SUPREME COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF VANUATU

PRACTICE NOTE No.01 OF 2015

V. Lunabek, Chief Justice – 15 December 2015

Court Sittings and Registry Hours

1.	The Court will list proceedings in the original and/or appellate jurisdictions of the court and applications in those proceedings during the period beginning on the first Monday in February and ending on the last Friday before 23 December in each year. 

2.	This Practice Note shall apply to all courts when it is relevant to each court. 

3.	Unless the Court otherwise orders, a proceeding or an application in a proceeding will not be set down for hearing outside the period in paragraph 1. 

4.	To obtain a hearing outside the period in paragraph 1, a party must lodge with the Registry:

(a)	a sworn statement (affidavit), in addition to any other documentation that the rules require to be filed, setting out why a hearing is sought outside the period in paragraph 1; and 

(b)	a draft of the orders sought for the hearing outside the period in paragraph 1.

5.	The sittings of the Supreme Court, the Magistrates’ Courts and the Island Courts on Tours or Circuits shall be held in each year at such times and places as the Chief Justice directs and set out in the Judiciary Annual Calendar of Events. 

6.	At the direction of the Chief Justice or the Chief Magistrate (for the Magistrates’ Courts after consultation with the Chief Justice and the Chief Registrar), a case or an application may be listed for hearing before the Supreme Court or the Magistrate’s Court or the Island Courts outside the Tours/Circuits sittings directed in paragraph 5. 

7.	The sittings of the Court of Appeal shall be held in each year at such times and places as the Chief Justice directs and as set out in the Judiciary Annual Calendar of Events. 

8.	At the direction of the Chief Justice an appeal or an application may be listed for hearing before the Court of Appeal outside the appellate sittings that the Chief Justice has directed in paragraph 7. 

9.	Details of the opening times for each Registry are to be found at each Court’s Registry and on the Court’s Notice Board. 

10.	A Registry may at the direction of a Judge or a Registrar be opened at other times for urgent business. 

11.	A party wishing to communicate with the court may do so in writing but any communication must be copied to all other parties. The court will not act upon a communication from a party which has not been copied to the other parties, unless there are special reasons why this should occur. 

Vincent LUNABEK
Chief Justice

Dated 15 December 2015