Hong Kong Judiciary Annual Report 2014

Caseload, Case Disposal and Waiting Time at Different Court Levels

Magistrates' Courts

CASELOAD AND CASE DISPOSAL OF THE MAGISTRATES' COURTS

		Caseload			Disposal *
		2012	2013	2014	2012	2013	2014
-	Charge Cases	34 360	34 250	34 419	34 322	34 521	34 278
-	Hawker Cases	9 396	9 534	7 988	9 386	9 523	8 002
-	Departmental & Private Summonses	192 566	184 221	190 671	189 123	188 949	188 164
-	Driving-Offence Points Summonses	1 966	2 197	2 359	2 033	2 340	2 343
-	Fixed Penalty Summonses (Traffic)	742	856	757	701	832	762
-	Fixed Penalty Summonses (Public Cleanliness Offences)	244	164	139	248	175	145
-	Fixed Penalty Summonses (Smoking Offences)	49	35	38	58	35	37
-	Fixed Penalty Summonses (Vehicle Idling)	0	0	0	0	0	0
-	Fixed Penalty Summonses (Mandatory Window Inspection)^{^}	0	0	0	0	0	0
-	Miscellaneous Proceedings	11 138	11 166	11 266	11 793	11 231	11 338
-	Departmental Notice	789	764	706	796	770	691
-	Fixed Penalty Notice (Traffic)	68 028	73 178	71 733	68 845	73 821	72 569
-	Fixed Penalty Notice (Public Cleanliness Offences)	2 643	2 291	1 990	2 609	2 286	2 037
-	Fixed Penalty Notice (Smoking Offences)	997	1 045	898	1 016	1 024	903
-	Fixed Penalty Notice (Vehicle Idling)	0	1	0	0	1	0
-	Fixed Penalty Notice (Mandatory Window Inspection)^{^}	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	322 918	319 702	322 964	320 930	325 508	321 269

*	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trial or hearing, pre-hearing payments of all penalties and costs, and applications which have been granted, refused, withdrawn or struck out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)
		2014 Target	2012 (Actual)	2013 (Actual)	2014 (Actual)
Summonses - from plea to date of trial		50	54	66	67
Charge Cases - from plea to date of trial ^△
-	For defendants in custody	-	41	41	-
-	For defendants on bail	-	51	49	-
Charge cases except for Juvenile Court - from plea to date of trial ^△
-	For defendants in custody	30-45	-	-	36
-	For defendants on bail	45-60	-	-	44
Charge cases for Juvenile Court - from plea to date of trial ^△
-	For defendants in custody	30-45	-	-	45
-	For defendants on bail	45-60	-	-	45

^△

Upon endorsement by the Court Users’ Committees, separate targets are set for charge cases for the Juvenile Court in the Magistrates’ Courts with effect from 1 January 2014. The targets adopted for charge cases for the Magistrates’ Courts are applied to the charge cases for the Juvenile Court effective from 1 January 2014.