Court of Appeal Workload statistics 1 July 2018 - 30 June 2019

The Court of Appeal is New Zealand’s principal intermediate appellate court. It is also the final appellate court for a number of matters. The Court deals with civil and criminal appeals from matters heard in the High Court and appeals from criminal jury trials in the District Court. Matters appealed to the High Court from the District Court and certain tribunals can be taken to the Court of Appeal with leave, if a second appeal is warranted. The Court may also grant leave to hear appeals on questions of law from the Employment Court.

In the 2018/2019 financial year the Court issued 672 judgments, an increase on the previous year’s 582.

Court workload

Total new business
The Court’s workload increased over the 2018/2019 financial year with a total of 626 appeals and 270 applications filed.

Appeals
A total of 632 appeals were disposed of, a slight decrease compared to the previous financial year.

As at 30 June 2019, there were 457 appeals on hand, an increase of 11 compared to the same time last year.

Applications
The 299 applications disposed of is an increase of 87 compared to the previous financial year.

As at 30 June 2019, there were 88 applications on hand, 29 fewer than at the same time last year.

Examples of the types of applications dealt with by the Court include: leave to appeal, bail, name suppression, fresh evidence (civil) and disclosure (criminal) and jurisdictional issues.

Criminal jurisdiction

Criminal appeals

The number of new criminal appeals filed in the 2018/2019 financial year decreased slightly with a total of 407 new appeals.

A total of 401 criminal appeals were disposed of; 14 fewer than in the previous financial year.

As at 30 June 2019, there were 299 criminal appeals on hand, an increase of 16 compared to the same time last year.

Criminal applications

The number of new criminal applications filed in the 2018/2019 financial year increased by 8 to 108 applications.

The number of criminal applications disposed of increased by 38 to 113.

As at 30 June 2019, the number of criminal applications on hand decreased slightly to 42 applications.

Civil jurisdiction

Civil appeals

The number of new civil appeals filed in the 2018/2019 financial year decreased slightly to 219 new appeals.

The number of civil appeals disposed of increased by 8 to 231.

As at 30 June 2019, there were 158 civil appeals on hand, a slight decrease compared to the same time last year.

Civil applications
The number of new civil applications filed in the 2018/2019 financial year decreased by 11 to 162 applications.

The number of civil applications disposed of increased by 49 to 186.

As at 30 June 2019, the number of civil applications on hand decreased by 24 to 46 applications