In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,—

The transitional, savings, and related provisions set out in Schedule 1AA have effect according to their terms.

Unless these rules provide otherwise, these rules apply to every application or appeal before the Court, whether the application or appeal arises out of a civil proceeding or a criminal proceeding.

The Court may, in relation to any matter that arises in a case, give any directions that seem necessary for the just and expeditious resolution of the matter.

The Court may extend or shorten the time appointed by these rules, or fixed by any order, for doing any act or taking any proceeding or any step in a proceeding on any terms that the Court thinks just.

If any case arises for which no form of procedure is prescribed by these rules, the Court may dispose of the case as nearly as practicable in accordance with provisions of these rules affecting any similar case, or, if there are no such rules, in the manner that the Court thinks best calculated to promote the ends of justice.

The Court may give directions to determine the form of documents to be filed in proceedings.

Non-compliance with any of these rules or a direction of the Court does not invalidate the application or the appeal in which the non-compliance has occurred, but the application or the appeal may be dismissed either wholly or in part or amended or otherwise dealt with in any manner and on any terms that the Court decides.

The Court may, in any manner that it thinks fit,—

A document that does not comply with these rules may be received for filing only by leave of a Judge or the Registrar.

Subclause (1) is subject to subclause (3).

This rule is subject to section 338 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011.

A power conferred on the Court by these rules to give directions or to decide a matter, other than the determination of an application for leave to appeal or an appeal, may be exercised by a permanent Judge.

The first page of each document filed in the Registry must have a heading comprising—

Every document must be in legible type of not less than 12 point size with not less than 1.5 line spacing.

Every page of a document must have a margin that must be—

The Registrar must keep an index, in any form the Registrar thinks fit, of all—

The index must be open for public inspection during the Court’s ordinary office hours.

A document may be filed in the Registry—

A document may be served on a party—

In any case where a document is, in accordance with this rule, filed or served by sending it by mail to a postal address, the document is filed or served on the earlier of—

In any case where a document is, in accordance with this rule, filed or served by sending it to an electronic address, the document is filed or served at the time it is received by the relevant electronic system.

However, if the document is received by the relevant electronic system on a day that is not a working day or at a time that is not between 9 am and 5 pm, the document is filed or served at 9 am on the first working day after that receipt.

Despite subclause (1), an application for leave to appeal must be filed in accordance with rule 13(1)(a) or rule 14(1).

If, under these rules, or with the authority of the court, any document or bundles of documents are to be served or filed electronically by any party, the party must comply with any practice note issued from time to time by the Chief Justice about electronic formats.

An appellant must apply for leave to appeal—

For the purposes of subclause (1), the date of the decision is the date on which the decision is given,—

A respondent who wishes to appeal must apply for leave to appeal within 15 working days after the date on which a copy of the appellant’s application for leave is served on the respondent.

The Court may, on application, extend the period prescribed by subclause (1) or subclause (3).

A party may apply for an extension before or after the period expires.

An application for leave to appeal must be in form 1, 2, or 3A of Schedule 1 (whichever is applicable) or in a form to the same effect.

A Solicitor-General’s reference leave application must be accompanied by an explanatory memorandum.

An application for leave to bring a civil appeal is made only when—

The applicant is responsible for serving the application.

The Registrar must promptly transmit a copy of the application to the Registrar of the court appealed from.

An application for leave to bring a criminal appeal is made when the applicant files the application in the Registry—

If the applicant is the defendant or the person convicted, the Registrar must promptly transmit a copy of the application—

If the applicant is the Solicitor-General or prosecutor,—

Every application for leave to appeal must state,—

If the appeal relates only to a part of the decision concerned, that part must be identified in the application.

An application for leave to bring a civil appeal must be accompanied by—

The documents referred to in subclause (1) need not be served.

Promptly after receiving a copy of an application for leave to appeal under section 237(1) or 253(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (or both), the Registrar of the Court of Appeal must supply the Supreme Court with—

Promptly after receiving a copy of an application for leave to appeal under section 229(1) or 244(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (or both), the Registrar of the court appealed from must supply the Supreme Court with 3 copies of the documents required by section 323(2) of that Act (which include the trial transcript, the trial Judge’s summing up to the jury (if that Registrar considers it relevant to the grounds of the appeal), and the other documents, exhibits, and things connected with the proceeding that are, by that Registrar, considered to be relevant to the grounds of the appeal).

Promptly after receiving a copy of an application for leave to bring a criminal appeal, under an enactment other than section 229(1), 237(1), 244(1), or 253(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011, the Registrar of the court appealed from must supply the Supreme Court with the material that is relevant to the decision to which the appeal relates, including—

Any written submissions by a party in support of an application for leave to appeal may not exceed 10 pages, and must—

A party’s written submission under subclause (1) must set out clearly and succinctly—

Any written submissions by a party in response to the other party’s written submissions under subclause (1) may not exceed 10 pages, and must—

The written submissions of each party represented by counsel must provide an indication of counsel’s preferred dates for the hearing of the appeal, in the event that leave is given.

This rule is subject to any direction given by the Court in a particular case.

Subclauses (1)(a) and (3)(b) do not apply to an application for leave to appeal that is a pre-trial leave application.

If the application for leave to appeal is a pre-trial leave application,—

Any application for an extension of time for the filing of submissions under subclause (1) must be accompanied by a memorandum outlining why the extension is required and how much additional time is sought.

The memorandum must,—

Subject to subclauses (1) to (3), rule 20 applies to written submissions on a pre-trial leave application.

If a respondent does not wish the judgment appealed from to be varied but intends to support it on another ground (being a ground that the court appealed from did not decide or decided erroneously), the respondent must give notice of that intention—

At any time before giving leave to appeal, the Court may grant a party leave to amend the application for leave.

In seeking leave under subclause (1), a party must, unless the Court otherwise directs, submit a draft of the application that sets out all the proposed grounds and incorporates the amendments sought.

If the Court directs that an application for leave to appeal is to be heard orally, the Registrar must—

If a hearing date is allocated under rule 22, the applicant must, not later than 5 working days before that date, file in the Registry 3 copies of a bundle of authorities that consists only of the authorities that the applicant considers essential to the applicant’s argument in support of the application for leave.

If any authorities that the respondent considers essential to the respondent’s argument in relation to any application for leave are not included in the bundle filed under subclause (1), the respondent must, not later than 3 working days before the date fixed for the hearing of the application, file in the Registry 3 copies of a bundle of those authorities.

If an official report (for example, NZLR, CLR, AC, SCR) of a case is available, that report is to be used for the bundle of authorities.

Oral submissions made at the hearing of an application for leave to appeal may not exceed—

This rule is subject to any contrary direction given in a particular case by the Judges who hear the application for leave.

The Court may refuse to give the appellant leave to appeal but may, if the respondent has applied for leave to appeal, give the respondent leave to appeal, in which case the party who, before the giving of that leave, was the respondent must then be treated as the appellant.

The Court may make its leave to appeal subject to any conditions that it considers appropriate.

Leave for a civil appeal may include conditions relating to security for costs.

A judgment on an application for leave to appeal may be delivered—

Before a judgment is delivered, the Registrar must attempt to notify the parties of the time of its delivery.

The Registrar of the Court must promptly advise the parties and the Registrar of the court appealed from as to whether the Court has given leave.

If the Court gives leave to appeal, the appeal is commenced by the giving of that leave, and no notice of appeal need be filed.

If the decision giving leave specifies approved grounds of appeal, the grounds that may be argued in support of the appeal are confined to those approved grounds.

Despite subclause (1), the Court may permit or direct another ground to be advanced in argument.

Neither an application for leave to appeal nor the giving of leave operates as a stay of the proceeding in which the decision was given or as a stay of execution of that decision.

Pending the determination of the application or the appeal, the court appealed from or the Supreme Court may, on application,—

A determination under subclause (2) may—

If the court appealed from refuses to make an order under subclause (2), the Supreme Court may, on application, make an order under that subclause.

If the court appealed from makes an order under subclause (2), the Supreme Court may, on application, vary or rescind the order.

The Supreme Court may at any time vary or rescind an order made by it under this rule.

This rule applies to every civil appeal other than an appeal in which the Court directs that no security for costs is required to be paid.

If in an appeal the Court does not deal with security for costs by imposing a condition under rule 26(2) or by giving another direction, the Registrar must, within 15 working days after the date on which leave for the appeal is given, fix the security that the appellant must give for the costs of the respondent in the Court.

The appellant must pay any security fixed to the Registrar, or secure it to the satisfaction of the Registrar, not later than 10 working days after the date on which it is fixed.

If an appellant fails to comply with this rule or with a condition or direction imposed or given by the Court in relation to security for costs, the Court may order that the appeal be treated as abandoned.

After the Court gives leave to appeal, the Registrar must, after consulting the parties or their lawyers, promptly—

Subclause (1) does not apply if the Court has set the hearing date in the decision giving leave to appeal.

The appellant in a civil appeal must prepare the draft case on appeal in consultation with the respondent.

The parties may not include in the case on appeal any document that is not relevant to the grounds to be argued in accordance with the leave given by the Court.

The parties must endeavour to avoid the unnecessary duplication of documents.

If the parties do not agree whether a document should be excluded, the document must be included but the fact of the objection must be noted and may be taken into account for the purpose of fixing costs.

Within 20 working days after the date on which the Court gives leave to appeal (or any longer period allowed by the Registrar), the appellant must submit the draft of the case on appeal to the Registrar for approval.

The Registrar must promptly consider the draft and then advise the parties in writing—

The appellant must, within 10 working days after receipt of the Registrar’s advice under rule 34(6), file in the Registry 6 copies of the case on appeal, which must—

The pages contained in a case on appeal must be A4 in size and every page must be numbered consecutively from volume to volume.

Each volume must—

If the appeal involves a question of fact, the evidence bearing on the question that was taken in the court or tribunal of first instance, or the court appealed from, must be shown by including in the case on appeal—

The list of documents described in subclause (3)(d) must include references to each page—

If there is more than 1 volume, there is to be a separate volume containing only—

So far as possible and subject to subclause (6), all documents must be arranged in chronological order.

The Registrar must prepare a draft index for the case on appeal in a criminal appeal.

The Registrar must provide a copy of the draft index to each party.

The parties must check the draft index and endeavour to agree whether any additional documents should be included.

Within 20 working days after the date on which the Registrar has provided the draft index to the parties, each party must advise the Registrar of—

After considering the parties’ advice, the Registrar must prepare the case on appeal.

The case on appeal must not include any document that is irrelevant to the grounds to be argued in accordance with the leave given by the Court.

Each party to an appeal must file in the Registry the party’s written submissions, which must be contained in a document of not more than 30 pages that sets out—

The appellant’s written submissions must be accompanied by a chronology.

If all parties are represented by counsel, those counsel must use reasonable endeavours to agree on the chronology by the date on which the appellant’s written submissions must be filed.

If counsel are unable to agree on the chronology, the respondent’s written submissions must be accompanied by a marked-up copy of the appellant’s chronology that highlights areas of disagreement.

The appellant’s written submissions must be filed and served on the other party not later than—

The respondent’s written submissions must be filed and served on the other party not later than 15 working days after the date on which the appellant’s written submissions are filed.

In any case where a respondent has been given leave to appeal—

No further written submission may be filed by the parties without the leave of the Court given on written application.

This rule is subject to any contrary direction given by the Court in a particular case.

Each party to an appeal may provide the Court with an outline of the oral argument to be advanced on that party’s behalf at the hearing of the appeal.

An outline may be provided—

The outline of the oral argument must be contained in a document of not more than 3 pages that complies with the requirements of rule 8(2) and (3).

The appellant must, at the time of filing the appellant’s submissions under rule 36(1), file in the Registry 6 copies of a bundle of authorities that consists only of the authorities that the appellant considers essential to the appellant’s case.

If any authorities that the respondent considers essential to the respondent’s case are not included in the bundle filed under subclause (1), the respondent must, at the time of filing the respondent’s submissions under rule 36(1), file in the Registry 6 copies of a bundle of those authorities.

If an official report (for example, NZLR, CLR, AC, SCR) of a case is available, that report is to be used for the bundle of authorities.

A civil appeal is to be treated as having been abandoned if the appellant does not—

The Court—

An application for the grant of an extension may be made before the expiry of the period to which the application relates or within 3 months after that expiry; but no extension may be granted on an application that is made later than 3 months after that expiry.

This rule overrides rule 6.

A party may, at any time, abandon a civil appeal brought by the party by filing in the Registry a notice advising that the party—

The notice must be authenticated by—

The Court may make any order as to costs that seems just in respect of an abandoned appeal.

The Court may, on the application of any party, grant leave for the admission of further evidence on questions of fact by—

The parties and their counsel are entitled to be present at, and take part in, the examination of any witness.

A judgment of the Court on appeal may be delivered—

Before a judgment is delivered, the Registrar must attempt to notify the parties of the time of its delivery.

Promptly after the result of an appeal is known, the Registrar must notify that result to the Registrar of the court appealed from and to the Registrar of any other court or tribunal that determined a matter in the proceeding.

A judgment or an order may be corrected by the Court or the Registrar who made it if it—

The Court or the Registrar may make the correction on—

The Court may, in its discretion, make any orders that seem just concerning the whole or any part of the costs and disbursements of a civil appeal or an application for leave to bring such an appeal, or any application relating to such an appeal or application for leave.

The Court may order that the costs and disbursements awarded to any party be taxed as between party and party or as between solicitor and client.

The Court may order that the costs and disbursements be charged upon or paid out of any fund, estate, or assets before the Court.

The Court may direct the Registrar to fix the types and amounts of disbursements payable to any party under an order made under subclause (1).

If the Court orders that usual disbursements are payable to a party, or that usual disbursements be charged on any fund, estate, or assets, the order is taken to direct the Registrar to fix the types and amounts of disbursements as defined in subclause (6).

For the purposes of this rule, disbursements means disbursements as defined in rule 14.12(1) of the High Court Rules 2016 as well as the reasonable travel and accommodation expenses of counsel or of an unrepresented party.

If an appellant has, in accordance with a judgment of a court appealed from, paid a judgment debt and any interest payable on that debt, and the appellant successfully appeals from that judgment, the Court may make the orders described in subclause (2).

The Court may, in its discretion, make any orders that seem just concerning—