Caseload, Case Disposal and Waiting Time at Different Court Levels



►CASELOAD AND CASE DISPOSAL OF THE HIGH COURT

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Caseload Disposal *
2018 2019 2020 2018 2019 2020
Court of Appeal
Appellate
Criminal
Appeals from the Court of First Instance
177 165 79 169 146 122
Appeals from the District Court
205 206 146 211 230 148
Sub-total 382 371 225 380 376 270
Civil
Appeals from the Court of First Instance
580 560 611 478 526 361
Appeals from the District Court
14 12 14 17 13 6
Miscellaneous Appeals
17 25 28 12 21 20
Sub-total 611 597 653 507 560 387
Review of Sentences
Criminal
Reviews from the Court of First Instance
0 0 0 0 0 0
Reviews from the District Court
5 4 2 2 4 3
Reviews from the Magistrates' Courts
1 1 14 0 1 9
Sub-total 6 5 16 2 5 12
Total 999 973 894 889 941 669
Miscellaneous Proceedings 204 321 263 178 203 217
* Case disposal refers to appeals/reviews which have been allowed, dismissed, withdrawn, discontinued or abandoned with or without court order
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Caseload Disposal *
2018 2019 2020 2018 2019 2020
Court of First Instance
Appellate
Criminal
Appeals from Magistrates' Courts 620 603 428 555 585 444
Civil
Appeals from Labour Tribunal 30 23 23 27 21 23
Appeals from Small Claims Tribunal 63 45 48 56 43 26
Appeals from Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board 3 4 2 1 5 2
Miscellaneous Appeals 3 4 5 5 2 2
Sub-total 99 76 78 89 71 53
Total 719 679 506 644 656 497
First Instance
Criminal Jurisdiction
Criminal Cases 421 424 366 433 446 241
Confidential Miscellaneous Proceedings 402 340 440 402 340 440
Application for Discharge 0 0 0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Proceedings (Criminal) 789 684 772 686 655 763
Sub-total 1 612 1 448 1 578 1 521 1 441 1 444
Civil Jurisdiction
High Court Actions 3 010 2 431 2 200 1 709 1 519 1 266
Miscellaneous Proceedings 2 274 2 385 2 378 1 497 1 430 1 397
Bankruptcy & Companies Winding-up+ 8 550 9 272 9 831 8 359 9 227 8 021
Personal Injuries Actions 1 307 506 540 1 408 1 335 506
Other cases# 3 365 4 380 2 957 1 134 1 096 1 497
Sub-total 18 506 18 974 17 906 14 107 14 607 12 687
Total 20 118 20 422 19 484 15 628 16 048 14 131
Masters Chambers
Interlocutory hearings** 24 530 25 382 22 997 21 924 24 099 16 607
Taxation bills 638 547 561 486(1) 418(1) 429(1)
Probate
Applications~ 20 797 21 005 16 521 19 886(2) 20 503(2) 16 592(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* Case disposal refers to appeals which have been allowed, dismissed, withdrawn, discontinued or abandoned with or without court order; criminal cases where defendants have been convicted or acquitted; and civil cases where claims have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
+ 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) 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)
~ With effect from 1 January 2020, figure to include resealing application received
** 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