Missing a deadline in litigation is expensive. Order 1 Division 3 of the National Court Rules 1983 sets out exactly how time is counted.
(1) Any period of time fixed by these Rules or by any judgement or order, or by any document in any proceedings, shall be reckoned in accordance with this Rule.
(2) Where a time of one day or a longer time is to be reckoned by reference to a given day or event, the given day or the day of the given event shall not be counted.
(3) Where the period in question, being a period of five days or less, would include a day on which the Registry is closed, that day shall be excluded.
(4) Where the last day for doing a thing is a day on which the Registry is closed, the thing may be done on the next day on which the Registry is open.
Applying the four sub-rules
| Sub-rule | Effect | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 14(2) | Exclude the first day | Served Monday, 7 days to respond — count from Tuesday |
| 14(3) | For periods of five days or less, exclude days the Registry is closed | A 3-day period spanning a weekend gains those two days |
| 14(4) | If the last day is a closed day, use the next open day | Period ends Saturday — you may file Monday |
| 13 | “Month” means calendar month, unless context requires otherwise | One month from 15 March ends 15 April, not after 30 days |
Sub-rule (3) applies only to periods of five days or less. For a longer period — say 14 days or 30 days — weekends and Registry closures are counted.
So a 3-day period and a 14-day period are calculated on different principles. Do not assume that closed days always drop out; for anything over five days they do not.
Sub-rule (4) applies to every period, long or short. Only the last day gets that protection.
When is the Registry closed?
Rule 11(1) — the Registry shall be open to the public for business every day of the year except Saturdays, Sundays and Court holidays.
Rule 11(2) — the Registry shall be open from 8.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon and 1.00 p.m. to 3.30 p.m.
Rule 14 — Court holidays include (a) any day observed as a public holiday as defined in the Interpretation Act 1975; (b) any day specified by the Rules or by resolution of the Judges to be a Court holiday; and (c) any part of a day during vacation when the Registry is closed.
The Registry closes at 3.30 p.m., and shuts for an hour at midday. A document brought at 3.45 p.m. on the last day has not been filed that day.
Order 2 Rule 19 requires the Registrar to write the date of filing on every document filed. That date, not the date on the document, is what counts.
Where there is genuinely urgent business, Order 2 Rule 12 allows a person to require the Registrar to open the office outside business hours on payment of a fee of K5.00, where the business could not be transacted when the office next opens or would involve serious risk of prejudice. Rule 13 allows a Judge, on sufficient cause, to direct the Registrar to open at a specified time, and to fix a special fee.
Order 2 Rule 3 — the Christmas vacation
(1) There shall be a vacation in each year from 20 December to the following 31 January, both inclusive.
(2) Any Judge may sit in vacation for another, and may in vacation exercise any authority which any other Judge might exercise if he were present and sitting in Court.
(3) The time of the vacation shall not be reckoned in the times appointed or allowed by these Rules for filing, delivering or amending any pleading unless so directed by a Judge — nor shall a pleading be delivered or amended, nor judgement be entered in default, unless under the direction of a Judge.
Sub-rule (3) does two separate things.
It stops the clock for filing, delivering or amending a pleading. A defence due on 15 January is not late — the vacation period is simply not counted.
It bars certain steps during the vacation without a Judge’s direction: no pleading may be delivered or amended, and no default judgment may be entered.
That second limb is a protection for defendants. Without it, a plaintiff could serve a writ on 19 December and take default judgment in early January while the defendant was away.
Note the limit: sub-rule (3) is about pleadings and default judgment. It does not stop the clock on a limitation period under the Frauds and Limitations Act 1988, nor on a statutory period such as the six-month section 5 notice.
Order 1 Rule 16
Where no time is fixed by these Rules or by any judgement or order for the doing of anything in or in connection with any proceedings, the Court may, by order, fix the time within which the thing is to be done.
This is the companion to Order 1 Rule 12. Rule 12 supplies a missing procedure; Rule 16 supplies a missing time. Both are commonly dealt with at a directions hearing.
Where a time is fixed and you need more of it — or less — the provision is Order 1 Rule 15, under which the Court may extend or abridge any time fixed by the Rules or by a judgment or order, as well after as before the time expires.
Sources
- National Court Rules 1983 — O 1 rr 13–16; O 2 rr 3, 11–14, 19
- Frauds and Limitations Act 1988
- Claims By and Against the State Act 1996 — s 5
Before relying on anything here, read the current text of the National Court Rules 1983 and check for later amendments. If a decision matters to you, get advice — start with the Office of the Public Solicitor, or find a firm in the law firms directory.