Part II: Further Practice Directions Applying in The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)

(II.1.1) The Registrar of Criminal Appeals will notify the relevant prosecution authority in the event that:

(II.1.2) The Prosecution will have 7 days from the grant of leave by the single Judge or the referral by the Registrar to notify the Registrar if they wish to be represented at the hearing OR to request sight of the grounds of appeal and/or any comments made by the single Judge when granting leave or referring the case to the Full Court. Upon such a request, the prosecution will have a further 7 days from receipt to notify the Registrar if they wish to be represented at the hearing.

(II.1.3) Occasionally, for example, where the single Judge fixes a hearing date at short notice, the Registrar may have to foreshorten the period specified in II.1.2 above.

(II.1.4) In relation to (c) in paragraph II.1.1, the prosecution will have 72 hours or, if the case is listed, 48 hours, to notify the Registrar that they wish to be represented at the hearing. Should the prosecution require sight of the grounds of appeal and the single Judge's comments, such a request should be made as expeditiously as possible.

(II.1.5) If the prosecution wishes to be represented at any hearing, the notification should include details of Counsel instructed, a time estimate and an indication whether a skeleton argument will be lodged no later than 14 days before the hearing (or such shorter period as may be necessary). If a skeleton argument is to be lodged, it must be served on the Court and the applicant/appellant.

(II.1.6) An application by the prosecution to remove a case from the list for Counsel's convenience, or to allow further preparation time, will rarely be granted.

(II.1.7) There may be occasions when the Court of Appeal Criminal Division will grant leave to appeal to an unrepresented applicant and proceed forthwith with the appeal in the absence of the appellant and Counsel. In those circumstances there will be no opportunity to notify the prosecution.

(II.1.8) As a Court of Review, the Court of Appeal Criminal Division would expect the prosecution to have raised any specific matters of relevance with the sentencing Judge in the first instance.

(II.1.9) When the prosecution attend a hearing as a result of this Practice Direction, the prosecution should not volunteer assistance in relation to any unrepresented applicant.

(II.1.10) This Direction will come into force as from 10 November 2003.

(II.1.11) The Prosecution are already invited to appear and respond, as a matter of course, in appeals against Confiscation Orders and where the Court is considering issuing sentencing guidelines. This practice will continue without change.

(II.1.12) This Practice Direction replaces the existing protocol whereby the prosecution were responsible for lodging a letter of interest with the Registrar of Criminal Appeals via the Crown Court.

(II.2.1) Arrangements for the fixing of dates for the hearing of appeals will be made by the Criminal Appeal Office Listing Officer, under the superintendence of the Registrar of Criminal Appeals who may give such directions as he deems necessary.

(II.2.2) Where possible, regard will be had to an advocate's existing commitments. However, in relation to the listing of appeals, the Court of Appeal takes precedence over all lower courts, including the Crown Court. Wherever practicable a lower court will have regard to this principle when making arrangements to release an advocate to appear in the Court of Appeal. In case of difficulty the lower court should communicate with the Registrar. In general an advocate's commitment in a lower court will not be regarded as a good reason for failing to accept a date proposed for a hearing in the Court of Appeal.

(II.2.3) The copy of the Criminal Appeal Office summary provided to advocates will contain the summary writer's time estimate for the whole hearing including delivery of judgment. The Listing Officer will rely on that estimate unless the advocate for the appellant or the Crown provides a different time estimate to the Listing Officer, in writing, within 7 days of the receipt of the summary by the advocate. Where the time estimate is considered by an advocate to be inadequate, or where the estimate has been altered because, for example, a ground of appeal has been abandoned, it is the duty of the advocate to inform the Court promptly, in which event the Registrar will reconsider the time estimate and inform the parties accordingly.

(II.2.4) In furtherance of the Court's aim of continuing to improve the service provided to appellants and respondents the following target times will be set for the hearing of appeals. Target times will run from the receipt of the appeal by the Listing Officer, as being ready for hearing. These arrangements will apply to appeals so received on and after 22nd March 2004.

(II.2.6) Where legal vacations impinge these periods may be extended. Where expedition is required, the Registrar may direct that these periods be abridged.

(II.2.7) “Appeal” includes an application for leave to appeal which requires an oral hearing.

(II.13.1) Judges of the Court of Appeal and of the High Court are addressed as “My Lord” or “My Lady”; so are Circuit Judges sitting as judges of the High Court under section 9 of the Supreme Court Act 1981.

(II.14.1) These are to be served on the Crown Court at the centre where the proceedings took place. The Crown Court will forward them to the Criminal Appeal Office together with the trial documents and any others which may be required.

(II.15.1) Advocates should not settle grounds or support them with written advice unless they consider that they are properly arguable. Grounds should be carefully drafted and properly particularised. Advocates should not assume that the Court will entertain any ground of appeal not set out and properly particularised. Should leave to amend the grounds be granted it is most unlikely that further grounds will be entertained.

(II.15.2) A copy of the advocate's positive advice about the merits should be attached as part of the grounds.

(II.16.1) Both the Court and the single judge have power in their discretion to direct that part of the time during which an applicant is in custody after putting in his notice of application for leave to appeal should not count towards sentence. Those who contemplate putting in such a notice and their legal advisers should bear this in mind. It is important that those contemplating an appeal should seek advice and should remember that it is useless to appeal without grounds and that grounds should be substantial and particularised and not a mere formula. Where an application devoid of merit has been refused by the single judge and a direction for loss of time has been made, the Full Court, on renewal of the application, may direct that additional time shall be lost if it, once again, thinks it right so to exercise its discretion in all the circumstances of the case.

(II.17.1) In all appeals against conviction a skeleton argument from the advocate for the appellant is to be lodged with the Registrar of Criminal Appeals and served on the prosecuting authority within 14 days of receipt by the advocate of the notification of the grant of leave to appeal against conviction or such longer period as the Registrar or the Court may direct. The skeleton may refer to an advice, which should be annexed with an indication of which parts of it are relied upon, and should include any additional arguments to be advanced.

(II.17.2) The advocate for the prosecuting authority should lodge with the Registrar and the advocate for the appellant his skeleton argument within 14 days of the receipt of the skeleton argument for the appellant or such longer (or, in exceptional cases, shorter) period as the Registrar or the Court may direct.

(II.17.3) Practitioners should ensure that, where reliance is placed upon unreported cases in skeleton arguments, short head notes are included.

(II.17.4) Advocates should ensure that the correct Criminal Appeal Office number appears at the beginning of their skeleton arguments and that their names are at the end.

(II.17.5) A skeleton argument should contain a numbered list of the points the advocate intends to argue, grouped under each ground of appeal, and stated in no more than one or two sentences. It should be as succinct as possible, the object being to identify each point, not to argue it or elaborate on it. Each listed point should be followed by full references to the material to which the advocate will refer in support of it, i.e. the relevant passages in the transcripts, authorities, etc. It should also contain anything the advocate would expect to be taken down by the Court during the hearing, such as propositions of law, chronologies, etc. If more convenient, these can be annexed to the skeleton rather than included in it. For points of law, the skeleton should state the point and cite the principal authority or authorities in support with reference to the passages where the principle is enunciated. Chronologies should, if possible, be agreed with the opposing advocate before the hearing. Respondents' skeletons should follow the same principles.

(II.18.1) To assist the Court the Criminal Appeal Office prepares summaries of the cases coming before it. These are entirely objective and do not contain any advice about how the Court should deal with the case or any view about its merits. They consist of two Parts.

(II.18.2) Part I, which is provided to all of the advocates in the case, generally contains (a) particulars of the proceedings in the Crown Court, including representation and details of any co-accused, (b) particulars of the proceedings in the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division), (c) the facts of the case, as drawn from the transcripts, advice of the advocates, witness statements and/or the exhibits, (d) the submissions and rulings, summing up and sentencing remarks. Should an advocate not want any factual material in his advice taken into account this should be stated in the advice.

(II.18.3) The contents of the summary are a matter for the professional judgment of the writer, but an advocate wishing to suggest any significant alteration to Part I should write to the Registrar of Criminal Appeals. If the Registrar does not agree, the summary and the letter will be put to the Court for decision. The Court will not generally be willing to hear oral argument about the content of the summary.

(II.18.4) Advocates may show Part I of the summary to their professional or lay clients (but to no one else) if they believe it would help to check facts or formulate arguments, but summaries are not to be copied or reproduced without the permission of the Criminal Appeal Office; permission for this will not normally be given in cases involving children or sexual offences or where the Crown Court has made an order restricting reporting.

(II.18.5) Unless a judge of the High Court or the Registrar of Criminal Appeals gives a direction to the contrary in any particular case involving material of an explicitly salacious or sadistic nature, Part I will also be supplied to appellants who seek to represent themselves before the Full Court or who renew to the full court their applications for leave to appeal against conviction or sentence.

(II.18.6) Part II, which is supplied to the Court alone, contains (a) a summary of the grounds of appeal and (b) in appeals against sentence (and applications for such leave), summaries of the antecedent histories of the parties and of any relevant pre-sentence, medical or other reports.

(II.18.7) All of the source material is provided to the Court and advocates are able to draw attention to anything in it which may be of particular relevance.

(II.19.1) Reference should be made to paragraph 10.1 of Practice Direction (Court of Appeal (Civil Division)) [1999] 1 WLR 1027; [1999] 2 All ER 490.

(II.20.1) Where any party intends to refer to the reports of Parliamentary proceedings as reported in the Official Reports of either House of Parliament (“Hansard”) in support of any such argument as is permitted by the decisions in Pepper v Hart [1993] AC 593 and Pickstone v Freeman [1989] AC 66 or otherwise he must, unless the Court otherwise directs, serve upon all other parties and the Court copies of any such extract together with a brief summary of the argument intended to be based upon such extract. No other report of Parliamentary proceedings may be cited.

(II.20.2) Unless the Court otherwise directs, service of the extract and summary of the argument shall be effected not less than 5 clear working days before the first day of the hearing, whether or not it has a fixed date. Advocates must keep themselves informed as to the state of the lists where no fixed date has been given. Service on the Court shall be effected by sending three copies to the Registrar of Criminal Appeals, Room C212, Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2A 2LL. If any party fails to do so the Court may make such order (relating to costs or otherwise) as is in all the circumstances appropriate.