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 *
2022 2023 2024 2022 2023 2024
Court of Appeal
Appellate
Criminal
Appeals from the Court of First Instance
75 75 82 87 72 85
Appeals from the District Court
161 171 190 159 178 179
Sub-total 236 246 272 246 250 264
Civil
Appeals from the Court of First Instance
466 413 537 479 331 414
Appeals from the District Court
18 10 15 7 22 15
Miscellaneous Appeals
17 16 25 27 14 17
Sub-total 501 439 577 513 367 446
Review of Sentences
Criminal
Reviews from the Court of First Instance
3 1 0 2 4 0
Reviews from the District Court
8 3 4 8 8 3
Reviews from the Magistrates' Courts
2 1 0 5 2 0
Sub-total 13 5 4 15 14 3
Total 750 690 853 774 631 713
Miscellaneous Proceedings 556 381 249 534 421 340
Other cases # 0 0 1 3 0 0
* Case disposal refers to appeals/reviews which have been allowed, dismissed, withdrawn, discontinued or abandoned with or without a court order
# Other cases include Secretary for Justice's Reference and Reservation of Question of Law which statistics are provided in the Annual Report since 2024
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Caseload Disposal *
2022 2023 2024 2022 2023 2024
Court of First Instance
Appellate
Criminal
Appeals from Magistrates' Courts 460 496 506 614 351 539
Civil
Appeals from Labour Tribunal 18 32 48 21 17 37
Appeals from Small Claims Tribunal 42 41 75 55 49 62
Appeals from Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board 4 1 0 3 2 0
Miscellaneous Appeals 7 6 2 2 4 4
Sub-total 71 80 125 81 72 103
Total 531 576 631 695 423 642
First Instance
Criminal Jurisdiction
Criminal Cases 223 446 452 237 301 371
Confidential Miscellaneous Proceedings 883 749 698 883 749 698
Application for Discharge 0 0 0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Proceedings (Criminal) 637 882 1 012 581 833 980
Sub-total 1 743 2 077 2 162 1 701 1 883 2 049
Civil Jurisdiction
High Court Actions 1 858 2 113 2 586 1 048 1 164 1 444
Miscellaneous Proceedings 2 208 2 488 2 826 1 535 1 630 1 876
Bankruptcy & Companies Winding-up+ 7 860 9 134 10 958 7 982 8 904 10 518
Personal Injuries Actions 341 367 375 427 348 323
Other cases# 2 074 2 912 3 256 1 716 1 937 2 340
Sub-total 14 341 17 014 20 001 12 708 13 983 16 501
Total 16 084 19 091 22 163 14 409 15 866 18 550
Masters Chambers
Interlocutory hearings** 19 114 20 938 24 236 15 621 18 741 21 455
Taxation bills 475 414 437 422(1) 403(1) 324(1)
Probate
Applications 23 006 26 298 28 335 21 890(2) 23 718(2) 26 609(2)
* Case disposal refers to appeals which have been allowed, dismissed, withdrawn, discontinued or abandoned with or without a 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), 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) and High Court Reciprocal Enforcement Cases (a new case type created for handling registration applications made under the Mainland Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance (Cap. 645), Order 71 and Order 71A of The Rules of the High Court (Cap. 4A) and Mainland Judgments in Matrimonial and Family Cases (Reciprocal Recognition and Enforcement) Ordinance (Cap. 639) in the Court of First Instance with effect from 29 January 2024)
** 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 : 26-02-2025