Senior Courts Act 2016

Court of Appeal - Jurisdiction

56: Jurisdiction

You could also call this:

"Who Can Make Appeals to the Court of Appeal"

You can appeal to the Court of Appeal from a High Court decision. The Court of Appeal can hear appeals from the High Court, under the Criminal Procedure Act 2011, or from other courts or tribunals. You can also appeal from a decision made by the High Court under another Act. You usually need permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal about an interlocutory application in a civil case. You must ask the High Court for permission within 20 working days of the decision. The High Court can give you more time to ask for permission. If the High Court refuses your permission to appeal, you can ask the Court of Appeal for permission. You must ask the Court of Appeal within 20 working days of the High Court's refusal. Even if you do not get permission to appeal, you can still raise the issue in a later appeal. The Court of Appeal can hear appeals without permission in some cases, such as when the High Court dismisses a claim or grants summary judgment, under the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 or section 148. You can appeal to the Court of Appeal from a decision made by the High Court. The Court of Appeal has rules about what you can appeal and when.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM5759372.

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

Topics:

Crime and justice > Courts and legal help

55: Adjournments, or

"Changing the time or place of a court session"

57: Court of Appeal may remit proceeding to High Court, or

"The Court of Appeal can send a case back to the High Court for another look."

Part 3Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction

56Jurisdiction

The Court of Appeal may hear and determine appeals—
from a judgment, decree, or order of the High Court:
under the Criminal Procedure Act 2011:
from any court or tribunal under any other Act that confers on the Court of Appeal jurisdiction and power to hear and determine an appeal.

Subsection (1) is subject to subsections (3) and (5) and to rules made under section 148.
No appeal, except an appeal under subsection (4), lies from any order or decision of the High Court made on an interlocutory application in respect of any civil proceeding unless leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal is given by the High Court on application made within 20 working days after the date of that order or decision or within any further time that the High Court may allow.
Any party to any proceedings may appeal without leave to the Court of Appeal against any order or decision of the High Court—
striking out or dismissing the whole or part of a proceeding, claim, or defence; or
granting summary judgment.

If the High Court refuses leave to appeal under subsection (3), the Court of Appeal may grant that leave on application made to the Court of Appeal within 20 working days after the date of the refusal of leave by the High Court.
If leave to appeal under subsection (3) or (5) is refused in respect of an order or a decision of the High Court made on an interlocutory application, nothing in this section prevents any point raised in the application for leave to appeal from being raised in an appeal against the substantive High Court decision.

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1908 No 89 s 66