquated	£1,000-2,999	£3,000-14,999	Over £15,000	Total
Negligence	798				798
Breach	37			4	41
Road injuries	344				344
Personal injuries	94			1	95
Monies due	33	14	88	142	277
Other	69			2	71
Total	1375	14	88	149	1626

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

	Unliquated	£3,000-14,999	Over £15,000	Total
Negligence	245			245
Breach	8		1	9
Road injuries	90	1	2	93
Personal injuries	26		2	28
Monies due	5		2	7
Other	9		2	11
Total	383	1	9	393

Table 12: Queen's Bench cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Office disposal	Default judgement	Total
Writs and originating summons	Negligence	263	5	159	10	437
	Breach	8		9	3	20
	Road injuries	97		115	5	217
	Personal injuries	58	7	59		124
	Monies due	1	2	11	151	165
	Other	18	1	167	28	214
	Total	445	15	520	197	1177
Miscellaneous	Foreign judgement				1	1
	Other	1		8		9
	Total	1		8	1	10
Applications	Summons/interlocutory applications	60	504			564
	Remittals and removals	3	142			145
	Exparte applications	8	48			56
	Other	32	57			89
	Total	103	751			854

Excludes commercial actions

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

		Unliquated	£1,000-2,999	£3,000-14,999	Over £15,000	Total
High Court Judge	Negligence	141	5	47	70	263
	Breach	7			1	8
	Road injuries	18	2	17	60	97
	Personal injuries	32	1	8	17	58
	Monies due	1				1
	Other	13		1	4	18
Master	Negligence	5				5
	Personal injuries	7				7
	Monies due	2				2
	Other	1				1
Default judgement	Negligence	10				10
	Breach	1			2	3
	Road injuries	5				5
	Monies due	2	13	58	78	151
	Other	2	3	19	4	28
Total		247	24	150	236	657

Excludes commercial actions

Table 14: Queen's Bench commercial actions setdown

Negligence	2
Breach	5
Monies due	7
Other	2
Total	16

Table 15: Queen's Bench commercial actions disposed

	High Court Judge	Office disposal	Default judgement	Total
Negligence	7	1		8
Breach	10	1		11
Monies due	8		1	9
Other	3	2	1	6
Total	28	4	2	34

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

	Writs and originating summons	Commercial actions	Miscellaneous	Applications
Issue to setdown	91	86	.	.
Issue to first listing	101	65	1	3
First listing to disposal	22	43	13	5
Issue to disposal	123	109	15	7

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	71
Application for judicial review	30
Ancillary applications	2

Table 18: Judicial Reviews applications disposed

	Granted	Withdrawn/Refused/Dismissed	Other	Total
Application for leave to apply for judicial review	23	27	5	55
Application for judicial review	15	21	8	44

Table 19: Time intervals in weeks

	Application for leave to apply for judicial review	Application for judicial review
Issue to first listing	2	10
First listing to disposal	9	18
Issue to disposal	10	26

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	Northern Ireland
Letters of administration with will annexed	11	31	42
Letters of administration with will annexed (DBN)	4	9	13
Letters of administration	91	269	360
Grant of probate	161	1084	1245
Letters of administration (DBN)	1	13	14
Total grants issued	268	1406	1674

Wardship and adoption

Table 21: Adoption cases and applications received


Adoption Order Application	15
Freeing Order Application	6
Interlocutory Application	6
Wardship Originating Summons	2
Total	29

Table 22: Adoption cases and applications disposed

	High Court Judge	Master	Total
Adoption Order Application	20		20
Child Abduction Originating Summons	1		1
Freeing Order Application	2		2
Interlocutory Application	6		6
Wardship Originating Summons	3	1	4
Total	32	1	33

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

App For Occup/Non Mol	5
Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol	11
Total	16

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

	Master	Total
App For Occup/Non Mol	1	1
Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol	9	9
Article 23 ex-parte non-molestation and occupation	1	1
Total	11	11

Table 25: Time intervals in weeks

	Adoption	Family Homes And Domestic Violence
Issue to first listing	18	1
First listing to disposal	7	27
Issue to disposal	26	28

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

Matrimonial

Table 26: Divorce petitions received

		Filed by
		Wife	Husband	Total
Divorce Petition	2 years with consent	154	111	265
	5 years separation	92	80	172
	Adultery	19	3	22
	Unreasonable behaviour	116	22	138
	Combination of grounds/other	41	10	51
	Ancillary relief	1		1
Total		423	226	649

Table 27: Divorce petitions by type of Decree Nisi

		Found by
		Wife	Husband	Both	Total
Decree Nisi	2 years with consent	55	29		84
	5 years separation	44	28		72
	Adultery	3	3		6
	Unreasonable behaviour	43	2	1	46
	Combination of grounds/other	48	5	1	54
Judicial Separation	Unreasonable behaviour	1	1		2
Total		194	68	2	264

Table 28: Divorce petitions by number of absolutes issued

		Found by
		Wife	Husband	Both	Total
Divorce Petition	2 years with consent	58	28		86
	5 years separation	36	20		56
	Adultery	1	1		2
	Unreasonable behaviour	44	1		45
	Combination of grounds/other	36	15	1	52
Total		175	65	1	241

Table 29: Matrimonial applications received

Application	Combination of grounds/other	7
	Ancillary relief	146
	Matrimonial application	190
	Other	10
Total		353

Table 30: Matrimonial applications disposed

		Judge	Master	Total
Application	Combination of grounds/other	3		3
	Ancillary relief	1	128	129
	Matrimonial application	4	152	156
	Other	1	1	2
Total		9	281	290

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

	Divorce Petition
Issue to first listing	36
First listing to date decree granted	4
Issue to date decree granted	44
Date decree granted to date absolute issued	9

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

	Combination of grounds/other	Ancillary relief	Matrimonial application	Other
Issue to first listing	0	9	43	3
First listing to disposal	10	49	4	42
Issue to disposal	11	58	45	45

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

High Court Bails

Table 33: Number of bail applications received

Bail application	309
Bail pending appeal to county court	5
Compassionate bail application	32
Application to revoke bail	12
Bail variation	114
Total	472

Table 34: Number of bail applications disposed in chambers

	Granted	Refused	Other	Total
Bail application	2			2
Bail variation	62	1	4	67
Total	64	1	4	69

Table 35: Number of bail applications disposed of in court

	Granted	Refused	Revoke	Other	Total
Bail application	115	143	1	17	276
Bail pending appeal to county court	1	3			4
Compassionate bail application	23	7		1	31
Application to revoke bail	1	1	8	1	11
Bail variation	21	8		2	31
Total	161	162	9	21	353

Patients

Table 36: Patients Workload Figures

New referrals	201
EPA applications received	62
Orders issued	199
Certificates issued	1395
Reviews completed	300
Visits	11

Table 37: Official Solicitor Statistics

Correspondence received	2138
New Referrals	8
Cases OS assisting OCP	6
OS appointed Controller Ad interim	1
Certificates drafted	688
OS appointed Full Controller	3

Sitting days and times

Table 38: High Court sitting days

Children Order	45
Other Family	54
Appeals	2
Queen's Bench	187
Chancery	59
Bails	76
Callover	1
Crown	145
Judicial Reviews	71
Criminal Appeals	12
Civil Appeals	48
Total	700

Table 39: High Court sitting times

Children Order	105:28:00
Other family	87:42:40
Appeals	4:25:00
Queen's bench	353:14:00
Chancery	105:46:00
Bails	133:03:25
Callover	0:05:00
Crown	387:19:24
Judicial reviews	131:43:00
Criminal appeals	10:20:00
Civil appeals	86:47:00
Total	1405:53:29