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Senior Courts Act 2016

Court of Appeal - Constitution

47: Court of Appeal to sit in divisions

You could also call this:

"The Court of Appeal is divided into smaller groups of judges to make decisions."

Illustration for Senior Courts Act 2016

The Court of Appeal is a group of judges who make decisions. You can think of it as a team. This team sits in smaller groups called divisions. Each division has 3 judges. When the Court of Appeal is making a decision, each division can make its own decisions. A division can make a decision even if another division is making a decision at the same time. If the judges in a division think it's a good idea, they can send a case to a bigger group of judges, called a full court, to make a decision.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM5759359.

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Part 3Court of Appeal
Constitution

47Court of Appeal to sit in divisions

  1. For the purposes of proceedings in the Court of Appeal, the Court of Appeal sits in divisions comprising 3 Judges.

  2. Each division may exercise all the powers of the Court of Appeal.

  3. A division may exercise the powers of the Court of Appeal even though 1 or more divisions of the court or a full court exercises those powers at the same time.

  4. A majority of the members of a division may, if they consider it desirable, refer a proceeding, or state a case, or reserve a question for consideration by a full court of the Court of Appeal. A full court has power to hear and determine the proceeding, case, or question.

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