Caseload, Case Disposal and Waiting Time at Different Court Levels



►CASELOAD AND CASE DISPOSAL OF THE HIGH COURT

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Caseload Disposal *
2017 2018 2019 2017 2018 2019
Court of Appeal
Appellate
Criminal
Appeals from the Court of First Instance
179 177 165 160 169 146
Appeals from the District Court
237 205 206 206 211 230
Sub-total 416 382 371 366 380 376
Civil
Appeals from the Court of First Instance
264 580 560 193 478 526
Appeals from the District Court
16 14 12 11 17 13
Miscellaneous Appeals
18 17 25 20 12 21
Sub-total 298 611 597 224 507 560
Review of Sentences
Criminal
Reviews from the Court of First Instance
0 0 0 2 0 0
Reviews from the District Court
2 5 4 4 2 4
Reviews from the Magistrates' Courts
2 1 1 3 0 1
Sub-total 4 6 5 9 2 5
Total 718 999 973 599 889 941
Miscellaneous Proceedings+ 83 204 321 39 178 203
* Case disposal refers to appeals/reviews which have been allowed, dismissed, withdrawn, discontinued or abandoned with or without court order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
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Caseload Disposal *
2017 2018 2019 2017 2018 2019
Court of First Instance
Appellate
Criminal
Appeals from Magistrates' Courts 659 620 603 719 555 585
Civil
Appeals from Labour Tribunal 45 30 23 30 27 21
Appeals from Small Claims Tribunal 66 63 45 43 56 43
Appeals from Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board 5 3 4 5 1 5
Miscellaneous Appeals 3 3 4 5 5 2
Sub-total 119 99 76 83 89 71
Total 778 719 679 802 644 656
First Instance
Criminal Jurisdiction
Criminal Cases 449 421 424 519 433 446
Confidential Miscellaneous Proceedings 382 402 340 382 402 340
Application for Discharge 0 0 0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Proceedings (Criminal)^ 374 789 684 295 686 655
Sub-total 1 205 1 612 1 448 1 196 1 521 1 441
Civil Jurisdiction
High Court Actions 3 041 3 010 2 431 1 971 1 709 1 519
Miscellaneous Proceedings@ 2 778 2 274 2 385 2 205 1 497 1 430
Bankruptcy & Companies Winding-up+ 8 880 8 550 9 272 8 838 8 359 9 227
Personal Injuries Actions 1 394 1 307 506 1 301 1 408 1 335
Other cases# 1 507 3 365 4 380 517 1 134 1 096
Sub-total 17 600 18 506 18 974 14 832 14 107 14 607
Total 18 805 20 118 20 422 16 028 15 628 16 048
Masters Chambers
Interlocutory hearings** 24 882 24 530 25 382 22 549 21 924 24 099
Taxation bills 681 638 547 527(1) 486(1) 418(1)
Probate
Applications 20 477 20 797 21 005 19 537(2) 19 886(2) 20 503(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 the Court 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, 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) and Intellectual Property (a new case type created to capture intellectual property matters before the Court of First Instance with effect from 6 May 2019. Its caseload was formerly subsumed under High Court Actions or High Court Miscellaneous Proceedings and categorized under civil jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance)
** 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

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* 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 time of the Criminal Expedited List and the setting of its target are being considered in the light of the operation of the new measures