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 1,749 cases received into the Chancery division. In total, 62% were chancery cases, 30% were bankruptcy cases and 8% were companies’ cases. There were 1,482 cases disposed of during the reporting period.
Queen’s Bench
There were 1,637 writs received in Queen’s Bench. Of those, 54% were negligence cases. There were 194 default judgments, 275 office disposals and 540 court disposals for writs during the quarter. There were 154 removals and remittals applications dealt with.
Judicial Reviews
There were 69 applications for leave to apply for Judicial Review and 37 applications for Judicial Review received during the quarter. Of the 30 applications for Judicial Review disposed of during the quarter, 4 were granted.
Probate
There were 1,583 grants issued during the quarter in the probate office.
Wardship and Adoption
There were 40 adoption applications received and 25 adoption applications disposed of during the quarter. It took, on average, 24 weeks for an adoption application to progress through the courts.
Matrimonial
There were 720 divorce petitions lodged in the High Court. Of these, 469 petitions were lodged by the wife. In total, 373 decrees nisi and 231 absolutes were issued.
Patients
There were 155 new referrals in the Patients section.
Official Solicitors
There were 574 certificates drafted in the Official Solicitors office.
Sitting days and times
There were 694 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	939
	Other land and property	25
	Trade and business	6
	Trusts	6
	Other	100
	Total	1076
Application	Notice of appointment	792
	Summons	179
	Notice of motion	11
	Exparte application	42
	Injunction	7
	Total	1031

Table 2: Chancery cases setdown

Case	Other land and property	11
	Trade and business	2
	Trusts	1
	Other	23
	Total	37

Table 3: Chancery cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Office disposal	Total
Case	Mortgages	3	729	1	733
	Other land and property	22			22
	Trade and business	7		1	8
	Trusts			1	1
	Other	34	2	1	37
	Total	66	731	4	801
Application	Notice of appointment		10		10
	Summons	22	99		121
	Notice of motion	5	1		6
	Exparte application		36		36
	Other	1			1
	Injunction	1			1
	Total	29	146		175

Table 4: Bankruptcy cases and applications received

Case	Petition by another person	352
	Petition by debtor	106
	Other petition	7
	Originating application	37
	Other	24
	Total	526
Application	Notice of motion	5
	Ordinary application	262
	Certificate of automatic discharge	9
	Other	7
	Total	283

Table 5: Bankruptcy cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Office disposal	Total
Case	Petition by another person		415	1	416
	Petition by debtor		104		104
	Other petition		6		6
	Originating application	4	12		16
	Other		16		16
	Total	4	553	1	558
Application	Notice of motion		2		2
	Ordinary application		206		206
	Certificate of automatic discharge		6		6
	Other		8		8
	Total		222		222

Table 6: Companies cases and applications received

Case	Winding up petition	74
	Other petitions	3
	Originating summons	67
	Other	3
	Total	147
Application	Notice of motion	1
	Ordinary application	7
	Other	1
	Total	9

Table 7: Companies cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Total
Case	Winding up petition		102	102
	Other petitions		3	3
	Originating summons	1	14	15
	Other	1	2	3
	Total	2	121	123
Application	Ordinary application		2	2
Application	Total		2	2

Table 8: Time intervals in weeks

	Chancery		Bankruptcy		Companies
	Case	Application	Case	Application	Case	Application
Issue to first listing	19	5	8	2	7	3
First listing to disposal	7	5	5	4	4	0
Issue to disposal	27	9	14	5	11	3

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

Queens Bench

Table 9: Queen's Bench cases and applications received

Writs and originating summons	Negligence	886
	Breach	37
	Road injuries	311
	Personal injuries	73
	Monies due	251
	Other	79
	Total	1637
Miscellaneous	Foreign judgement	58
	Other	21
	Total	79
Applications	Summons/interlocutory applications	564
	Remittals and removals	140
	Exparte applications	102
	Other	125
	Total	931

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	886				886
Breach	36			1	37
Road injuries	310			1	311
Personal injuries	73				73
Monies due	45	3	50	153	251
Other	53	4	16	6	79
Total	1403	7	66	161	1637

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

	Unliquated	£3,000-14,999	Over £15,000	Total
Negligence	221		1	222
Breach	10		1	11
Road injuries	83		2	85
Personal injuries	40	2	9	51
Monies due	1			1
Other	4			4
Total	359	2	13	374

Table 12: Queen's Bench cases and applications disposed

		High Court Judge	Master	Office disposal	Default judgement	Total
Writs and originating summons	Negligence	310	8	128	13	459
	Breach	6		8	5	19
	Road injuries	128		82	6	216
	Personal injuries	62	4	34	2	102
	Monies due	4		11	145	160
	Other	13	5	12	23	53
	Total	523	17	275	194	1009
Miscellaneous	Foreign judgement		2			2
	Other	2	2	1		5
	Total	2	4	1		7
Applications	Summons/interlocutory applications	20	573			593
	Remittals and removals		154			154
	Exparte applications	20	61			81
	Other	42	77			119
	Total	82	865			947

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	193		37	80	310
	Breach	4		2		6
	Road injuries	25		19	84	128
	Personal injuries	40	1	8	13	62
	Monies due	2			2	4
	Other	8		3	2	13
Master	Negligence	8				8
	Personal injuries	4				4
	Other	4			1	5
Default judgement	Negligence	13				13
	Breach	5				5
	Road injuries	6				6
	Personal injuries	2				2
	Monies due	4	3	50	88	145
	Other	4	1	10	8	23
Total		322	5	129	278	734

Excludes commercial actions

Table 14: Queen's Bench commercial actions setdown

Negligence	16
Breach	2
Monies due	2
Total	20

Table 15: Queen's Bench commercial actions disposed

	High Court Judge	Office disposal	Total
Negligence	10		10
Breach	8	1	9
Monies due	12		12
Other	3		3
Total	33	1	34

Table 16: Time intervals in weeks

	Writs and originating summons	Commercial actions	Miscellaneous	Applications
Issue to setdown	88	117	.	.
Issue to first listing	101	87	78	4
First listing to disposal	27	43	3	6
Issue to disposal	128	130	53	13

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	69
Application for judicial review	37
Ancillary applications	4

Table 18: Judicial Reviews applications disposed

	Granted	Withdrawn/Refused/Dismissed	Other	Total
Application for leave to apply for judicial review	23	31	5	59
Application for judicial review	4	20	6	30

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	26
Issue to disposal	11	55

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
Grant of administration		1	1
Pendente Lite		1	1
Letters of administration with will annexed	10	44	54
Letters of administration with will annexed (DBN)		8	8
Letters of administration	72	266	338
Grant of probate	174	996	1170
Letters of administration (DBN)	4	7	11
Total grants issued	260	1323	1583

Wardship and adoption

Table 21: Adoption cases and applications received

Adoption Order Application	23
Child Abduction Originating Summons	2
Freeing Order Application	1
Interlocutory Application	10
Wardship Originating Summons	4
Total	40

Table 22: Adoption cases and applications disposed

	High Court Judge	Total
Adoption Order Application	17	17
Child Abduction Originating Summons	2	2
Freeing Order Application	2	2
Interlocutory Application	4	4
Total	25	25

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

App For Occup/Non Mol	2
Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol	7
Total	9

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

	High Court Judge	Master	Total
App For Occup/Non Mol	1	8	9
Exparte App For Occup/Non Mol		2	2
App To Extend/Discharge/Vary Occup/Non Mol		1	1
Total	1	11	12

Table 25: Time intervals in weeks

	Adoption	Family Homes And Domestic Violence
Issue to first listing	19	1
First listing to disposal	5	26
Issue to disposal	24	27

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	159	103	262
	5 years separation	101	106	207
	Adultery	19	3	22
	Unreasonable behaviour	143	27	170
	Combination of grounds/other	47	12	59
Total		469	251	720

Table 27: Divorce petitions by type of Decree Nisi

		Found by
		Wife	Husband	Both	Total
Decree Nisi	2 years with consent	83	51		134
	5 years separation	51	31		82
	Adultery	6	2		8
	Unreasonable behaviour	67	7		74
	Combination of grounds/other	50	19	1	70
Nullity	Combination of grounds/other	1			1
Judicial Separation	Unreasonable behaviour	2	1		3
Judicial Separation	Combination of grounds/other		1		1
Total		260	112	1	373

Table 28: Divorce petitions by number of absolutes issued

		Found by
		Wife	Husband	Total
Divorce Petition	2 years with consent	52	26	78
	5 years separation	27	32	59
	Adultery	6	2	8
	Unreasonable behaviour	39	4	43
	Combination of grounds/other	31	12	43
Total		155	76	231

Table 29: Matrimonial applications received

Application	Combination of grounds/other	7
	Ancillary relief	162
	Matrimonial application	186
	Other	7
Total		362

Table 30: Matrimonial applications disposed

		Judge	Master	Total
Application	Combination of grounds/other	3		3
	Ancillary relief		113	113
	Matrimonial application	4	150	154
	Other		2	2
Total		7	265	272

Table 31: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions

	Divorce Petition
Issue to first listing	38
First listing to date decree granted	3
Issue to date decree granted	41
Date decree granted to date absolute issued	10

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	4	7	9	12
First listing to disposal	9	33	3	2
Issue to disposal	13	40	11	14

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	376
Bail pending appeal to county court	5
Compassionate bail application	32
Miscellaneous application	2
Application to revoke bail	5
Bail variation	136
Total	556

Table 34: Number of bail applications disposed in chambers

Bail application	6
Compassionate bail application	2
Bail variation	78
Total	86

Table 35: Number of bail applications disposed of in court

	Granted	Refused	Revoke	Other	Total
Bail application	133	183	1	23	340
Bail pending appeal to county court	3	1		1	5
Compassionate bail application	14	12		4	30
Miscellaneous application	2				2
Application to revoke bail	1	2	2		5
Bail variation	35	7		3	45
Total	188	205	3	31	427

Patients

Table 36: Patients workload figures

New referrals	155
EPA applications received	65
Orders issued	258
Certificates issued	1246
Reviews completed	255
Visits	4

Official Solicitors Office

Table 37: Official Solicitor Statistics

Correspondence received	2876
New Referrals	8
Cases OS assisting OCP	4
OS appointed Controller Ad interim	0
Certificates drafted	574
OS appointed Full Controller	7

Sitting days and times

Table 38: High Court sitting days

Children Order	27
Other Family	59
Appeals	2
Queen's Bench	157
Chancery	64
Bails	92
Callover	6
Crown	172
Judicial Reviews	80
Criminal Appeals	14
Civil Appeals	21
Total	694

Table 39: High Court sitting times

Children Order	39:15:00
Other family	116:27:40
Appeals	3:20:00
Queen's bench	289:58:00
Chancery	115:48:00
Bails	184:59:05
Callover	12:20:00
Crown	453:07:00
Judicial reviews	182:18:00
Criminal appeals	19:00:00
Civil appeals	32:25:00
Total time	1448:57:45