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 makes big decisions in smaller groups of judges."

The Court of Appeal is a group of judges that makes big decisions. You can think of it as a team of judges. This team sits in smaller groups called divisions. Each division has 3 judges. When a division makes a decision, it is just as powerful as the whole Court of Appeal. This means a division can make decisions even if other divisions or the whole Court of Appeal is making decisions at the same time. If a division thinks it's a good idea, most of its judges can send a case to the whole Court of Appeal to look at. The whole Court of Appeal can then make a decision on that case.

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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.

This page was last updated on 24 February 2026 — View changes

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Crime and justice > Courts and legal help

46: Seal, or

"The Court of Appeal's official seal is used on important documents."

48: Composition of divisions, or

"Who are the judges in the Court of Appeal?"

Part 3Court of Appeal
Constitution

47Court of Appeal to sit in divisions

For the purposes of proceedings in the Court of Appeal, the Court of Appeal sits in divisions comprising 3 Judges.
Each division may exercise all the powers of the Court of Appeal.
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.
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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1908 No 89 s 58