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 1,756 cases received into the Chancery division. In total, 64% were chancery cases, 30% were bankruptcy cases and 6% were companies’ cases. There were 981 cases disposed of during the reporting period.
Queen’s Bench
There were 1,490 writs received in Queen’s Bench. Of those, 52% were negligence cases. There were 162 default judgments, 810 office disposals and 169 court disposals for writs during the quarter. There were 64 removals and remittals applications dealt with.
Judicial Reviews
There were 73 applications for leave to apply for Judicial Review and 23 applications for Judicial Review received during the quarter. Of the 15 applications for Judicial Review disposed of during the quarter, 3 were granted.
Probate
There were 1,778 grants issued during the quarter in the probate office.
Wardship and Adoption
There were 37 adoption applications received and 19 adoption applications disposed of during the quarter. It took, on average, 28 weeks for an adoption application to progress through the courts.
Matrimonial
There were 720 divorce petitions lodged in the High Court. Of these, 458 petitions were lodged by the wife. In total, 162 decrees nisi and 244 absolutes were issued.
Patients
There were 201 new referrals in the Patients section.
Official Solicitors
There were 699 certificates drafted in the Official Solicitors office.
Sitting days and times
There were 366 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

Table 1: Chancery cases and applications received

Case	Mortgages	1006
	Other land and property	28
	Trade and business	4
	Other	90
	Total	1128
Application	Notice of appointment	712
	Summons	198
	Notice of motion	12
	Exparte application	44
	Injunction	2
	Total	968

Table 2: Chancery cases setdown

Case	Other land and property	10
	Trade and business	2
	Other	7
	Total	19

Table 3: Chancery cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Office disposal	Total
Case	Mortgages	1	438		439
	Other land and property	11	3	4	18
	Trade and business	2	2	1	5
	Trusts	1			1
	Other	16	3	1	20
	Total	31	446	6	483
Application	Notice of appointment		24		24
	Summons	6	82		88
	Notice of motion	1	1		2
	Exparte application	9	30		39
	Total	16	137		153

Table 4: Bankruptcy cases and applications received

Case	Petition by another person	355
	Petition by debtor	103
	Originating application	42
	Other	20
	Total	520
Application	Notice of motion	2
	Ordinary application	281
	Certificate of automatic discharge	15
	Other	14
	Total	312

Table 5: Bankruptcy cases and applications disposed

		Master	Total
Case	Petition by another person	295	295
	Petition by debtor	107	107
	Other petition	12	12
	Originating application	8	8
	Other	10	10
	Total	432	432
Application	Notice of motion	1	1
	Ordinary application	201	201
	Certificate of automatic discharge	10	10
	Other	2	2
	Total	214	214

Table 6: Companies cases and applications received

Case	Winding up petition	84
	Other petitions	1
	Originating summons	15
	Other	8
	Total	108
Application	Ordinary application	5
	Other	2
	Total	7

Table 7: Companies cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Total
Case	Winding up petition		56	56
	Other petitions		5	5
	Originating summons	3	1	4
	Other	1		1
	Total	4	62	66
Application	Ordinary application	1	1	2
Application	Total	1	1	2

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks

	Chancery		Bankruptcy		Companies
	Case	Application	Case	Application	Case	Application
Issue to first listing	23	4	7	3	11	0
First listing to disposal	9	5	3	2	5	0
Issue to disposal	32	8	13	4	15	0

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	768
	Breach	53
	Road injuries	251
	Personal injuries	116
	Monies due	240
	Other	62
	Total	1490
Miscellaneous	Foreign judgement	83
	Other	42
	Total	125
Applications	Summons/interlocutory applications	478
	Remittals and removals	102
	Exparte applications	71
	Other	101
	Total	752

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	767			1	768
Breach	51			2	53
Road injuries	251				251
Personal injuries	116				116
Monies due	30	4	58	148	240
Other	39	2	15	6	62
Total	1254	6	73	157	1490

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

	Unliquated	£3,000-14,999	Over £15,000	Total
Negligence	187			187
Breach	2		1	3
Road injuries	68		4	72
Personal injuries	21	2		23
Monies due	1		1	2
Other	8			8
Total	287	2	6	295

Table 12: Queen's Bench cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Office disposal	Default judgement	Total
Writs and originating summons	Negligence	93	4	379	15	491
	Breach	3		9	4	16
	Road injuries	32	3	339	1	375
	Personal injuries	20		60	2	82
	Monies due	4		9	111	124
	Other	9	1	14	29	53
	Total	161	8	810	162	1141
Miscellaneous	Other	1		1		2
Miscellaneous	Total	1		1		2
Applications	Summons/interlocutory applications	9	242			251
	Remittals and removals	1	63			64
	Exparte applications	8	47			55
	Other	38	53			91
	Total	56	405			461

Excludes commercial actions

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

		Unliquated	Less than £1,000	£1,000-2,999	£3,000-14,999	Over £15,000	Total
High Court Judge	Negligence	37		1	22	33	93
	Breach	2				1	3
	Road injuries	10			5	17	32
	Personal injuries	13			2	5	20
	Monies due	2				2	4
	Other	6				3	9
Master	Negligence	4					4
	Road injuries	3					3
	Other	1					1
Default judgement	Negligence	15					15
	Breach	3				1	4
	Road injuries	1					1
	Personal injuries	1				1	2
	Monies due	1	1	6	45	58	111
	Other	2		1	12	14	29
Total		101	1	8	86	135	331

Excludes commercial actions

Table 14: Queen's Bench commercial actions setdown

Negligence	1
Breach	1
Total	2

Table 15: Queen's Bench commercial actions disposed

	High Court Judge	Office disposal	Total
Negligence	6	3	9
Breach	11		11
Monies due	15		15
Other	8	1	9
Total	40	4	44

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

	Writs and originating summons	Commercial actions	Miscelleanous	Applications
Issue to setdown	93	115	.	.
Issue to first listing	100	115	141	7
First listing to disposal	35	52	0	6
Issue to disposal	133	171	141	9

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	73
Application for judicial review	23
Ancillary applications	1

Table 18: Judicial Reviews applications disposed

	Granted	Withdrawn/Refused/Dismissed	Other	Total
Application for leave to apply for judicial review	18	32	6	56
Application for judicial review	3	8	4	15
Ancillary applications			1	1

Table 19: Time intervals in weeks

	Application for leave to apply for judicial review	Application for judicial review	Ancillary applications
Issue to first listing	113	13	.
First listing to disposal	3	33	.
Issue to disposal	106	43	0

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 By solicitor	Probate By solicitor	Northern Ireland
Letters of adminstration with will annexed	7	42	49
Letters of adminstration with will annexed (DBN)	2	4	6
Letters of adminstration	88	301	389
Grant of probate	232	1087	1319
Letters of adminstration (DBN)	7	8	15
Total grants issued	336	1442	1778

Wardship and adoption

Table 21: Adoption cases and applications received

Adoption Order Application	23
Child Abduction Originating Summons	3
Freeing Order Application	2
Interlocutory Application	6
Wardship Originating Summons	3
Total	37

Table 22: Adoption cases and applications disposed

	High Court Judge	Master	Total
Adoption Order Application	5		5
Child Abduction Originating Summons	4		4
Freeing Order Application	6	1	7
Interlocutory Application	2		2
Wardship Originating Summons	1		1
Total	18	1	19

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

App For Occup/Non Mol	28
Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol	7
Article 23 ex-parte non-molestation and occupation	1
Total	36

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

	Master	Total
App For Occup/Non Mol	6	6
Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol	3	3
Total	9	9

Table 25: Time intervals in weeks

	Adoption	Family Homes And Domestic Violence
Issue to first listing	8	1
First listing to disposal	20	8
Issue to disposal	28	8

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	Unknown	Total
Divorce Petition
	2 years with consent	182	120	1	303
	5 years separation	118	101	1	220
	Adultery	8	11		19
	Unreasonable behaviour	105	17		122
Combination of grounds/other		45	11		56
Total		458	260	2	720

Table 27: Divorce petitions by type of Decree Nisi

Wife

		Found by			Total
		Wife	Husband	Both	Total
Decree Nisi
	2 years with consent	26	23		49
	5 years separation	30	15		45
	Adultery	2	2		4
	Unreasonable behaviour	29	3		32
Combination of grounds/other		22	9	1	32
Total		109	52	1	162

Table 28: Divorce petitions by number of absolutes issued

Wife

		Found by			Total
		Wife	Husband	Both	Total
Divorce Petition
	2 years with consent	51	32		83
	5 years separation	48	21		69
	Adultery	1	1		2
	Unreasonable behaviour	39			39
Combination of grounds/other		40	9	2	51
Total		179	63	2	244

Table 29: Matrimonial applications received

Application	Combination of grounds/other	4
	Ancillary relief	130
	Matrimonial application	164
	Other	7
Total		305

Table 30: Matrimonial applications disposed

		Judge	Master	Total
Application	Combination of grounds/other	1		1
	Ancillary relief	3	54	57
	Matrimonial application	8	91	99
	Other	1	1	2
Total		13	146	159

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

	Divorce Petition
Issue to first listing	40
First listing to date decree granted	13
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	1	7	12	2
First listing to disposal	0	32	3	10
Issue to disposal	1	40	15	12

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	329
Bail pending appeal to county court	3
Compassionate bail application	40
Miscellaneous application	1
Application to revoke bail	6
Schedule 2 breach	1
TIM	1
Bail variation	108
Total	489

Table 34: Number of bail applications disposed in chambers

Bail application	3
Bail variation	77
Total	80

Table 35: Number of bail applications disposed of in court

	Granted	Refused	Revoke	Other	Total
Bail application	133	128	1	12	274
Bail pending appeal to county court	1	1		1	3
Compassionate bail application	26	9		4	39
Miscellaneous application				1	1
Application to revoke bail		3	2	1	6
Schedule 2 breach	1				1
Bail variation	14	1	1		16
Total	175	142	4	19	340

Patients

Table 36: Patients workload figures

New referrals	201
EPA applications received	59
Orders issued	257
Certificates issued	1413
Reviews completed	209
Visits	2

Official Solicitors Office

Table 37: Official Solicitor Statistics

Correspondence received	1955
New Referrals	4
Cases OS assisting OCP	4
OS appointed Controller Ad interim	0
Certificates drafted	699
OS appointed Full Controller	7

Sitting days and times

Table 38: High Court sitting days

Children Order	16
Other Family	34
Queen's Bench	79
Chancery	33
Bails	62
Crown	78
Judicial Reviews	44
Criminal Appeals	9
Civil Appeals	11
Total	366

Table 39: High Court sitting times

Children Order	Sum	38:05:00
Other family	Sum	55:30:10
Appeals	Sum	0:00:00
Queen's bench	Sum	183:59:00
Chancery	Sum	47:48:00
Bails	Sum	138:47:10
Callover	Sum	0:00:00
Crown	Sum	194:54:00
Judicial reviews	Sum	62:00:00
Criminal appeals	Sum	19:39:00
Civil appeals	Sum	12:02:00
Total time	Sum	752:44:20