Practice Direction 52B – appeals in the County Court and high court

This Practice Direction supplements CPR Part 52

Contents of this Practice Direction

Title	Number
Contents of this Practice Direction	Para.
SECTION I – APPLICATION
SECTION II – VENUE FOR APPEALS AND FILLING OF NOTICES AND APPLICATIONS
SECTION III – EXTENDING TIME IN WHICH TO APPEAL
SECTION IV – INITIATING AN APPEAL
SECTION V – CASE MANAGING THE APPEAL; ORDERS OF THE COURT
SECTION VI – CONDUCT OF THE APPEAL
SECTION VII – DETERMINATION OF APPLICATIONS
SECTION VIII – HEARINGS

Contents of this Practice Direction

This Practice Direction is divided into the following sections –

Section I –Application

Section II– Venue for appeals and filing of notices and applications

Section III – Extending time in which to appeal

Section IV – Initiating an appeal

Section V – Case managing the appeal; orders of the court

Section VI – Conduct of the appeal

Section VII – Determination of applications

Section VIII –Hearings

To the top

SECTION I – APPLICATION

1.1 This Practice Direction applies to –

(a) appeals within the County Court (from a District Judge to a Circuit Judge);

(b) appeals from the County Court to the High Court; and

(c) appeals within the High Court (from a Master, a District Judge sitting in a District Registry, a Registrar in Bankruptcy, a Registrar of the Companies Court, a Costs Judge or an officer of the High Court to a judge of the High Court).

To the top

SECTION II – VENUE FOR APPEALS AND FILLING OF NOTICES AND APPLICATIONS

2.1 Appeals within the County Court, appeals from the County Court and appeals within the High Court to a judge of the High Court must be brought in the appropriate appeal centre and all other notices (including any respondent’s notice) and applications must be filed at that appeal centre. The venue for an appeal within the County Court will be determined by the Designated Civil Judge and may be different from the appeal centre.

2.2 The tables at the end of this Practice Direction set out the Appeal Centres for appeals within the County Court in Table A and for appeals from the County Court or within the High Court in Table B.

2.3 Appeals to the High Court may be transferred between appeal centres by a direction given by the President of the King’s Bench Division or the Chancellor of the High Court or their respective nominee.  A party seeking to transfer the appeal to an Appeal Centre other than the one in which it was filed may seek to do so by letter addressed to the President of the King’s Bench Division or the Chancellor of the High Court as appropriate.

To the top

SECTION III – EXTENDING TIME IN WHICH TO APPEAL

3.1 Omitted

3.2 Where the time for filing an appellant’s notice has expired, the appellant must include an application for an extension of time within the appellant’s notice (form N161 or, in respect of a small claim, form N164) stating the reason for the delay and the steps taken prior to making the application.

3.3 The court may make an order granting or refusing an extension of time and may do so with or without a hearing. If an order is made without a hearing, any party seeking to set aside or vary the order may apply, within 14 days of service of the order, for a hearing.

To the top

SECTION IV – INITIATING AN APPEAL

4.1 An appellant’s notice (Form N161 or, in respect of a small claim, Form N164) must be filed and served in all cases. The appellant’s notice must be accompanied by the appropriate fee or, if appropriate, a fee remission application or certificate.

4.2 Documents to be filed with the appellant’s notice: The appellant must file with the appellant’s notice–

(a) three copies of the appellant’s notice and one additional copy for each respondent;

(b) a copy of the sealed order or determination under appeal;

(c) where an application was made to the lower court for permission to appeal, a copy of any order granting or refusing permission to appeal together with a copy of the reasons, if any, for allowing or refusing permission to appeal; and

(d) grounds of appeal, which must be set out on a separate sheet attached to the appellant’s notice and must set out, in simple language, clearly and concisely, why the order of the lower court was wrong or unjust because of a serious procedural or other irregularity (Rule 52.21(3)).

4.3 Applications in the appeal: Any application to be made in the appeal (for example, for a stay of the order of the lower court, or for an extension of time) should be included within the appellant’s notice. Any application for a transcript at public expense should be made within the appellant’s notice.

To the top

SECTION V – CASE MANAGING THE APPEAL; ORDERS OF THE COURT

5.1 The appeal court may make orders for the case management of an appeal.

5.2 When making a case management order, the court may dispense with any requirements of or directions made in this Practice Direction.

To the top

SECTION VI – CONDUCT OF THE APPEAL

6.1 Service of appellant’s notice on the respondent: The appellant must file a certificate of service of the appellant’s notice with the court as soon as practicable after service.

6.2 Transcript of the judgment of the lower court or other record of reasons: Except where the claim has been allocated to the small claims track, the appellant must obtain a transcript or other record of reasons of the lower court as follows –

(a) where the judgment has been officially recorded, the appellant must apply for an approved transcript as soon as possible and, in any event, within 7 days of the filing of the appellant’s notice;

(b) where the judgment under appeal has been handed down in writing, the appellant must obtain and retain a copy of the written judgment;

(c) in any other case, the appellant must cause a note of the judgment under appeal to be made and typed. The parties to the appeal should agree the note, which should then be sent to the judge of the lower court for approval. The parties and their advocates have a duty to make, and to co-operate in agreeing, a note of the judgment.

6.3 Appeal bundle: As soon as practicable, but in any event within 35 days of the filing of the appellant’s notice, the appellant must file an appeal bundle which must contain only those documents relevant to the appeal. The appeal bundle must be paginated and indexed.

6.4 Documents relevant to the appeal:

(1) Subject to any order made by the court, the following documents must be included in the appeal bundle–

(a) a copy of the appellant’s notice;

(b) a copy of any respondent’s notice;

(c) a copy of any appellant’s or respondent’s skeleton argument;

(d) a copy of the order or determination under appeal;

(e) a copy of the order of the lower court granting or refusing permission to appeal together with a copy of the judge’s reasons, if any, for granting or refusing permission;

(f) a copy of any order allocating the case to a track;

(g) a transcript of the judgment of the lower court or other record of reasons (except in appeals in cases which were allocated to the small claims track and subject to any order of the court).

(2) The following documents should also be considered for inclusion in the appeal bundle but should be included only where relevant to the appeal –

(a) statements of case;

(b) application notices;

(c) other orders made in the case;

(d) a chronology of relevant events;

(e) witness statements made in support of any application made in the appellant’s notice;

(f) other witness statements;

(g) any other documents which any party considers would assist the appeal court.

6.5 Service of the appeal bundle: A copy of the appeal bundle must be served on each respondent –

(a) where permission to appeal was granted by the lower court, at the same time as filing the appeal bundle;

(b) where the appeal court has granted permission to appeal, as soon as practicable after notification and in any event within 14 days of the grant of permission;

(c) where the appeal court directs that the application for permission to appeal is to be heard on the same occasion as the appeal, as soon as practicable and in any event within 14 days after notification of the hearing date.

6.6 Late documents: Any relevant document which is obtained or created after the appeal bundle has been filed (for example a respondent’s notice or a skeleton argument) should be added to the appeal bundle as soon as practicable and, in any event, no less than 7 days before the hearing of the appeal or any application.

To the top

SECTION VII – DETERMINATION OF APPLICATIONS

7.1 Applications made in the appeal, including applications for permission to appeal under rule 52.3(2)(a) or rule 52.13(3), may be determined with or without a hearing.

7.2 Where the court refuses an application for permission to appeal without a hearing, the appellant (or, where appropriate, the respondent) may request the application to be reconsidered at a hearing.

7.3 Where the court determines any other application without hearing the respondent (including an application for permission to bring the appeal out of time) any party affected by the determination may apply to have the order set aside or varied.

7.4 Any request or application made under this section must be made within 7 days of service of notification of the determination upon the person making the application. Where any such request or application is made –

(a) a copy of the request or application must be served on all other parties at the same time; and

(b) the court will give directions for the determination of the application.

To the top

SECTION VIII – HEARINGS

8.1 Attendance at permission hearings: Where a respondent to an appeal or cross-appeal attends the hearing of an application for permission to appeal, costs will not be awarded to the respondent unless–

(a) the court has ordered or requested attendance by the respondent;

(b) the court has ordered that the application for permission to appeal be listed at the same time as the determination of other applications;

(c) the court has ordered that the hearing of the appeal will follow the hearing of the application if permission is granted; or

(d) the court considers it just, in all the circumstances, to award costs to the respondent.

8.2 Respondent’s documents: A respondent who has been served with an appeal bundle and who considers that relevant documents have been omitted may file and serve on all parties a respondent’s supplemental appeal bundle containing copies of other relevant documents. The supplemental appeal bundle must be filed and served as soon as practicable after service of the appeal bundle, but in any event not less than 7 days before the hearing.

8.3 Skeleton arguments: Subject to any order of the court, the parties to the appeal should file and serve skeleton arguments only where –

(a) the complexity of the issues of fact or law in the appeal justify them; or

(b) skeleton arguments would assist the court in respects not readily apparent from the papers in the appeal.

Table A – Table of appeal centres for each circuit     

Circuit	Court	Appeal Centre
Midland
	Birmingham CJC	Birmingham CJC
	Boston	Lincoln
	Burton -upon-Trent	Nottingham
	Chesterfield	Nottingham
	Coventry	Coventry
	Derby	Nottingham
	Dudley	Walsall
	Hereford	Worcester
		Northampton
	Kidderminster	Worcester
	Leicester	Leicester
	Lincoln	Lincoln
	Mansfield	Nottingham
	Northampton	Northampton
	Nottingham	Nottingham
	Nuneaton	Coventry
	Redditch	Worcester
	Stafford	Stoke-on-Trent
	Stoke-on-Trent	Stoke-on-Trent
	Telford	Telford
	Walsall	Walsall
	Warwick	Coventry
	Wolverhampton	Walsall
	Worcester	Worcester
North East
	Barnsley	Sheffield
	Bradford	Bradford
	Darlington	Teesside
	Doncaster	Sheffield
	Durham	Newcastle-upon-Tyne
	Gateshead	Newcastle-upon-Tyne
	Grimsby	Kingston-upon-Hull
	Harrogate	Leeds
	Huddersfield	Bradford
	Kingston-upon-Hull	Kingston-upon-Hull
	Leeds	Leeds
	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	Newcastle-upon-Tyne
	North Shields	Newcastle-upon-Tyne
	Scarborough	Leeds
	Sheffield	Sheffield
	Skipton	Bradford
	South Shields	Newcastle-upon-Tyne
	Sunderland	Newcastle-upon-Tyne
	Teesside	Teesside
	Wakefield	Leeds
	York	Leeds
Northern
	Barrow-in-Furness	Carlisle
	Birkenhead	Liverpool
	Blackburn	Preston
	Blackpool	Preston
		Manchester CJC
	Burnley	Preston
		Manchester CJC
	Carlisle	Carlisle
	Chester CJC	Chester CJC
	Crewe	Chester CJC
		Carlisle
	Lancaster	Preston
	Liverpool	Liverpool
	Manchester CJC	Manchester CJC
		Manchester CJC
	Preston	Preston
	St Helens	Liverpool
	Stockport	Manchester CJC
	West Cumbria	Carlisle
	Wigan	Manchester CJC
Wales
	Aberystwyth	Swansea
	Blackwood	Cardiff CJC
	Caernarfon	Wrexham
	Cardiff	Cardiff CJC
	Carmarthen	Swansea
	Conwy & Colwyn	Wrexham
	Haverfordwest	Swansea
	Llanelli	Swansea
		Wrexham
	Merthyr Tydfil	Cardiff CJC
	Mold	Wrexham
	Newport (Gwent)	Cardiff CJC
	Pontypridd	Cardiff CJC
	Port Talbot	Swansea
	Prestatyn	Wrexham
	Swansea	Swansea
	Welshpool & Newtown	Wrexham
Western
	Aldershot & Farnham	Winchester
	Barnstaple	Barnstaple
	Basingstoke	Winchester
	Bath	Bristol CJC
	Bodmin	Bodmin
	Bournemouth	Bournemouth
	Bristol	Bristol CJC
	Cheltenham	Bristol CJC
	Chippenham	Winchester
	Exeter	Exeter
	Gloucester	Bristol CJC
	Newport (Isle of Wight)	Winchester
	Plymouth	Plymouth
	Portsmouth	Portsmouth
	Salisbury	Winchester
	Southampton	Southampton
	Swindon	Swindon
	Taunton	Bristol CJC
	Torquay & Newton Abbot	Torquay & Newton Abbot
	Trowbridge	Trowbridge
	Truro	Truro
	Weston-Super-Mare	Bristol CJC
	Weymouth & Dorchester	Winchester
	Winchester	Winchester
	Yeovil	Bristol
South East
	Banbury	Oxford
	Barnet	Barnet
	Basildon	Southend
	Bedford	Luton
	Brentford	Brentford
	Brighton	Brighton
	Bromley	Bromley
	Bury St Edmunds	Cambridge
	Cambridge	Cambridge
	Canterbury	Canterbury
	Central London CJC	Central London CJC
	Chelmsford	Southend
	Chichester	Chichester
	Clerkenwell & Shoreditch	Clerkenwell & Shoreditch
	Colchester	Southend
	Croydon	Croydon
	Dartford	Dartford
	Edmonton	Edmonton
	Guildford	Guildford
	Hastings	Hastings
	Hertford	Luton
	High Wycombe	Oxford
	Horsham	Horsham
	Hove	Hove
	Ipswich	Norwich
	Kingston-upon-Thames	Kingston-upon-Thames
	Lewes	Lewes
	Luton	Luton
	Maidstone	Maidstone
	Mayor’s and City	Mayor’s and City
	Medway	Medway
	Milton Keynes	Oxford
	Norwich	Norwich
	Oxford	Oxford
	Peterborough	Cambridge
	Reading	Oxford
	Romford	Romford
	Slough	Oxford
	Southend	Southend
	Staines	Staines
	Stratford	Central London CJC
	Thanet	Thanet
	Uxbridge	Uxbridge
	Wandsworth	Wandsworth
	Watford	Watford
	Willesden	Willesden
		Woolwich
	Worthing	Worthing

Table B – Appeals from the County Court or within the High Court: Appeal centres for each circuit

Circuit	Appeal Centres
Midland Circuit	Birmingham
North Eastern Circuit	Leeds
Northern Circuit	Manchester
	Wrexham
Wales Circuit	Cardiff
Western Circuit	Bristol
South Eastern Circuit	Royal Courts of Justice

To the top