Caseload, Case Disposal and Waiting Time at Different Court Levels

High Court

CASELOAD AND CASE DISPOSAL OF THE HIGH COURT

Caseload Disposal *
  2016 2017 2018 2016 2017 2018
Court of Appeal
Appellate
- Criminal
  Appeals from the Court of First Instance 172 179 177 151 160 169
  Appeals from the District Court 222 237 205 229 206 211
  Sub-total 394 416 382 380 366 380
- Civil
  Appeals from the Court of First Instance 214 264 580 226 193 478
  Appeals from the District Court 12 16 14 16 11 17
  Miscellaneous Appeals 20 18 17 31 20 12
  Sub-total 246 298 611 273 224 507
Review of Sentences
- Criminal
  Reviews from the Court of First Instance 2 0 0 0 2 0
  Reviews from the District Court 2 2 5 1 4 2
  Reviews from the Magistrates' Courts 2 2 1 0 3 0
  Sub-total 6 4 6 1 9 2
  Total 646 718 999 654 599 889
Miscellaneous Proceedings+ - 83 204 - 39 178
* Case disposal refers to appeals/reviews which have been allowed, dismissed, withdrawn, discontinued or abandoned with or without court order
+ A new case type created to capture criminal and civil miscellaneous matters before the Court of Appeal with effect from 1 July 2017. Its caseload was formerly subsumed under High Court Miscellaneous Proceedings and categorized under civil jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance
Caseload Disposal *
  2016 2017 2018 2016 2017 2018
Court of First Instance
Appellate
- Criminal
  Appeals from Magistrates' Courts 702 659 620 713 719 555
- Civil
  Appeals from Labour Tribunal 27 45 30 30 30 27
  Appeals from Small Claims Tribunal 44 66 63 49 43 56
  Appeals from Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board 2 5 3 3 5 1
  Miscellaneous Appeals 5 3 3 2 5 5
  Sub-total 78 119 99 84 83 89
  Total 780 778 719 797 802 644
               
First Instance
- Criminal Jurisdiction
  Criminal Cases 497 449 421 506 519 433
  Confidential Miscellaneous Proceedings 405 382 402 405 382 402
  Application for Discharge 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Miscellaneous Proceedings (Criminal)^ - 374 789 - 295 686
  Sub-total 902 1 205 1 612 911 1 196 1 521
- Civil Jurisdiction
  High Court Actions 3 448 3 041 3 010 2 093 1 971 1 709
  Miscellaneous Proceedings@ 3 617 2 778 2 274 2 577 2 205 1 497
  Bankruptcy & Companies Winding-up+ 10 298 8 880 8 550 10 107 8 838 8 359
  Personal Injuries Actions 1 447 1 394 1 307 1 255 1 301 1 408
  Other cases# 579 1 507 3 365 381 517 1 134
  Sub-total 19 389 17 600 18 506 16 413 14 832 14 107
  Total 20 291 18 805 20 118 17 324 16 028 15 628
   
- Masters Chambers
  Interlocutory hearings** 27 684 24 882 24 530 24 798 22 549 21 924
  Taxation bills 654 681 638 426(1) 527(1) 486(1)
- Probate
  Applications 18 368 20 477 20 797 18 189(2) 19 537(2) 19 886(2)
* Case disposal refers to appeals which have been allowed, dismissed, withdrawn, discontinued or abandoned with or without court order; criminal cases where defendants have been convicted or acquitted; and civil cases where claims have been successfully made or dismissed
^ A new case type created to capture criminal miscellaneous matters before the Court of First Instance with effect from 1 July 2017. Its caseload was formerly subsumed under High Court Miscellaneous Proceedings and categorized under civil jurisdiction of First Instance
@ An existing case type revised to exclude miscellaneous matters before the Court of Appeal and criminal miscellaneous matters before the Court of First Instance with effect from 1 July 2017
+ Cases include Bankruptcy Proceedings, Companies Winding-up Proceedings, Applications for Interim Order (Bankruptcy) and Applications to Set Aside Statutory Demands
# Other cases include Constitutional and Administrative Law Proceedings, Admiralty Actions, Adoptions, Bill of Sale Registrations, Book Debt Registrations, Commercial Actions, Construction and Arbitration Cases, Matrimonial Causes, Applications under the Mental Health Ordinance, Probate Actions, Stop Notices and Confidential Miscellaneous Proceedings (Civil) (an existing case type revised to include confidential matters in civil nature before the Court of First Instance which came into effect on 26 June 2017)
** The caseload figure represents the number of interlocutory applications listed with hearings, and the disposal figure represents the number of the interlocutory applications heard in the reporting period
  Note (1) : Case disposal refers to taxation bills processed
  Note (2) : Case disposal refers to grants issued/grants resealed/estates administration completed by the Official Administrator in summary manner

AVERAGE WAITING TIME FOR CASES IN THE HIGH COURT

    Average Waiting Time (days)
    Target 2016 2017 2018
Court of Appeal        
- Criminal - from setting down of a case to hearing 50 46 47 49
- Civil - from application to fix date to hearing 90 86 89 88
Court of First Instance        
- Criminal Fixture List - from filing of indictment to hearing* - 291 164 167
- Civil Fixture List - from application to fix date to hearing 180 155 163 168
- Civil Running List - from not-to-be-warned date to hearing 30 13 16 38
- Appeals from Magistrates' Courts - from lodging of Notice of Appeal to hearing 90 105 91 103
* A new Practice Direction on criminal proceedings in the Court of First Instance of the High Court was promulgated in June 2017 to enhance management of criminal proceedings. Having regard to the new procedures under the Practice Direction, consideration is being given to review how the average waiting time for the Criminal Fixture List should be measured. In addition, the Criminal Expedited List has replaced the Criminal Running List. The way to measure the average waiting times of the Criminal Expedited List and the setting of its target are being considered in the light of the operation of the new measures
Last Update Date : 27-02-2019