Caseload, Case Disposal and Waiting Time at Different Court Levels



High Court

CASELOAD AND CASE DISPOSAL OF THE HIGH COURT

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Caseload Disposal *
2019 2020 2021 2019 2020 2021
Court of Appeal
Appellate
Criminal
Appeals from the Court of First Instance
165 79 83 146 122 112
Appeals from the District Court
206 146 212 230 148 165
Sub-total 371 225 295 376 270 277
Civil
Appeals from the Court of First Instance
560 611 559 526 361 730
Appeals from the District Court
12 14 15 13 6 15
Miscellaneous Appeals
25 28 25 21 20 22
Sub-total 597 653 599 560 387 767
Review of Sentences
Criminal
Reviews from the Court of First Instance
0 0 3 0 0 0
Reviews from the District Court
4 2 9 4 3 4
Reviews from the Magistrates' Courts
1 14 9 1 9 12
Sub-total 5 16 21 5 12 16
Total 973 894 915 941 669 1 060
Miscellaneous Proceedings 321 263 602 203 217 449
* Case disposal refers to appeals/reviews which have been allowed, dismissed, withdrawn, discontinued or abandoned with or without court order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 *
2019 2020 2021 2019 2020 2021
Court of First Instance
Appellate
Criminal
Appeals from Magistrates' Courts 603 428 608 585 444 443
Civil
Appeals from Labour Tribunal 23 23 18 21 23 23
Appeals from Small Claims Tribunal 45 48 53 43 26 41
Appeals from Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board 4 2 0 5 2 1
Miscellaneous Appeals 4 5 1 2 2 5
Sub-total 76 78 72 71 53 70
Total 679 506 680 656 497 513
First Instance
Criminal Jurisdiction
Criminal Cases 424 366 256 446 241 320
Confidential Miscellaneous Proceedings 340 440 545 340 440 545
Application for Discharge 0 0 0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Proceedings (Criminal) 684 772 724 655 763 686
Sub-total 1 448 1 578 1 525 1 441 1 444 1 551
Civil Jurisdiction
High Court Actions 2 431 2 200 1 960 1 519 1 266 1 254
Miscellaneous Proceedings 2 385 2 378 2 233 1 430 1 397 1 571
Bankruptcy & Companies Winding-up+ 9 272 9 831 8 169 9 227 8 021 8 844
Personal Injuries Actions 506 540 428 1 335 506 512
Other cases# 4 380 2 957 2 218 1 096 1 497 1 806
Sub-total 18 974 17 906 15 008 14 607 12 687 13 987
Total 20 422 19 484 16 533 16 048 14 131 15 538
Masters Chambers
Interlocutory hearings** 25 382 22 997 24 416 24 099 16 607 23 450
Taxation bills 547 561 592 418(1) 429(1) 476(1)
Probate
Applications~ 21 005 16 521 21 978 20 503(2) 16 592(2) 20 390(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* Case disposal refers to appeals which have been allowed, dismissed, withdrawn, discontinued or abandoned with or without court order; criminal cases where defendants have been convicted or acquitted; and civil cases where claims have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

Last Update Date : 23-02-2022