High Court Bulletin April to June 2011 (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

Chancery

Queen’s Bench

Judicial Reviews

Probate

Wardship and Adoption

Matrimonial

Patients

Official Solicitors

Sitting days and times

Chancery

Table 1: Chancery cases and applications received
Case Mortgages 1063
Other land and property 22
Trade and business 4
Trusts 1
Other 58
Total 1148
Application Notice of appointment 921
Summons 332
Notice of motion 17
Exparte application 95
Total 1365

Table 2: Chancery cases setdown
Case Other land and property 5
Trade and business 1
Other 4
Total 10

Table 3:  Chancery cases and applications disposed
  High Court Judge Master Office disposal Total
Case Mortgages 2 385   387
Other land and property 8 2 1 11
Trade and business 5   1 6
Trusts 1     1
Other 14 3 8 25
Total 30 390 10 430
Application Notice of appointment 2 36 1 39
Summons 20 132   152
Notice of motion 9 1   10
Exparte application 2 87   89
Injunction 2     2
Total 35 256 1 292

Table 4: Bankruptcy cases and applications received
Case Petition by another person 344
Petition by debtor 175
Other petition 14
Originating application 50
Other 33
Total 616
Application Notice of motion 1
Ordinary application 248
Certificate of automatic discharge 13
Other 3
Total 265

Table 5: Bankruptcy cases and applications disposed
  Master Office disposal Total
Case Petition by another person 256   256
Petition by debtor 158   158
Other petition 13   13
Originating application 18   18
Other 20   20
Total 465   465
Application Ordinary application 179 1 180
Certificate of automatic discharge 1 8 9
Other 3   3
Total 183 9 192

Table 6: Companies cases and applications received
Case Winding up petition 95
Other petitions 7
Originating summons 22
Other 60
Total 184
Application Notice of motion 4
Ordinary application 11
Other 2
Total 17

Table 7: Companies cases and applications disposed
  High Court Judge Master Total
Case Winding up petition   79 79
Other petitions   7 7
Originating summons   5 5
Other 5 25 30
Total 5 116 121
Application Notice of motion   1 1
Ordinary application 1 5 6
Other   1 1
Total 1 7 8

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks
  Chancery Bankruptcy Companies
Case Application Case Application Case Application
Issue to first listing 31 7 6 3 9 4
First listing to disposal 9 7 4 3 3 6
Issue to disposal 39 11 10 5 12 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 872
Breach 34
Road injuries 261
Personal injuries 88
Monies due 312
Other 51
Total 1618
Miscellaneous Foreign judgement 75
Other 13
Total 88
Applications Summons/interlocutory applications 400
Remittals and removals 148
Exparte applications 83
Other 100
Total 731

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 872       872
Breach 33     1 34
Road injuries 259     2 261
Personal injuries 88       88
Monies due 13 4 106 189 312
Other 51       51
Total 1316 4 106 192 1618

Table 11: Queen's Bench writs and originating summons setdown by amount claimed
  Unliquated £3,000-14,999 Over £15,000 Total
Negligence 354 1   355
Breach 3     3
Road injuries 34 1 3 38
Personal injuries 29 3 3 35
Monies due 1   5 6
Other 5   1 6
Total 426 5 12 443

Table 12: Queen's Bench cases and applications disposed
  High Court Judge Master Office disposal Default judgement Total
Writs  and originating summons Negligence 177   1435 8 1620
Breach 4   10 2 16
Road injuries 20 1 90 3 114
Personal injuries 19 2 41 1 63
Monies due 2 1 14 204 221
Other 4   16 3 23
Total 226 4 1606 221 2057
Miscellaneous Foreign judgement     3   3
Other 2       2
Total 2   3   5
Applications Summons/interlocutory applications 15 204     219
Remittals and removals   60     60
Exparte applications 7 56 2   65
Other 40 50 1   91
Total 62 370 3   435

Excludes commercial actions
Please note that a manual exercise was carried out during the period to deal with a number of old cases which were withdrawn or settled out of court.

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 149   9 19 177
Breach 3     1 4
Road injuries 2   3 15 20
Personal injuries 14   3 2 19
Monies due 1     1 2
Other 2     2 4
Master Road injuries 1       1
Personal injuries 2       2
Monies due 1       1
Default judgement Negligence 8       8
Breach 2       2
Road injuries 3       3
Personal injuries 1       1
Monies due 23 3 78 100 204
Other 2     1 3
Total 214 3 93 141 451

Excludes commercial actions

Table 14: Time intervals in weeks
  Writs  and originating summons Miscelleanous Applications
Issue to setdown 100 . .
Issue to first listing 104 172 7
First listing to disposal 21 2 9
Issue to disposal 125 173 10

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

Table 15: Queen's Bench cases received into commercial list
Negligence 9
Breach 11
Monies due 18
Other 1
Total 39

Table 16: Queen's Bench commercial actions setdown
Negligence 2
Monies due 6
Total 8

Table 17: Queen's Bench commercial actions disposed
  High Court Judge Office disposal Total
Negligence 10 2 12
Breach 7   7
Monies due 9 3 12
Other 1 1 2
Total 27 6 33

Table 18: Time intervals in weeks
  Commercial actions
Received to Entry to commercial list 56
Entry to commercial list to first listing 12
First listing to disposal 62
Received to disposal 131

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 19: Judicial Reviews applications received
Application for leave to apply for judicial review 74
Application for judicial review 33

Table 20:  Judicial Reviews applications disposed
  Granted Withdrawn/
Refused/
Dismissed		 Other Total
Application for leave to apply for judicial review 24 23 6 53
Application for judicial review 2 8 3 13
Ancillary applications     1 1

Table 21: Time intervals in weeks
  Application for leave to apply for judicial review Application for judicial review Ancillary applications
Issue to first listing 4 6 0
First listing to disposal 10 34 40
Issue to disposal 14 37 40

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

Probate

Table 22: Probate grants issued in non-contentious proceedings
  District registry Probate Northern Ireland
By solicitor Personal By solicitor Personal
Grant of administration 1       1
Letters of adminstration with will annexed 11   33 1 45
Letters of adminstration with will annexed (DBN) 1   1   2
Letters of adminstration 70 9 216 21 316
Grant of probate 191 6 856 70 1123
Letters of adminstration (DBN) 4   4   8
Total grants issued 278 15 1110 92 1495

Wardship and adoption

Table 23: Adoption cases and applications received
Adoption Order Application 15
Freeing Order Application 4
Interlocutory Application 4
Wardship Originating Summons 1
Total 24

Table 24:  Adoption cases and applications disposed
  High Court Judge Master Total
Adoption Order Application 8   8
Child Abduction Originating Summons 1   1
Interlocutory Application 3   3
Wardship Originating Summons 1 2 3
Total 13 2 15

Table 25: Family homes and domestic violence cases and applications received
App For Occup/Non Mol 6
Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol 4
Total 10

Table 26:  Family homes and domestic violence cases and applications disposed
  High Court Judge Master Total
App For Occup/Non Mol 1 1 2
App For Occup/Non Mol   4 4
Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol   5 5
Total 1 10 11

Table 27: Time intervals in weeks
  Adoption Family Homes And Domestic Violence
Issue to first listing 12 1
First listing to disposal 5 23
Issue to disposal 18 24

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

Matrimonial

Table 28: Divorce petitions received
  Filed by Total
Wife Husband Unknown
Divorce Petition 2 years with consent 176 104   280
5 years separation 114 85   199
Adultery 19 6   25
Unreasonable behaviour 138 20 1 159
Combination of grounds/other 61 16   77
Total 508 231 1 740

Table 29: Divorce petitions by type of Decree Nisi
  Found by Total
Wife Husband Both
Decree Nisi 2 years with consent 38 15   53
5 years separation 17 14   31
Adultery 3 2   5
Unreasonable behaviour 27 4   31
Combination of grounds/other 25 10 2 37
Nullity Unreasonable behaviour   1   1
Total 110 46 2 158

Table 30: Divorce petitions by number of absolutes issued
  Found by Total
Wife Husband Both
Divorce Petition 2 years with consent 56 42   98
5 years separation 27 27   54
Adultery 3 1   4
Unreasonable behaviour 35 3   38
Combination of grounds/other 50 12 2 64
Total 171 85 2 258

Table 31: Matrimonial applications received
Application Combination of grounds/other 1
Ancillary relief 128
Matrimonial application 167
Other 13
Total 309

Table 32:  Matrimonial applications disposed
  Judge Master Total
Application Combination of grounds/other 1   1
Ancillary relief   79 79
Matrimonial application 5 81 86
Other 5   5
Total 11 160 171

Table 33: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions
  Divorce Petition
Issue to first listing 37
First listing to date decree granted 10
Issue to date decree granted 50
Date decree granted to date absolute issued 4

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

Table 34: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications
  Combination of grounds/
other		 Ancillary relief Matrimonial application Other
Issue to first listing 0 5 8 0
First listing to disposal 13 46 6 4
Issue to disposal 13 51 14 4

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

High Court Bail

Table 35: Number of bail applications received
Bail application 404
Bail pending appeal to county court 21
Compassionate bail application 51
Application to revoke bail 1
Bail variation 169
Total 646

Table 36: Number of bail applications disposed in chambers
  Granted Refused Other Total
Bail application 1     1
Compassionate bail application 2     2
Bail variation 77 1 9 87
Total 80 1 9 90

Table 37: Number of bail applications disposed of in court
  Granted Refused Revoke Other Total
Bail application 173 189 1 16 379
Bail pending appeal to county court 9 8   1 18
Compassionate bail application 40 8   3 51
Bail variation 32 7   2 41
Total 254 212 1 22 489

Patients

Table 38: Patients workload figures
New referrals 197
EPA applications received 136
Orders issued 269
Certificates issued 1862
Reviews completed 500
Visits 5

Official Solicitors Office

Table 39: Official Solicitor Statistics
Correspondence received 2797
New Referrals 7
OCP cases – OS instructed 53
OS appointed Controller Ad interim 1
Certificates drafted 682
OS appointed Full Controller 3

Sitting days and times

Table 40: High Court sitting days
Children Order 12
Other Family 23
Queen's Bench 64
Chancery 28
Bails 69
Crown 59
Judicial Reviews 26
Criminal Appeals 6
Civil Appeals 11
Total 298

Table 41: High Court sitting times
Children Order 25:55:00
Other family 48:15:00
Appeals 01:40:00
Queens Bench 139:03:00
Chancery 104:11:00
Bails 149:23:10
Crown 195:18:00
Judicial reviews 81:20:00
Criminal appeals 11:43:00
Civil appeals 14:26:00
Total 771:14:10

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:

A Mallon
Statistics and Research
Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service
Laganside House
23-27 Oxford Street
Belfast
BT1 3LA

Tel: 028 9072 8928