Hong Kong Judiciary Annual Report 2013

Caseload, Case Disposal and Waiting Time at Different Court Levels

Magistrates' Courts

CASELOAD AND CASE DISPOSAL OF THE MAGISTRATES' COURTS

		Caseload			Disposal *
		2011	2012	2013	2011	2012	2013
-	Charge Cases	35 243	34 360	34 250	34 843	34 322	34 521
-	Hawker Cases	10 192	9 396	9 534	10 197	9 386	9 523
-	Departmental & Private Summonses	185 102	192 566	184 221	184 862	189 123	188 949
-	Driving-Offence Points Summonses	1 968	1 966	2 197	2 155	2 033	2 340
-	Fixed Penalty Summonses (Traffic)	612	742	856	719	701	832
-	Fixed Penalty Summonses (Public Cleanliness Offences)	319	244	164	343	248	175
-	Fixed Penalty Summonses (Smoking Offences)	76	49	35	78	58	35
-	Fixed Penalty Summonses (Vehicle Idling)	0	0	0	0	0	0
-	Fixed Penalty Summonses (Mandatory Window Inspection)^{^}	-	0	0	-	0	0
-	Miscellaneous Proceedings	10 718	11 138	11 166	10 877	11 793	11 231
-	Departmental Notice	824	789	764	846	796	770
-	Fixed Penalty Notice (Traffic)	58 281	68 028	73 178	58 995	68 845	73 821
-	Fixed Penalty Notice (Public Cleanliness Offences)	2 622	2 643	2 291	2 753	2 609	2 286
-	Fixed Penalty Notice (Smoking Offences)	1 009	997	1 045	1 041	1 016	1 024
-	Fixed Penalty Notice (Vehicle Idling)	0	0	1	0	0	1
-	Fixed Penalty Notice (Mandatory Window Inspection)^{^}	-	0	0	-	0	0
	Total	306 966	322 918	319 702	307 709	320 930	325 508

*	Case disposal refers to cases where defendants have been convicted or acquitted after trial or hearing, pre-hearing payments of all penalties and costs, and applications which have been granted, refused, withdrawn or struck out
^{^}	New case types pursuant to Section 30(C) of the Building Ordinance, Cap. 123 came into effect on 30.6.2012

AVERAGE WAITING TIME FOR CASES IN THE MAGISTRATES' COURTS

		Average Waiting Time (days)
		Target	2011	2012	2013
Summonses - from plea to date of trial		50	54	54	66
Charge Cases - from plea to date of trial
-	For defendants in custody	30-45	38	41	41
-	For defendants on bail	45-60	51	51	49