Northern Ireland Court Service Judicial Statistics 2005

A NATIONAL STATISTICS PUBLICATION

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Index

Introduction

Part A: The Court of Appeal

• A.1 Criminal Appeals
• A.2 Civil Appeals
• A.3 Sitting Times

Part B: The High Court

• B.1 Chancery
• B.2 Bankruptcy
• B.3 Companies
• B.4 Queen’s Bench Division
• B.5 Judicial reviews
• B.6 Probate
• B.7 Matrimonial
• B.8 Wardship and Adoption
• B.9 Care & Protection
• B.10 Official Solicitors Office
• B.11 Masters Appeals
• B.12 High Court Bails
• B.13 Sittings and Sitting times

Part C: Crown Court

• C.1 Cases and miscellaneous applications received, dealt with and outstanding
• C.2 Waiting times between committal and arraignment
• C.3 Waiting times between arraignment and start of hearing
• C.4 Waiting time between committal and start of hearing
• C.5 Waiting times between start of hearing and disposal
• C.6 Defendants disposed of
• C.7 Judge Sittings

Part D: County Court

• D.1 Appeals from magistrates’ courts
• D.2 Criminal injury cases
• D.3 Licences
• D.4 Civil bills
• D.5 Equity
• D.6 Ejectment
• D.7 Small claims
• D.8 Divorce cases
• D.9 Sittings and average sitting times

Part E: Magistrates’ Courts

• E.1 Business volumes received in the magistrates’ court
• E.2 Adult criminal business dealt with
• E.3 Youth criminal business dealt with
• E.4 Committal proceedings
• E.5 Civil business
• E.6 Legal aid – criminal certificates
• E.7 Sittings and sitting times

Part F: Children Order

• F.1 Applications entered and disposed
• F.2 Reasons for transfer
• F.3 Own motion orders and interim orders
• F.4 Outcome of applications
• F.5 Age and gender of children
• F.6 Average time in weeks from lodgment to disposal by venue
• F.7 Sittings and sitting times

Part G Sundry Commissions, Tribunals and Courts

• G.1 Social Security Commissioners and Child Support Commissioners
• G.2 Pensions Appeal Tribunals
• G.3 Coroners’ Courts

Part H: Enforcement of Judgments Office

• H.1 Applications and orders for enforcement
• H.2 Money received
• H.3 Hearing and attendance details

Part I: Court Funds Office

• I.1 Court Funds Office holdings</li>

Appendix 1: Judge sitting days

Introduction

1 Contents

The statistics in this report relate to the criminal, civil and family business conducted by
the Northern Ireland Court Service (NICtS) and to the work of some associated tribunals
and offices. This introduction sets out a brief description of the courts and the business
that the statistics relate to.

2 The Court Structure

The Court of Appeal: The Court of Appeal sits at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast.
The Judges of the Court of Appeal are the Lord Chief Justice (who is the President of the
Court of Appeal) and three Lord Justices of Appeal. High Court Judges can sit in The
Court of Appeal on criminal causes or matters. The Court of Appeal hears appeals in
criminal matters from the Crown Court and civil matters from the High Court (including
Judicial Reviews). It also hears appeals on points of law from the county courts,
magistrates’ courts and certain appeal tribunals.

The High Court: The High Court sits at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast. It consists
of the Lord Chief Justice (who is the President of the High Court), and 3 Lord Justices’ of
Appeal along with ten High Court Judges and two deputy High Court Judges. The High
Court hears high value and complex civil cases. The High Court comprises three
Divisions: the Chancery Division, Queen’s Bench Division and Family Division.

The Crown Court: The Crown Court has exclusive jurisdiction to try offences charged on
indictment. Offences tried on indictment are the more serious offences. The Lord Chief
Justice is President of the Crown Court and the Lords Justices of Appeal, High Court
judges and county court judges all sit in the Crown Court. The Crown Court sits
throughout Northern Ireland.

County Courts: In Northern Ireland, there are seven county court divisions with seventeen
county court judges and four district judges. Civil cases are commenced in the county
court if the value of the case is less than £15,000. However, for claims concerning
matrimonial property or compensation for criminal injuries or criminal damage to property,
there is no financial limit. County courts also have jurisdiction to hear applications for
adoptions and undefended divorces. Applications for intoxicating liquor licences and
certificates of registration for clubs are also made to the county courts. In addition to its
original civil jurisdiction the county court hears appeals under a number of statutory
provisions from the magistrates’ courts or from other tribunals.

Magistrates’ Courts: There are twenty-one petty sessions’ districts in Northern Ireland. A
magistrates’ court (other than a youth court or family proceedings court) is presided over
by a Resident Magistrate sitting alone. The present complement of Resident Magistrates
is twenty-one. The magistrates’ court hears and determines less serious criminal cases,
cases involving youth and some civil and domestic cases including family proceedings.
Coroners Courts: The Coroners Service is headed by a High Court Judge. There is one
Senior Coroner and two Coroners. They deal with matters relating to deaths that may
require further investigation to establish the cause of death.

Social Security Commissioners and Child Support Commissioner: Social Security
Commissioners hear appeals from Appeal Tribunals in relation to matters arising under
the social security system. Child Support Commissioners hear appeals from Child
Support Appeal Tribunals.

The Enforcement of Judgments Office: The Enforcement of Judgments Office (EJO)
deals with enforcing money judgments and also enforces other types of civil judgments
such as those that are connected with the possession of land and property.

3 Databases

There are a number of databases that are used to carry out the analysis in this report. As
some of these databases are current databases, the figures here are taken at a cut off
point of the 31 March 2006. If further validations are run or if late returns are entered after
this date, the figures here could be amended.

In previous years, Judicial Statistics reported on and compared business in the courts
between years. In 2005, a new court operations system called the Intregrated Court
Operations System (ICOS) was introduced in the High Court and county court. Regular
downloads of information are available from this new system, and this has resulted in
access to more detailed information for the High Court and county court. The High Court
and county court sections have been completed based on the new system available and
caution should be taken when comparing 2005 figures with previous years. For further
advice on the differences between 2005 figures and previous years, please contact the
NICtS.

Part A - Court Of Appeal

Court of Appeal is divided into civil and criminal. It hears appeals from decisions in the
High Court and against convictions or sentences passed by the Crown Court.

Key facts during 2005

• 53 criminal appeals were lodged in the Court of Appeal
• 87 criminal appeals were disposed of in the Court of Appeal
• 46 criminal appeals were pending at the end of 2005
• 21 criminal appeals were successful
• 79 civil appeals were set down in the Court of Appeal
• 106 civil appeals were disposed of in the Court of Appeal
• 64 civil appeals were pending at the end of 2005

A.1 Criminal Appeals

The number of criminal appeals lodged in 2005 decreased from 94 in 2004 to 53 in 2005
(Table A.1).

Table A.1: Criminal appeals lodged and disposed of in 2005

There were 36 appeals lodged against sentence only, 7 were against conviction while the
remaining 10 were against both conviction and sentence. Of the 53 appeals lodged
during 2005, 11 resulted from trials dealing with scheduled offences (Table A.2).

Table A.2: Types of criminal appeal lodged in 2005

There were 21 successful appeals in 2005 with 5 appeals refused, 13 appeals
abandoned and 15 appeals withdrawn (Table A.3).

Table A.3: Results of criminal appeals by type in 2005

A.2 Civil Appeals

There were 79 civil appeals set down in 2005, 24 less than the 2004 total of 103. As in
previous years, the main source of civil appeals was the Queen’s Bench Division of the
High Court with 34 cases set down. Including the 91 appeals pending at the end of 2004,
the total caseload for 2005 was 170. A total of 106 appeals were disposed of during the
year (Table A.4).

Table A.4: Appeals set down and disposed of by origin and type in 2005

A.3 Sitting Times

The number of judge days spent on criminal appeals (by majority type of work) increased
from 140 days in 2004 to 195 days in 2005. A total of 560 hours were spent in court
hearing criminal appeals in 2005 compared with 398 hours in 2004. There were 220
judge days (by majority type of work) spent on civil appeals during 2005 compared with
159 in 2004. A total of 595 hours were spent in court hearing civil appeals compared with
430 during 2004 (Figure A.2 & Table B.39).

Figure A.2 Number of judge sitting days (majority days) in the Court of Appeal from 2001-2005

Part B - High Court

The High Court is a civil court which consists of the chancery division, Queen’s Bench
division and the family division.

Key facts during 2005

• 2,562 mortgage applications were entered in Chancery
• 2,848 bankruptcy proceedings were entered
• 2,427 bankruptcy proceedings were disposed
• 278 companies proceedings were disposed
• 4,916 writs and originating summons were received
• 704 judgments by default were entered
• 3,017 applications for bails were received
• 3,311 divorce petitions filed in the High Court

Figure B1: Queen's Bench writs and originating summons disposals in 2005

B.1 Chancery

Table B.1 shows that, during 2005, a total of 2,916 Chancery writs and originating
summonses were issued. Mortgage suits continue to account for the majority (88%) of
writs and originating summonses issued. The number of mortgages received has
increased by 17% during 2005, with 2,562 issued in 2005 compared to 2,198 in 2004.

Table B.1: Chancery cases and applications received in 2005

There were 2,346 cases and applications disposed of in 2005. Land and property
accounted for the majority of disposals with 1,549 cases disposed of in respect of
mortgage applications (Table B.2).

Table B.2: Chancery cases and applications disposed in 2005

B.2 Bankruptcy

There were 2,848 bankruptcy proceedings issued in 2005. These included 1,598
bankruptcy petitions, 73% of which were creditor petitions. Other bankruptcy
proceedings included 189 originating applications and 825 ordinary applications (Table
B.3).

Table B.3: Bankruptcy cases and applications received in 2005

The master dealt with a total of 2,421 bankruptcy proceedings. The main area of work
dealt with by the master was bankruptcy petitions, a total of 1,606 (Table B.4).

Table B.4: Bankruptcy cases and applications disposed in 2005

B.3 Companies Court Proceedings

Table B.5 and B.6 show the companies’ proceedings entered and disposed for 2005.
There were 310 companies’ proceedings received and 278 dealt with.

Table B.5: Companies cases and applications received in 2005

Table B.6: Companies cases and applications disposed in 2005

Table B.7 shows the time interval in weeks for cases and applications in the Chancery
division for the three business areas. A chancery case takes on average 33 weeks from
date of issue to date of disposal compared to 12 weeks for a bankruptcy case and 14
weeks for a companies case.

Table B.7: Time intervals in weeks in 2005

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

B.4 Queen’s Bench

There were 9,792 Queen’s Bench cases and applications received during 2005, half of
these were made up of Writs and Originating Summons (Table B.8)

Table B.8: Queen's Bench cases and applications received in 2005

Table B.9 shows the breakdown of the amount claimed in writs and originating summons
in 2005.

Table B.9: Queen's Bench writs and originating summons received by amount claimed in 2005

There were 1,697 Queens Bench writs (excluding commercial actions) set down for trial
during 2005. (Table B.10)

Table B.10: Queen's Bench writs and originating summons setdown by amount claimed in 2005

There were 1,549 writs dealt with in court and 919 writs dealt with as office disposals.
Actions set down as negligence constituted 40% of writs disposed of (Table B.11).

Table B.11: Queen's cases and applications disposed in 2005

Excludes commercial actions

Of the 2,251 writs disposed of, 29% were for over £15,000 (Table B.12)

Table B.12: Queen's Bench writs and originating summons disposed by amount in 2005

Excludes commercial actions

Tables B.13 and B.14 show the number of commercial actions entered and disposed. During 2005, 54 actions were entered in the commercial list. In total, 156 cases were disposed of with 147 of these dealt with by a High Court Judge.

Table B.13: Queen's Bench commercial actions setdown in 2005

Table B.14: Queen's Bench commercial actions disposed in 2005

In 2005, the average length of time from a writ being set down and dealt with was just over one year (57 weeks) (Table B.15).

Table B.15: Time intervals in weeks in 2005

Excludes default judgements and office disposals
Due to rounding, individual time intervals may not equal the overall time taken to progress through the courts.

B.5 Judicial reviews

Tables B.16 and B.17 are in relation to Judicial Reviews. Two-thirds of applications for leave to apply for judicial review were granted (66%). Of the148 applications for judicial review that were dealt with in 2005, 28% were granted. (Tables B.16 and B.17).

Table B.16: Judicial Reviews applications received in 2005

Table B.17: Judicial Reviews applications disposed in 2005

In 2005 the average length of time from issue to disposal of applications for leave to apply for judicial review was 6 weeks (Table B.18).

Table B.18: Time intervals in weeks in 2005

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

B.6 Probate

The number of grants of probate issued during 2005 decreased by < 1% from 5,742 in 2004 to 5,687(Table B.19).

Table B.19: Probate grants issued in non-contentious proceedings in 2005

B.7 Matrimonial

The number of divorce petitions filed rose by 18%, from 2,808 during 2004 to 3,311 in 2005 (Table B.20).

Table B.20: Divorce petitions received in 2005

There were 1,063 decree nisi’s granted in the High Court during 2005, a decrease of 16% on the 1,263 granted during 2004. The most common ground for dissolution continued to be separation (2 years and consent) accounting for 34% of all cases (Table B.21)

Table B.21: Divorce petitions by type of decree in 2005

Table B.22: Divorce petitions by number of absolutes issued in 2005

During 2005, there were 1,489 matrimonial applications received. The majority of these (52%) were applications to a master (Table B.23).

Of the 1,087 applications disposed of during 2005, 96% were dealt with by a master (Table B.24).

Table B.24: Matrimonial applications disposed in 2005

The average time from the issue of a petition to the date the decree was granted was 38 weeks (Table B.25)

Table B.25: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions in 2005

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

During 2005, the average time from issue to disposal of a matrimonial application to a master was 7 weeks. However, applications for ancillary relief took on average 50 weeks from date of issue to date of disposal (Table B.26).

Table B.26: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications in 2005

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

B.8 Wardship and adoption

During 2005, adoption order applications accounted for 53% of the total applications received. There was 1 Human Fertilisation originating summons lodged (Table B.27).

Table B.27: Adoption cases and applications received in 2005

Of the cases disposed, 95% were dealt with by a High Court judge. The majority of these (63%) were adoption order applications (Table B.28).

Table B.28: Adoption cases and applications disposed in 2005

Ex-parte applications for occupation/non-molestation orders accounted for 79% of the total number of Family homes and domestic violence cases and applications received (Table B.29).

Table B.29: Family homes and domestic violence cases and applications received in 2005

The master disposed of 91% of the total number of family homes and domestic violence cases and applications during 2005. Table B.30 shows that 84% of these cases were exparte.

Table B.30: Family homes and domestic violence cases and applications disposed in 2005

Table B.31 shows the average time in weeks for adoption and family homes and domestic violence cases and applications during 2005. It took on average 27 weeks for an adoption case from date of issue to date of disposal.

Table B.31: Time intervals in weeks in 2005

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

B.9 Care and Protection

There were 713 patients were referred to the Care and Protection Office in 2005 for investigation under the Mental Health Order, representing an 5% decrease on the 2004 total of 754 patients. There were 187 interviews with applicants and controllers compared with 203 during 2004. The total live caseload for 2005 was 1,291 (Table B.32).

Table B.32: Office of Care and Protection – Mental Health proceedings in 2005

B.10 Official Solicitors Office

Tables B.33 and B.34 demonstrates the caseload of the Official Solicitors Office. There were 614 live patient cases and 451 minors during 2005.

Table B.33: Official Solicitor’s Office – Patients caseload in 2005

[1] As at 31st December 2005

Table B.34: Official Solicitor’s Office – Minors caseload in 2005

B.11 Masters’ appeals

There were 109 masters’ appeals received and 101 masters’ appeals dealt with during this period (Tables B35-B.36).

Table B.35: Masters’ appeals received in 2005

Table B.36: Masters’ appeals disposed in 2005

B.12 High Court Bails

There were 3,017 applications for bail in the High Court during 2005. Of these, 1,430 (47%) were granted (Tables B.37 and B.38).

Table B.37 Type of Bail applications in High Court in 2005

B.13 Sittings and sitting times

High Court Judges sat on a total of 2,252 days, a 12% increase on the 2,016 days sat during 2004. By majority type of work, High Court Judges sat for a total of 426 days hearing Queens Bench business and 491 in the Crown Court (Table B.39).

Table B.39 High Court Judges sitting days and sitting times in 2005

Days are classified on the basis of the majority business undertaken
Total sitting time is classified on the basis of all sitting time spent on each business area

Part C - Crown Court

The Crown Court deals with all cases committed for trial by Magistrates’ Courts, cases for trial are usually heard before a judge and jury.

Key facts during 2005

• 1,285 Crown Court cases were received
• 1,224 Crown Court cases were disposed of
• 652 Crown Court cases were pending at the end of 2005
• 73% of defendants disposed of in 2005 were on bail at arraignment
• The average time from committal to first hearing was 19 weeks

Figure C.1: Number of cases and miscellaneous applications received in the Crown Court from 2001-2005

C.1 Cases and miscellaneous applications received, dealt with and outstanding

Tables C.1 and C.2 show the number of cases and miscellaneous applications received and disposed of in 2005. The number of cases and miscellaneous applications received in 2005 was 1388, representing a 9% decrease on the 1,524 received during 2004. Belfast accounted for 37% of all case and miscellaneous applications’ receipts in 2005. At the beginning of 2005, 620 cases were outstanding. When combined with the cases received during 2005, this resulted in a total of 2008 cases to be heard. The total number of disposals decreased from 1,413 in 2004 to 1,316 in 2005. The disposal rate was 66% in 2005 compared with 69% in 2004.

Table C.1: Cases and miscellaneous applications received and disposed in 2005

Table C.2: Cases received and disposed in 2005

Overall, 1,501 defendants were disposed of during 2005 (Figure C.2). This is a 4% decrease on the 1,570 defendants disposed of in 2004.

Figure C.2: Number of defendants disposed of in the Crown Court from 2001-2005

C.2 Waiting times between committal and arraignment

The average waiting time from committal to arraignment was 8 weeks for defendants disposed of in 2005 and 73% of all defendants were on bail when they were arraigned (Table C.3).

Table C.3: Time between committal and arraignment for defendants disposed of in 2005

Waiting times do not exclude recess

C.3 Waiting times between arraignment and start of hearing

The average waiting time between arraignment and first hearing was 11 weeks (Table C.4).

Waiting times do not exclude recess

C.4 Waiting time between committal and start of hearing

Table C.5 shows the waiting time in weeks from committal to first hearing for defendants disposed of in 2005. The overall average waiting times between committal and start of hearing has increased to 19 weeks. In comparison to 2004, the average waiting time increased by 4 weeks for defendants who were on bail. Since 2004, waiting times have increased by 8 weeks for those defendants heard before a High Court Judge.

Table C.5 Time between committal and start of hearing for defendants disposed of in 2005

C.5 Waiting times between start of hearing and disposal

The average waiting time between the start of hearing and disposal was 9 weeks (Table C.6).

Table C.6: Time between start of hearing and disposal for defendants disposed of in 2005

C.6 Defendants disposed of in 2005

There were a total of 1,501 defendants disposed of during 2005. In total, 57% of these defendants had a plea of guilty on all charges, 17% had a plea of not guilty on all charges and <1% of defendants were found unfit to plead on all charges (Table C.7).

Table C.7: Plea and outcome defendants disposed of in 2005

C.7 Judge Sittings

There were 2,445 sittings in the Crown Court in 2005. This represents an 8% increase in the number of sittings in 2004.

Table C.8: Crown Court Sittings

Part D County Court

County Courts deal with civil matters including all monetary claims up to £15,000. In Northern Ireland, there are seven County Court Divisions. However, the court may sit in more than one venue within the Division.

Key facts during 2005

• 1,024 appellants were dealt with
• 755 criminal injury appeals were lodged
• 7440 ordinary civil bills had NIDs lodged
• 11,155 ordinary civil bills were disposed of
• 12,619 small claims were lodged
• 10,679 small claims were disposed of
• 1,531 decrees nisi granted

Figure D.1: Number of ordinary civil bills received and dealt with in 2005

D.1 Appeals from magistrates’ courts

There were a total of 2,871 appeals lodged during 2005. Case receipts were unequally distributed among the divisions with Belfast division alone accounting for 23% of the total appeals lodged. Table D.1 shows that 2,832 appeals were disposed of in County Court during 2005. Out of the total of 2,832 disposals, 98% were heard in court and 2% were otherwise dealt with.

Table D.1: Appeals from the magistrates’ courts in 2005

Table D.2 shows the number of persons whose appeals were heard in the county court in 2005. There were 1,024 appellants in 2005. Belfast accounted for most appellants (22%) while Armagh accounted for fewest appellants (9%). There was an average of 2.8 appeals per appellant.

Table D.2: Number of appellants from the magistrates’ court dealt with in 2005

Tables D.3 to D.5 show the result of appeals for conviction and sentence, sentence only and civil appeals. As in previous years, the vast majority of appeals (98%) dealt with in court were criminal cases. Only 2% were civil cases. Of the criminal appeals, 79% were against sentence only and 21 % were against conviction and sentence.

Excluding withdrawn cases, appeals against conviction & sentence led to reversals of conviction or variation of sentence in 71% of cases. Excluding withdrawn cases, appeals against sentence were allowed in 71% of cases. Civil appeals were allowed in 78% of cases.

Table D.3: Number of magistrates’ court appeals against conviction and sentence in 2005

Table D.4: Number of magistrates’ court appeals against sentence only in 2005

Table D.5: Number of magistrates’ court appeals civil appeals in 2005

D.2 Criminal injury cases

The 755 criminal injury cases received during 2005 represents a 36% decrease on the 1,181 cases received during 2004. Case receipts in Belfast accounted for 61% of all receipts. Criminal injury disposals decreased from 3,113 in 2004 to 1,840 in 2005. The total number of cases outstanding at the end of 2005 was 1,382.

Table D.6: Criminal injuries received and dealt with in 2005

(1) Antrim have recalculated the number of outstanding cases at the start of 2005

D.3 Licences

There were 335 licence applications received in the county court in 2005 and 330 licence applications dealt with. There were 107 applications outstanding at the end of the year.

Table D.7: Licences received and dealt with in 2005

D.4 Civil bills

There were 13,008 civil bills received in 2005. There were also 6,506 applications received during the same period. Belfast received 36% of the cases while Londonderry received 9% of civil bills.

Table D.8: Number of ordinary civil bill cases and applications received in 2005

The number of civil bills where NIDs were received dropped from was 8,140 in 2004 to 7,440 in 2005, representing a 9% decrease in business (Table D.9).

Table D.9: Number of ordinary civil bill cases with NIDs received in 2005

The number of cases disposed of decreased by 7%, with 11,155 cases disposed of in 2005 compared to 12,050 in 2004. Of the civil bills disposed of, 17% were default judgements. A further 21% were disposed of by district judges compared to 43% disposed of by county court judges.

Table D.10: Number of ordinary civil bills cases and applications disposed in 2005

Table D.11 shows the amount awarded for ordinary civil bills during 2005. Almost a quarter of civil bills (23%) were awarded between £1000-2999.

Table D.11: Number of ordinary civil bills cases by amount awarded in 2005

Excludes cases that were adjourned generally, withdrawn, dismissed, default judgements or had office disposals

On average, it took 44 weeks from date of issue to date of disposal for civil bills to progress through the county court (Table D.12).

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

D.5 Equity

There were 89 equity cases and 103 equity applications received during 2005.

Table D.13: Equity cases and applications received in 2005

Table D.14 shows that there were 238 equity cases disposed of in 2005. Nearly three-fifths of equity cases were disposed of by a county court judge (59%). A lower percentage of equity cases were disposed of by district judges (24%) and by office disposal (17%).

Table D.14: Equity cases and applications disposed in 2005

Table D.15 shows the time intervals for equity case and applications from date of issue to date of disposal for each county court division. On average, for cases disposed of during 2005, it took 91 weeks for an equity case to progress through the county courts.

Table D.15: Time intervals in weeks for equity cases disposed of in 2005

D.6 Ejectment

In total, there were 740 ejectment cases received during 2005, with 39% received in Belfast (Table D.16).

Table D.16: Ejectment cases received in 2005

During the year, 795 ejectment cases were disposed in the county court. Table D.17 shows that nearly half were disposed by district judges (48%) and 44% were disposed of by county court judges.

Table D.17: Ejectment cases disposed in 2005

Table D.18 shows the time in weeks for ejectment cases to progress through the courts during 2005. On average, it took 18 weeks for a case from date of issue to date of disposal.

Table D.18: Time intervals in weeks for Ejectment cases disposed of in 2005

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

D.7 Small claims

Table D.19 shows that the number of small claims received remained more or less the same with 12,619 cases in 2005 compared to 12,628 cases in 2004. There were 195 applications received in small claims during the year.

Table D.19: Number of small claims cases and applications received in 2005

In total, 10,679 small claims cases were disposed of in 2005. This is a slight increase on the 10,586 cases disposed of during 2004 (Table D.20).

Table D.20: Number of small claims cases and applications disposed in 2005

Table D.21 shows that during 2005, it took on average 17 weeks for a small claims case to progress from date of issue to date of disposal.

Table D.21: Time intervals in weeks for small claims cases disposed of in 2005

Excludes default judgements and office disposals

D.8 Divorce cases

There were 1,531 decrees nisi granted in undefended divorce cases in the county court in 2005 (Table D.22). The number of decrees nisi has increased by 7% from 2004 to 2005.

Table D.22: Divorce Petitions by type of decrees nisi in 2005

Table D.23: Divorce petitions by number of decrees absolute issued in 2005

Tables D.24 and D.25 show the number of matrimonial applications received and disposed during 2005.

Table D.24: Matrimonial applications received in 2005

Table D.25: Matrimonial applications disposed of in 2005

County court divorce petitions took on average 28 weeks from date of issue to date decree granted. Matrimonial applications took on average 38 weeks to progress through the county courts during 2005.

Table D.26: Time intervals in weeks for divorce petitions in 2005

Table D.27: Time intervals in weeks for divorce applications in 2005

D.9 Sittings and average sitting times

Tables D.28 and D.29 demonstrates the days sat in county courts in 2005. The total number of days sat by judges in the county court during 2005 was 1,702, a decrease of 174 days on the total of 1,876 days sat in 2004. The number of days sat by county court judges decreased from 1,287 in 2004 to 1,240 in 2005. The number of days sat by deputy county court judges decreased from 589 in 2004 to 462 in 2005. The proportion of days sat by deputies in 2005 was 27% of the total number of sitting days.

Table D.28: Days sat by Judges in County Court in 2005

Includes district judges sitting as deputy county court judge for any part of the day. Includes days with majority children order business.

Table D.29: Days sat by judges in county court by business type in 2005

Includes district judges sitting as deputy county court judge for any part of the day. Includes days with majority children order business.

As shown by Table D.30, 738 days were sat by district judges and by deputy district judges in 2005, an 8% decrease on the 804 days sat in 2004. This includes 170 days where a district judge sat as a deputy county court judge for part of the day.

Table D.30: Days sat by district and deputy district judges in 2005

The total number of sittings which involved civil business (excluding children order sittings) decreased by 8% from 2,435 in 2004 to 2,239 in 2005. The number of appeal sittings remained more or less the same with 277 in 2004 to 279 in 2005. The average sitting time for civil business in 2005 was 2:35 (2:44 in 2004); for appeal business the average sitting time was 1:50 (1:56 in 2004) (Table D.31 and D.32).

Table D.31: County court sitting times for civil business in 2005

Excludes majority children order business. Includes sittings were any civil business was heard.

Table D.32: County court sitting times for appeal business in 2005

Excludes majority children order business. Includes sittings were any civil business was heard.

Part E - Magistrates’ Court

The magistrates’ court hears and determines less serious criminal cases, cases involving youth and some civil and domestic cases including family proceedings.

Key facts during 2005

• 50,306 adult criminal defendants were dealt with
• 2,112 youth criminal defendants were dealt with
• 32,793 civil applicants were dealt with
• The average waiting time between 1st hearing and disposal for adult criminal cases was 7 weeks
• The average waiting time between 1st hearing and finding for youth criminal cases was 9 weeks
• 1,485 adult and 18 youth defendants were committed to the Crown Court
• 24,670 applications were made for criminal aid certificates Figure E.1: Magistrates’ court adult and youth defendants dealt with 2001-2005

E.1 Business volumes received in the magistrates’ court

In 2005, there were 49,698 adult defendants received; a 4% decrease from the 51,947 defendants received in 2004. However, in the youth court, there was a 6% increase with 1,977 defendants received in 2005 compared to 1,862 defendants received in 2004 (Table E.1).

Table E.1: Business volumes received in adult criminal, youth and civil courts in 2005.

E.2 Adult criminal business dealt with

There were 50,306 defendants dealt with in 2005; a decrease of 6% from the 53,340 defendants disposed of in 2004 (Table E.2).

Table E.2: Number of defendants disposed of in the adult magistrates’ court in 2005

Tables E.3 and E.4 show the types of charges and the outcome of defendants disposed of in 2005. In 2005, the majority of charges brought were for motoring offences (48%) followed by other summary charges (33%). In total, 36% of defendants pleaded guilty to all charges and 18% had all charges withdrawn.

Table E.3: Number and type of charges brought for defendants disposed of in 2005

Figures are based on the number of charges disposed

Tables E.4: Outcomes of defendants disposed of in 2005

Figures are based on the number of defendants disposed

Table E.5 shows that fines (48%) accounted for the majority of sentences imposed during 2005 and there were 4,252 immediate prison sentences imposed (4%).

Table E.5: Types of disposals from the adult magistrates’ court in 2005

Figures are based on the number of final orders

The average waiting time for defendants dealt with in 2005 between the date of summons and the date of first hearing for the whole of Northern Ireland was 9 weeks. Belfast had the highest average time of 12 weeks while Downpatrick had the lowest at 3 weeks. The waiting time between the date of first hearing and disposal averaged 7 weeks for the whole of Northern Ireland. Ballymena had the longest average waiting time at 11 weeks while Larne had the shortest at 5 weeks (Table E.6).

Table E.6: Average waiting times in weeks for defendants disposed of in the adult magistrates’ court in 2005.

Figures based on adult defendants disposed of in 2005 and excludes defendants on bench warrants, adjourned generally and deferred sentences

E.3 Youth criminal business dealt with

There was an increase of 7% from 2004 to 2005 with 2,112 youth defendants disposed of during 2005 compared to 1969 disposed of during 2004 (Table E.7).

Table E.7: Number of defendants disposed of in the youth magistrates’ court in 2005

Table E.8 shows that during 2005, there were 4,101 charges brought for youth defendants, the majority of which were other summary (53%). Of the youth defendants disposed of in 2005, 55% pleaded guilty to all charges (Table E.9).

Table E.8: Number and type of charges brought for youth defendants disposed of in 2005

Figures are based on the number of charges disposed

Tables E.9: Outcomes of youth defendants disposed of in 2005