No honest answer gives a number of months. What can be given is the timetable the Rules impose, the points at which appeals stall, and the levers available to move one along.
What the Rules do prescribe
| Step | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|
| File the notice of appeal | 40 days from the judgment | s 17 |
| File a notice of appeal after leave granted | 21 days from the grant | O 7 r 6 |
| Add a new ground of appeal | Within the same 40 days | O 7 r 26 |
| Object to competency | 14 days after service | O 7 r 15 |
| Serve the draft index | 2 clear days before settlement | O 7 r 41 |
| File written submissions (appellant) | 10 days from the direction | O 11 r 13 |
| File written submissions (other parties) | 10 days from receipt | O 11 r 15 |
| File a fresh-evidence application | 21 days before the hearing | O 7 r 57 |
| Answering evidence on that application | 14 days before the hearing | O 7 r 58 |
| Apply to adjourn a hearing | 3 clear days before | O 13 r 13(5) |
| Appeal a single Judge’s direction to the Court | 21 days of the direction | O 11 r 25 |
There is no deadline for obtaining the transcript, for holding the settlement appointment, or for lodging the appeal book under Order 7 Rule 44. That is where the time goes.
A monthly rhythm
Callover — the Registrar calls all matters on the Callover List once every month on the second Tuesday. A matter joins that list only when the Book is filed.
Directions Hearing — conducted by the Duty Judge on the first Monday of the circuit month, where hearing dates may be allocated and a Notice of Hearing in Form 18 issued.
Status Conference — on the Monday of the week prior to the Court sittings, where readiness is confirmed.
Hearing List — prepared within 2 days of the Status Conference, and not subject to alteration except by the Chief Justice or the Court.
Once the appeal book is filed, the appeal is on a defined path with monthly checkpoints. Before it is filed, the appeal is in the General List and nothing is scheduled.
So the single biggest determinant of how long an appeal takes is how long the appellant takes over Order 7 Divisions 11 to 16.
The four common causes of delay
1. The transcript. Rule 37 is conditional — if a copy of the transcript of proceedings is available — and Rule 36(b) contemplates proceeding on the notes of evidence taken by the primary Judge certified by his Associate. Many appeals wait for a transcript that the Rules do not require.
2. Assembling the exhibits. Rule 31 is triggered by service of the notice on the associate. An appellant who has not served the associate has not started the process.
3. Interlocutory applications. Under Order 13 Rule 8A, objections to competency, fresh-evidence applications and want-of-prosecution applications are heard and determined before the substantive matter is set down for hearing. Each adds a cycle.
4. Non-compliance with directions, which under Order 13 Rule 10(2)(c) can see a matter referred to summary determination or the Status Conference adjourned and the hearing date lost.
Six things that shorten an appeal
Order the transcript the week judgment is delivered, not when the decision to appeal is made.
Get the appointment on filing, as Order 7 Rule 33 requires, and subscribe it to the notice of appeal under Rule 35.
Serve the associate immediately — exhibits are retained only 40 days after the judgment is pronounced under Rule 30.
Draft the grounds properly the first time, so no supplementary notice is needed and no objection is invited.
Keep the book short. Rule 43(12): only such documents as are relevant or necessary. A shorter book is faster to settle, copy, examine and certify.
File before the second Tuesday so the matter is called that month rather than the next.
Judgment
Nothing in the Act or the Rules fixes a time within which a reserved judgment must be delivered. In an appeal decided on the papers under Order 14, the Rules do at least mark the starting point: judgment stands reserved, without further order, from the Expiry Date — the date the last submissions in reply are filed, or a statement that there will be none — and the Registrar must then certify that judgment stands reserved and notify the Chief Justice, the bench and the parties.
Where the Court wishes to put questions to counsel after submissions, Order 14 requires them to be posed through the Registrar, conveyed to counsel electronically with all parties copied in, and the Expiry Date amended accordingly.
Where it genuinely cannot wait
The court or a Judge may at any time make such orders as appear just for the expediting of the appeal.
Apply where the subject matter is time-critical, with evidence of why the ordinary cycle would cause irremediable harm. And remember section 19 of the Supreme Court Act: an appeal does not operate as a stay, so an appellant who needs protection in the meantime must apply for it separately.
Delay is not neutral. Order 7 Rule 48 allows the Court to dismiss for want of prosecution or to fix a time peremptorily, on an application in Form 11 supported by affidavit under Rule 50. See want of prosecution.
Sources
- Supreme Court Rules 2012 — O 7 rr 6, 15, 26, 30–48, 57, 58; O 11 rr 13, 15, 25; O 13 rr 7–13
- Supreme Court Act (Chapter 37) — ss 17, 19, 29
Before relying on anything here, read the current text of the Supreme Court Rules 2012 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.