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 are expected to be familiar with their content and act according to the guidance, unless directed otherwise.
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.
| Code | Division |
| 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 The body of the practice note will contain its new operative date and a history of amendments and a copy of the superseded version will be retained in the Practice Notes Archive.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 share matters of a more temporal nature, including:
- advising judges responsible for specialist lists for the year
- reminders to practitioners about certain rules and practices if it appears there is confusion or non-compliance
- notices from the Prothonotary or a registrar about a matter of registry practice.
| Practice note | Division | Date of publication | Documents |
|---|---|---|---|
| This Practice Note sets out the practice followed in Court of Appeal criminal interlocutory appeals and reserved questions of law. | Court of Appeal | SC CA 2 - Interlocutory Appeals and Reserved Questions of Law in Criminal Proceedings (pdf 241.36KB) | |
| The Court encourages the active participation of junior counsel in cases where two or more counsel are briefed for a party. | General, Notice to the Profession | Notice to the Profession - Role of Junior Counsel (pdf 225.92KB) | |
| The purpose of this Practice Note is to explain the reliance that will be placed on details provided by the parties of evidential material to read and relied on, in the context of inspection of civil… | Civil Division, General | SC Gen 20 Inspection of Civil Court Files by Non-Parties (pdf 219.20KB) SC Gen 20 Inspection of Civil Court Files by Non-Parties (docx 49.32KB) | |
| This Notice relates to changes to file inspections and affidavits for proceedings in the Common Law Division and Commercial Court. | Common Law Division, Commercial Court, Notice to the Profession | Notice to the Profession - Changes to File Inspections and Affidavits (pdf 241.50KB) Notice to the Profession - Changes to File Inspections and Affidavits (docx 105.04KB) | |
| The purpose of this Practice Note is to provide guidance on the operation of the Employment and Industrial List, a case management list within the Common Law Division of the Court. | Common Law Division | SC CL 11 - Employment and Industrial List (Second revision) (pdf 177.86KB) SC CL 11 - Employment and Industrial List (Second revision) (docx 62.64KB) | |
| The purpose of this Practice Note is to set out the requirement for transcript in civil proceedings in the Trial Division and Court of Appeal. | General | SC GEN 7 - Transcript in civil proceedings (second revision).pdf (pdf 280.73KB) | |
| The purpose of this Practice Note is to describe the procedures to be followed in the Admiralty List. | Commercial Court | SC CC 4 Admiralty (pdf 162.70KB) | |
| Commercial Court | Practice Note SC CC 6 - Cross Border Insolvency (pdf 290.89KB) | ||
| The purpose of this Practice Note is to describe and provide guidance on the procedures to be followed in the Arbitration List. This revised Practice Note was issued on 22 March 2021 and replaced the… | Commercial Court | SC CC 3 - Commercial Arbitration Business (pdf 274.07KB) | |
| The new Supreme Court (Chapter I Appendices A and B Amendment) Rules 2021 amended Chapter I of the Rules of the Supreme Court to alter the Scale of Costs in Appendices A and B so as to provide for an… | Appendices A and B 19 March 2021 (pdf 243.95KB) |