Practice Notes provide information about particular aspects of the Court's practice, procedure and organisation. They sit alongside the Rules of Court to provide guidance in relation to the conduct of proceedings. Lawyers with the conduct of proceedings are expected to be familiar with their content and act in accordance with that guidance unless directed otherwise.
From 30 January 2017 the Court introduces a new system of publishing and organising its Practice Notes to make them easier to locate and navigate and ensure the information provided is up to date.
Each Practice Note is designated with the letter "SC" followed by an abbreviation denoting the Division of the Court to which it applies or the General designation followed by a number.
| SC CA | Court of Appeal |
| SC CC | Commercial Court |
| SC CL | Common Law Division |
| SC CR | Criminal Division |
| SC GEN | General |
Where changes are made to a Practice Note, it will retain its designation. The body of the Practice Note will contain its new operative date and a history of amendments and a copy of the superseded version will be retained in the Practice Notes Archive.
Notices to the Profession provide information to practitioners about matters of a more temporal nature such as advising which judges are responsible for which specialist lists for the year; reminders to the profession about certain rules and practices if it appears there is confusion or non-compliance and notices from the Prothonotary or a Registrar about a matter of registry practice.
| Practice note | Division | Date of publication | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|
| This Practice Note was revised on 23 December 2025 and replaces the version issued on 18 May 2018. | Commercial Court | SC CC 8 Oppressive conduct of the affairs of a company (docx 70.54KB) SC CC 8 Oppressive conduct of the affairs of a company (pdf 342.69KB) | |
| This Practice Note describes the procedures to be followed in the Testators Family Maintenance List. | Common Law Division | SC CL 7 - Testators Family Maintenance (docx 75.90KB) SC CL 7 - Testators Family Maintenance (pdf 248.82KB) | |
| This Practice Note was reissued on 22 December 2025 and commences on 12 January 2026 and applies to all proceedings in the List whenever commenced. | Common Law Division | SC CL 6 Trusts, Equity and Probate List (docx 86.10KB) SC CL 6 Trusts, Equity and Probate List (pdf 264.50KB) | |
| This Practice Note was issued on 22 December 2025 and applies to matters in the Criminal Division from 1 January 2026. | Criminal Division | SC CR 1 Case Management Procedure for Criminal Trials (docx 65.56KB) SC CR 1 Case Management Procedure for Criminal Trials (pdf 258.66KB) | |
| The purpose of this Practice Note is to set out practice in relation to various matters in the Costs Court. This Practice Note was issued on 1 December 2025 and commences on 1 January 2026. It… | General | SC GEN 11 Costs Court (docx 92.67KB) SC GEN 11 Costs Court (pdf 403.18KB) | |
| The purpose of this Practice Note is to set out the divisional structure of the Trial Division of the Court, the specialist Lists within the Trial Division and the allocation of matters within that… | General | SC Gen 2 Structure of the Trial Division (docx 58.03KB) SC Gen 2 Structure of the Trial Division (pdf 208.47KB) | |
| The purpose of this Practice Note is to set out the fees chargeable by examiners for the conduct of examinations de bene esse. | General | SC GEN 13 Examinations De Bene Esse (docx 52.82KB) SC GEN 13 Examinations De Bene Esse (pdf 220.02KB) | |
| The purpose of this Practice Note is to set out the procedure for bringing an application before the Supreme Court to enforce a foreign judgment under common law principles. Some guidance is also… | General | SC GEN 15 - Enforcement of foreign judgments (docx 56.07KB) SC GEN 15 - Enforcement of foreign judgments (pdf 243.96KB) | |
| The purpose of this Practice Note is to set out the requirements in relation to the citation of authorities and legislation and the provision of those to the Court and other parties. | General | SC Gen 3 - Citation of authorities and legislation (docx 54.35KB) SC Gen 3 - Citation of authorities and legislation (pdf 235.25KB) | |
| The purpose of this Practice Note is to set out the procedures regarding notifications under the Open Courts Act 2013. This revised Practice Note revises and replaces the Practice Note issued on 30… | Practice Note SC Gen 9 Notifications under the Open Courts Act (docx 49.79KB) Practice Note SC Gen 9 Notifications under the Open Courts Act (pdf 233.10KB) |