PRACTICE DIRECTION -- COURT OFFICES

See also Part 2

This Practice Direction supplements CPR Part 2

Contents of this Practice Direction
Title	Number
Central Office of the High Court at the Royal Courts of Justice	Para. 1
Business in the Offices of the Supreme Court	Para. 2.1
County Courts

Central Office of the High Court at the Royal Courts of Justice


1	The Central Office shall be divided into such departments, and the business performed in the Central Office shall be distributed among the departments in such manner, as is set out in the Queen’s Bench Division Guide.

Business in the Offices of the Supreme Court

2.1

(1)

The offices of the Supreme Court shall be open on every day of the year except


(a)	Saturdays and Sundays,


(b)	Good Friday and the day after Easter Monday,


(c)	Christmas Day and, if that day is a Friday or Saturday, then 28th December,


(d)	Bank Holidays in England and Wales under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, and


(e)	such other days as the Lord Chancellor, with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls, the President of the Family Division and the Vice-Chancellor (‘the Heads of Division’) may direct.

(2)

The hours during which the offices of the Supreme Court at the Royal Courts of Justice and at the Principal Registry of the Family Division at First Avenue House, 42-49 High Holborn, London WC1V 6NP shall be open to the public shall be as follows:


(a)	from 10 am to 4.30 pm;


(b)	such other hours as the Lord Chancellor, with the concurrence of the Heads of Division, may from time to time direct.


(3)	Every District Registry shall be open on the days and during the hours that the Lord Chancellor from time to time directs and, in the absence of any such directions, shall be open on the same days and during the same hours as the county court offices of which it forms part are open.

Description of Registry changed in 2.1(2) w/e from 6 October 2003,
Paragraph 2.1(2) replaced w/e from 31 July 2003.

2.2

One of the Masters of the Queen’s Bench Division (the ‘Practice Master’) shall be present at the Central Office on every day on which the office is open for the purpose of superintending the business performed there and giving any directions which may be required on questions of practice and procedure.

County Courts


3.1	Every County Court shall have an office or, if the Lord Chancellor so directs, two or more offices, situated at such place or places as he may direct, for the transaction of the business of the court.

3.2

(1)

Every County Court office, or if a court has two or more offices at least one of those offices, shall be open on every day of the year except –


(a)	Saturdays and Sundays,


(b)	the day before Good Friday from noon onwards and Good Friday,


(c)	the Tuesday after the Spring bank holiday,


(d)	Christmas Day and, if that day is a Friday or Saturday, then the 28th December,


(e)	bank holidays and


(f)	such other days as the Lord Chancellor may direct.


(2)	In this paragraph ‘bank holiday’ means a bank holiday in England and Wales under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 and ‘Spring holiday’ means the bank holiday on the last Monday in May or any day appointed instead of that day under section 1(2) of that Act.


3.3	Subject to paragraph 3.2(1)(b), the hours during which any court office is open to the public shall be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or such other hours as the Lord Chancellor may from time to time direct.