District Courts

Contents

Jurisdiction
Criminal jurisdiction
Civil jurisdiction
Family Court jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

The New Zealand District Courts have originating jurisdiction over all criminal matters. They deal with all but a small number of serious offences which are dealt with by the High Court.  In its civil jurisdiction the District Courts can hear general claims up to $200,000.

The Family Court and Youth Court are divisions of the District Court.

These are the annual statistics for the District Court, including the Family Court, Youth Court, and Civil for the 2014 year. Please refer to the glossary for the definitions of terms used in this commentary.

Closed courts

On 13 March 2014 the District Courts based at Balclutha and Rangiora were closed. [1]

Criminal jurisdiction

Criminal Procedure Act 2011

On 1 July 2013 the processes for filing and progressing criminal cases through the courts changed due to the implementation of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (CPA). Pre-1 July 2013 cases will continue to feature in the District Courts’ workload (currently 2%) until those cases reach completion.

As at 31 December 2014, 98% of active criminal cases were progressing under the Criminal Procedure Act 2011.

Total Criminal for District Courts [2]

Criminal cases are heard by District Court Judges, Community Magistrates or Justices of the Peace depending upon the seriousness of the case.

As there are two procedural regimes in place, total criminal case statistics comprise cases commenced under the Summary Proceedings Act 1957 (SPA) and cases commenced under the CPA.

Comparing 2013 to 2014 calendar years, this jurisdiction has seen a:

• 3% decrease in new business to 134,815 cases
• 3% decrease in disposals to 138,136 cases
• 8% decrease in active cases to 28,109 cases

Jury trials - subset of total criminal

The jury trial jurisdiction deals with the more serious criminal cases.  The District Court jury trial caseload is made up of cases commenced under either the Summary Proceedings Act 1957 (SPA) or the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (CPA). 

As there are two procedural regimes in place, jury trial case statistics comprise cases committed for trial under the SPA and cases ready for trial (post-case review and following an election of trial by jury) under the CPA.

Comparing 2013 to 2014 calendar years, this jurisdiction has seen:

• a 3% decrease of new cases to 2,595
• an 29% decrease in disposals to 2,344 cases
• a 1% increase in active cases to 1,923 cases

There has been a more efficient deployment of judicial resources and case management over the last year.

It should be noted that the figures quoted relate to case volumes and not the underlying complexity and time taken to deal with Jury Trials.  Although disposal rates have decreased, what is not shown is that the age of the cases on hand has decreased significantly.  This is because of those cases that were disposed, there were a number of older cases have been waiting for a long period of time.  This is good news because it reduces the delay or the time taken for any case to be finalised.

Youth Court - subset of total criminal

From 1 July 2013, significant changes to the Youth Court jurisdiction mean all serious charges, except murder and manslaughter, relating to young people, and still including certain charges against children aged 12 and 13 must now be heard and determined in the Youth Court.

The 2014 year has seen Youth Court numbers fall to an historical low. However, because only about 25% (as an approximation) of the offences committed by children and young people come before a Judge, the Youth Court increasingly deals with, and can now focus upon, the most serious and persistent youth offending.

Comparing 2013 to 2014 calendar years, this jurisdiction has seen a:

• 2% decrease for new business to 3,935 cases
• 9% increase in disposals to 4,164
• 25% decrease in active cases to 941

Civil jurisdiction

The majority of cases in the civil system are undefended, and are resolved without proceeding to hearing and are not included in figures.

Comparing 2013 to 2014 calendar years this jurisdiction has seen a:

• 17% increase in the number of newly defended cases to 610
• 3% increase in the disposals of defended cases to 590
• 5% increase in the number of active cases on hand at the end of each year to 587

Family Court jurisdiction

The Family Court makes orders for any person (including the unborn) in need of care and protection. Not only is the age band wide but the variety of cases that come before the Court is considerable.

The number of applications to the Family Court is published here as opposed to the number of cases. This is due to the fact that each case may involve several applications. Therefore, the numbers reported below do not represent either the numbers of litigants or substantive cases before the Family Court and are not representative of how cases are managed.

Applications are grouped under the following Case Types:

• Care of Children Act
• Children, young persons and their families
• Dissolution
• Domestic violence
• Mental health
• Protection of personal and property rights
• Property
• Other

One third of all applications fall within the Care of Children Act case type. These applications relate to care arrangements for children. 

Comparing 2013 to 2014 calendar years this jurisdiction has seen a:

• 5% decrease in new applications to 59,708
• No change in disposals at 60,768
• 8% decrease in the number of active applications to 23,571

Changes to the Care of Children Act (CoCA)

In late March 2014 a number of changes to the family law system were implemented.

New applications filed under the Care of Children Act (CoCA) have fallen since the new process was established.

Comparing 2013 to 2014 calendar years, the CoCA case type has seen a:

• 15% decrease in new applications to 19,726
• 5% decrease in disposals at 21,270
• 12% decrease in the number of active applications to 12,350

Unless an application is urgent or an exception granted parents are now required to attend a parenting information programme and mediation via the Family Dispute Resolution service outside of Court before they may apply to the Court for a parenting order.

Statistics

Footnotes

[1] Refer to 2013 commentary for earlier closures.

[2] The national figures below exclude transfers between court locations and / or processes.