High Court Quarterly Bulletin for October to December 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 October - December 2010:

Chancery

There were 1,657 cases received into the Chancery division. In total, 56% were chancery cases, 33% were bankruptcy cases and 10% were companies’ cases. There were 1,707 cases disposed of during the reporting period.

Queen’s Bench

There were 1,754 writs received in Queen’s Bench (Fig 1). Of those, 57% were negligence cases. There were 253 default judgments, 331 office disposals and 648 court disposals for writs during the quarter. There were 203 removals and remittals applications dealt with.

Figure 1: Number of writs received by type of writ

Neligence 1004
Breach 31
Road Injuries 252
Personal Injuries 75
Monies Due 333
Other 59

Judicial Reviews

There were 66 applications for leave to apply for Judicial Review and 23 applications for Judicial Review received during the quarter.

Probate

There were 1,505 grants issued during the quarter in the probate office.

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 15 adoption applications received and 32 adoption applications disposed of during the quarter. It took, on average, 31 weeks for an adoption application to progress through the courts.

Matrimonial

There were 624 divorce petitions lodged in the High Court. Of these, 396 petitions were lodged by the wife. In total, 385 decrees nisi and 268 absolutes were issued.

Patients

There were 214 new referrals in the Patients section.

Official Solicitors

There were 659 certificates drafted in the Official Solicitors office.

Sitting days and times

There were 643 sitting days in the High Court during the quarter (Fig 2).

Figure 2: Number of sitting days by business type

Court of Appeal - Criminal 14
Court of Appeal - Civil 28
Appeals 2
Bails 97
Chancery 55
Queens Bench 166
Other Family 50
Children Order 62
Judicial Review 41
Crown 128

Chancery

Table 1: Chancery cases and applications received

Case Mortgages 825
Other land and property 18
Trade and business 4
Trusts 4
Other 80
Total 931
Application Notice of appointment 868
Summons 286
Notice of motion 20
Exparte application 80
Injunction 9
Total 1263

Table 2: Chancery cases setdown

Case Other land and property 3
Trade and business 1
Trusts 1
Other 10
Total 15

Table 3: Chancery cases and applications disposed

  High Court Judge Master Office disposal Total
Case Mortgages 3 869 1 873
Other land and property 18 3 2 23
Trade and business 1   1 2
Other 46   3 49
Total 68 872 7 947
Application Notice of appointment 1 27 4 32
Summons 63 221 2 286
Notice of motion 6 2   8
Exparte application 6 64   70
Injunction 8     8
Total 84 314 6 404

Table 4: Bankruptcy cases and applications received

Case Petition by another person 248
Petition by debtor 188
Other petition 24
Originating application 54
Other 41
Total 555
Application Notice of motion 1
Ordinary application 187
Certificate of automatic discharge 10
Other 7
Total 205

Table 5: Bankruptcy cases and applications disposed

  High Court Judge Master Office disposal Total
Case Petition by another person 1 322   323
Petition by debtor   187   187
Other petition   19   19
Originating application 1 36   37
Other   34 2 36
Total 2 598 2 602
Application Ordinary application   162   162
Certificate of automatic discharge   2 7 9
Other   4   4
Total   168 7 175

Companies

Table 6: Companies cases and applications received

Case Winding up petition 92
Other petitions 11
Originating summons 25
Other 43
Total 171
Application Notice of motion 3
Ordinary application 13
Other 1
Total 17

Table 7: Companies cases and applications disposed

  High Court Judge Master Total
Case Winding up petition   100 100
Other petitions   8 8
Originating summons 5 15 20
Other 5 25 30
Total 10 148 158
Application Notice of motion   1 1
Ordinary application 2 8 10
Other 1   1
Total 3 9 12

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks

  Chancery Bankruptcy Companies
Case Application Case Application Case Application
Issue to first listing 21 6 5 2 6 2
First listing to disposal 7 5 6 6 5 7
Issue to disposal 29 11 11 7 10 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 252
Personal injuries 75
Monies due 333
Other 59
Total 1754
Miscellaneous Foreign judgement 81
Other 14
Total 95
Applications Summons/interlocutory applications 524
Remittals and removals 181
Exparte applications 81
Other 183
Total 969

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

  Unliquated Less than £1,000 £1,000-2,999 £3,000-14,999 Over £15,000 Total
Negligence 1002     1 1 1004
Breach 31         31
Road injuries 252         252
Personal injuries 75         75
Monies due 21 2 9 89 212 333
Other 59         59
Total 1440 2 9 90 213 1754

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

  Unliquated Over £15,000 Total
Negligence 287 1 288
Breach 3   3
Road injuries 48 1 49
Personal injuries 12 1 13
Monies due 2 1 3
Other 8   8
Total 360 4 364

Table 12: Queen's Bench cases and applications disposed

  High Court Judge Master Office disposal Default judgement Total
Writs  and originating summons Negligence 483 10 172 12 677
Breach 4 2 3 7 16
Road injuries 78 4 60 8 150
Personal injuries 35 2 72 2 111
Monies due 7 2 15 214 238
Other 20 1 9 10 40
Total 627 21 331 253 1232
Miscellaneous Foreign judgement   3     3
Other 1   2   3
Total 1 3 2   6
Applications Summons/interlocutory applications 48 546     594
Remittals and removals 1 202     203
Exparte applications 8 51     59
Other 85 91     176
Total 142 890     1032

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 390   4 25 64 483
Breach 3     1   4
Road injuries 6     17 55 78
Personal injuries 22     6 7 35
Monies due 4       3 7
Other 12 1   1 6 20
Master Negligence 9     1   10
Breach 1       1 2
Road injuries 4         4
Personal injuries 2         2
Monies due 2         2
Other 1         1
Default judgement Negligence 11     1   12
Breach 4     1 2 7
Road injuries 8         8
Personal injuries 2         2
Monies due 9   6 74 125 214
Other 8   1 1   10
Total 498 1 11 128 263 901

Excludes commercial actions

Table 14: Queen's Bench commercial actions setdown

Negligence 7
Breach 4
Monies due 18
Other 2
Total 31

Table 15: Queen's Bench commercial actions disposed

  High Court Judge Office disposal Total
Negligence 17   17
Breach 12 1 13
Monies due 25 1 26
Other 3   3
Total 57 2 59

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

  Writs  and originating summons Commercial actions Miscelleanous Applications
Issue to setdown 98 127 . .
Issue to first listing 108 86 2 5
First listing to disposal 25 59 19 7
Issue to disposal 131 148 6 10

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 66
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 20 22 15 57
Application for judicial review 4 14 6 24

Table 19: Time intervals in weeks

  Application for leave to apply for judicial review Application for judicial review
Issue to first listing 2 12
First listing to disposal 16 26
Issue to disposal 15 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   10   30 40
Letters of adminstration with will annexed (DBN)     1   1
Letters of adminstration 11 56 27 234 328
Grant of probate 10 206 31 881 1128
Letters of adminstration (DBN) 1   2 5 8
Total grants issued 22 272 61 1150 1505

Wardship and adoption

Table 21: Adoption cases and applications received

Adoption Order Application 9
Child Abduction Originating Summons 4
Freeing Order Application 1
Wardship Originating Summons 1
Total 15

Table 22: Adoption cases and applications disposed

  High Court Judge Master Total
Adoption Order Application 23   23
Child Abduction Originating Summons 3   3
Freeing Order Application 3   3
Wardship Originating Summons 2 1 3
Total 31 1 32

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

Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol 12
App To Extend/Discharge/Vary Occup/Non Mol 1
Total 13

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

  High Court Judge Master Total
App For Occup/Non Mol 1   1
Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol   11 11
Total 1 11 12

Table 25: Time intervals in weeks

  Adoption Family Homes And Domestic Violence
Issue to first listing 18 0
First listing to disposal 13 11
Issue to disposal 31 11

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
Divorce Petition 2 years with consent 142 102 244
5 years separation 87 78 165
Adultery 15 9 24
Unreasonable behaviour 109 26 135
Combination of grounds/other 43 13 56
Total 396 228 624

Table 27: Divorce petitions by type of Decree Nisi

  Found by Total
Wife Husband Both
Decree Nisi 2 years with consent 69 43   112
5 years separation 47 44   91
Adultery 6 1   7
Unreasonable behaviour 76 8 1 85
Combination of grounds/other 52 28 7 87
Nullity Combination of grounds/other   1   1
Judicial Separation Unreasonable behaviour 2     2
Total 252 125 8 385

Table 28: Divorce petitions by number of absolutes issued

  Found by Total
Wife Husband Both
Divorce Petition 2 years with consent 58 40   98
5 years separation 37 26   63
Adultery 2 1   3
Unreasonable behaviour 45 5   50
Combination of grounds/other 37 16 1 54
Total 179 88 1 268

Table 29: Matrimonial applications received

Application Combination of grounds/other 4
Ancillary relief 175
Matrimonial application 144
Other 6
Total 329

Table 30: Matrimonial applications disposed

  Judge Master Total
Application Combination of grounds/other   1 1
Ancillary relief 1 159 160
Matrimonial application 4 165 169
Other 1 1 2
Total 6 326 332

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

  Divorce Petition
Issue to first listing 36
First listing to date decree granted 2
Issue to date decree granted 41
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

  Combination of grounds/other Ancillary relief Matrimonial application Other
Issue to first listing 1 8 5 8
First listing to disposal 36 47 7 0
Issue to disposal 37 55 12 8

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 437
Bail pending appeal to county court 7
Compassionate bail application 43
Application to revoke bail 2
Bail variation 164
Total 653

Table 34: Number of bail applications disposed in chambers

  Granted Refused Other Total
Bail application 5 1   6
Bail variation 90 2 33 125
Total 95 3 33 131

Table 35: Number of bail applications disposed of in court

  Granted Refused Revoke Other Total
Bail application 165 214 1 17 397
Bail pending appeal to county court 4 2     6
Compassionate bail application 24 12   3 39
Application to revoke bail 1       1
Bail variation 35 9   4 48
Total 229 237 1 24 491

Patients

Table 36: Patients

Children Order 62
Other Family 50
Appeals 2
Queen's Bench 166
Chancery 55
Bails 97
Crown 128
Judicial Reviews 41
Criminal Appeals 14
Civil Appeals 28
Total 643

Official Solicitors

Table 37: Official Solicitor Office statistics

New referrals 214
EPA applications received 95
Orders issued 220
Certificates issued 1503
Reviews completed 276
Visits 0

Sitting days

Table 38: High Court sitting days

Correspondence received 3084
New Referrals 4
OCP cases – OS instructed 54
OS appointed Controller Ad interim  3
Certificates drafted 659
OS appointed Full Controller  2

Table 39: High Court sitting times

Children Order 136:40:00
Other family 105:12:30
Appeals 07:45:00
QueensBench 510:42:00
Chancery 151:05:00
Bails 191:42:20
Callover 00:00:00
Crown 340:03:00
Judicial reviews 103:26:00
Criminal appeals 22:52:00
Civil appeals 52:12:00
Sum 1621:39:50