High Court Quarterly Bulletin for July to September 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 Jul - Sep 2010:

Chancery

There were 1,699 cases received into the Chancery division. In total, 56% were chancery cases, 33% were bankruptcy cases and 10% were companies’ cases. There were 998 cases disposed of during the reporting period.

Queen’s Bench

There were 1,836 writs received in Queen’s Bench (Fig 1). Of those, 55% were negligence cases. There were 262 default judgments, 284 office disposals and 255 court disposals for writs during the quarter. There were 88 removals and remittals applications dealt with.

Figure 1: Number of Writs received by type of writ

Neligence 1004
Breach 31
Road Injuries 241
Personal Injuries 130
Monies Due 379
Other 51

Judicial Reviews

There were 50 applications for leave to apply for Judicial Review and 15 applications for Judicial Review received during the quarter.

Probate

There were 1,485 grants issued during the quarter in the probate office.

Wardship and Adoption

There were 16 adoption applications received and 15 adoption applications disposed of during the quarter. It took, on average, 40 weeks for an adoption application to progress through the courts.

Matrimonial

There were 637 divorce petitions lodged in the High Court. Of these, 424 petitions were lodged by the wife. In total, 196 decrees nisi and 271 absolutes were issued.

Patients

There were 190 new referrals in the Patients section.

Official Solicitors

There were 745 certificates drafted in the Official Solicitors office.

Sitting days and times

There were 266 sitting days in the High Court during the quarter (Fig 2).

Figure 2: Number of sitting days by business type

Court of Appeal - Criminal 4
Court of Appeal - Civil 8
Appeals 1
Bails 82
Chancery 20
Queens Bench 48
Other Family 24
Children Order 25
Judicial Review 7
Crown 47

Chancery

Table 1: Chancery cases and applications received

Case Mortgages 863
Other land and property 33
Trade and business 2
Other 60
Total 958
Application Notice of appointment 785
Summons 271
Notice of motion 3
Exparte application 77
Injunction 5
Total 1141

Table 2: Chancery cases setdown

Case Other land and property 1
Other 5
Total 6

Table 3: Chancery cases and applications disposed

  High Court Judge Master Office disposal Total
Case Mortgages   381   381
Other land and property 4   2 6
Trade and business 2   2 4
Other 18 4 9 31
Total 24 385 13 422
Application Notice of appointment   23   23
Summons 18 123   141
Notice of motion 2     2
Exparte application 1 104   105
Injunction 2     2
Total 23 250   273

Table 4: Bankruptcy cases and applications received

Case Petition by another person 300
Petition by debtor 173
Other petition 9
Originating application 48
Other 35
Total 565
Application Notice of motion 1
Ordinary application 204
Certificate of automatic discharge 11
Other 4
Total 220

Table 5: Bankruptcy cases and applications disposed

  Master Total
Case Petition by another person 231 231
Petition by debtor 174 174
Other petition 12 12
Originating application 21 21
Other 15 15
Total 453 453
Application Ordinary application 165 165
Certificate of automatic discharge 10 10
Other 1 1
Total 176 176

Companies

Table 6: Companies cases and applications received

Case Winding up petition 110
Other petitions 5
Originating summons 18
Other 43
Total 176
Application Notice of motion 1
Ordinary application 13
Total 14

Table 7: Companies cases and applications disposed

  High Court Judge Master Total
Case Winding up petition   88 88
Other petitions 1 8 9
Originating summons 1 9 10
Other 4 12 16
Total 6 117 123
Application Notice of motion 2   2
Ordinary application 3 8 11
Total 5 8 13

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks

  Chancery Bankruptcy Companies
Case Application Case Application Case Application
Issue to first listing 23 10 6 3 10 9
First listing to disposal 7 5 5 2 5 2
Issue to disposal 31 11 10 5 15 10

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 1004
Breach 31
Road injuries 241
Personal injuries 130
Monies due 379
Other 51
Total 1836
Miscellaneous Foreign judgement 112
Other 16
Total 128
Applications Summons/interlocutory applications 358
Remittals and removals 153
Exparte applications 63
Other 100
Total 674

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 1004       1004
Breach 31       31
Road injuries 241       241
Personal injuries 130       130
Monies due 37 7 103 232 379
Other 51       51
Total 1494 7 103 232 1836

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

  Unliquated £3,000-14,999 Over £15,000 Total
Negligence 284   1 285
Breach 1     1
Road injuries 34 1 1 36
Personal injuries 11     11
Monies due 1   5 6
Other 4     4
Total 335 1 7 343

Table 12: Queen's Bench cases and applications disposed

  High Court Judge Master Office disposal Default judgement Total
Writs  and originating summons Negligence 185 3 152 13 353
Breach 3   6 5 14
Road injuries 27   73 4 104
Personal injuries 13 4 40 1 58
Monies due 5 1 5 235 246
Other 13 1 8 4 26
Total 246 9 284 262 801
Miscellaneous Foreign judgement   2     2
Other 1       1
Total 1 2     3
Applications Summons/interlocutory applications 34 132     166
Remittals and removals   88     88
Exparte applications 7 36     43
Other 39 52     91
Total 80 308     388

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 136 2 14 33 185
Breach 2     1 3
Road injuries 7 1 3 16 27
Personal injuries 8 1   4 13
Monies due 2   1 2 5
Other 5   1 7 13
Master Negligence 3       3
Personal injuries 4       4
Monies due       1 1
Other 1       1
Default judgement Negligence 13       13
Breach 4     1 5
Road injuries 4       4
Personal injuries 1       1
Monies due 16 5 75 139 235
Other 1   1 2 4
Total 207 9 95 206 517

Excludes commercial actions

Table 14: Queen's Bench commercial actions setdown

Negligence 9
Breach 5
Monies due 8
Total 22

Table 15: Queen's Bench commercial actions disposed

  High Court Judge Office disposal Total
Negligence 6   6
Breach 13   13
Monies due 8 1 9
Other 2 1 3
Total 29 2 31

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

  Writs  and originating summons Commercial actions Miscelleanous Applications
Issue to setdown 89 97 . .
Issue to first listing 99 72 2 6
First listing to disposal 31 49 18 13
Issue to disposal 128 121 7 13

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 50
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 12 21 5 38
Application for judicial review 3 9 7 19

Table 19: Time intervals in weeks

  Application for leave to apply for judicial review Application for judicial review
Issue to first listing 7 13
First listing to disposal 16 27
Issue to disposal 21 37

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 Personal By solicitor Personal
Letters of adminstration with will annexed   7 7 33 47
Letters of adminstration with will annexed (DBN) 1   1   2
Letters of adminstration 10 52 48 212 322
Grant of probate 14 149 53 889 1105
Letters of adminstration (DBN) 3 1 2 3 9
Total grants issued 28 209 111 1137 1485

Wardship and adoption

Table 21: Adoption cases and applications received

Adoption Order Application 11
Freeing Order Application 1
Wardship Originating Summons 4
Total 16

Table 22: Adoption cases and applications disposed

  High Court Judge Master Total
Adoption Order Application 11   11
Freeing Order Application 2   2
Wardship Originating Summons 1 1 2
Total 14 1 15

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

Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol 12
Total 12

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 8 8
Total 9 9

Table 25: Time intervals in weeks

  Adoption Family Homes And Domestic Violence
Issue to first listing 33 0
First listing to disposal 8 7
Issue to disposal 40 7

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 Total
Wife Husband Unknown
Divorce Petition 2 years with consent 156 80   236
5 years separation 93 96   189
Adultery 21 8   29
Unreasonable behaviour 110 19 1 130
Combination of grounds/other 44 9   53
Total 424 212 1 637

Table 27: Divorce petitions by type of Decree Nisi

  Found by Total
Wife Husband Both
Decree Nisi 2 years with consent 43 23   66
5 years separation 25 19   44
Adultery 3 2   5
Unreasonable behaviour 41 4   45
Combination of grounds/other 27 5 1 33
Judicial Separation 2 years with consent 1     1
Unreasonable behaviour 2     2
Total 142 53 1 196

Table 28: Divorce petitions by number of absolutes issued

  Found by Total
Wife Husband Both
Divorce Petition 2 years with consent 62 27   89
5 years separation 42 23   65
Adultery 9 1   10
Unreasonable behaviour 37 6 1 44
Combination of grounds/other 46 17   63
Total 196 74 1 271

Table 29: Matrimonial applications received

Application Combination of grounds/other 6
Ancillary relief 135
Matrimonial application 135
Other 9
Total 285

Table 30: Matrimonial applications disposed

  Judge Master Total
Application Combination of grounds/other 2   2
Ancillary relief   70 70
Matrimonial application 4 75 79
Other 4 2 6
Total 10 147 157

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

  Divorce Petition
Issue to first listing 41
First listing to date decree granted 7
Issue to date decree granted 54
Date decree granted to date absolute issued 5

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 8 11 4
First listing to disposal 3 56 6 36
Issue to disposal 3 63 17 40

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 452
Bail pending appeal to county court 10
Compassionate bail application 46
Application to revoke bail 4
Bail variation 186
Total 698

Table 34: Number of bail applications disposed in chambers

  Granted Other Total
Bail application 6 1 7
Bail variation 110 8 118
Total 116 9 125

Table 35: Number of bail applications disposed of in court

  Granted Refused Revoke Other Total
Bail application 169 221 2 14 406
Bail pending appeal to county court 3 3 1 1 8
Compassionate bail application 23 12   6 41
Application to revoke bail 1   2   3
Bail variation 32 10 1 2 45
Total 228 246 6 23 503

Patients

Table 36: Patients

New referrals 190
EPA applications received 108
Orders issued 276
Certificates issued 1395
Reviews completed 215
Visits 0

Official Solicitors

Table 37: Official Solicitor Office statistics

Correspondence received 2126
New Referrals 20
OS appointed Controller Ad interim 3
Certificates drafted 745
OS appointed Full Controller 6

Sitting days

Table 38: High Court sitting days

Children Order 25
Other Family 24
Appeals 1
Queen's Bench 48
Chancery 20
Bails 82
Crown 47
Judicial Reviews 7
Criminal Appeals 4
Civil Appeals 8
Total 265

Table 39: High Court sitting times

Children Order 59:25:00
Other family 40:18:10
Appeals 01:55:00
QueensBench 110:28:00
Chancery 33:05:00
Bails 175:58:15
Callover 00:00:00
Crown 96:37:00
Judicial reviews 14:35:00
Criminal appeals 08:43:00
Civil appeals 19:07:00
Sum 560:11:25