Court of Appeal

Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal deals predominantly with civil and criminal appeals from matters heard in the High Court and serious criminal matters heard in the District Court.

Criminal jurisdiction

The number of criminal appeals filed in the Court of Appeal has been increasing over the past five years. In the 12 months ending 30 June 2013 this trend continued with a 7% increase in the number of new appeals, from 522 cases in the 12 months end June 2012 to 559.

For the 12 months ending 30 June 2013 this jurisdiction has also seen a:

• 8% decrease in disposals – 480 cases from 523 cases; and
• 26% increase in the number of active criminal appeals – 375 cases from 298 cases.

Civil jurisdiction

The number of new civil appeals in the Court of Appeal has fluctuated but has not changed significantly over the past five years. However, in the 12 months ending 30 June 2013 there was a 7% increase in new civil appeals filed, with a total of 283 new cases an increase of 19 cases from the previous year.

For the 12 months ending 30 June 2013 this jurisdiction has seen a:

• 3% decrease in disposals to 253, from 260; and
• 13% increase in the number of active civil cases to 267 cases, from 237 cases.

Statistics