Data Definitions

Court Appearances - Court appearances refers to the number of occasions when cases are scheduled to be before the court for a specific reason, such as the first appearance, case conference, trial, and sentencing. Note that for Civil appearances, not all scheduled appearances occur, and they may be adjourned prior to the appearance date.

Court Hours - Court hours refers to the amount of in-use time that court heard criminal or civil matters. These hours include the time when court is adjourned for any reason where staff must remain in attendance until court resumes. It also includes time for jury deliberations.

Court of Appeal - The Court of Appeal is the highest court in the province. It hears appeals from the Supreme Court, appeals from the Provincial Court on some criminal matters, as well as reviews and appeals from some administrative boards and tribunals.

Documents Filed - Documents filed counts all Supreme and Provincial Court documents received at a court location. Some Civil documents can also be filed electronically.

New Court Cases - New court cases generally refers to the number of new filings received in a court location that initiate a case. In criminal court, this does not include subsequent documents such as re-laid Information and Applications.

Provincial Court - The Provincial Court is the first level of trial court in British Columbia and hears criminal adult, criminal youth, family, child protection, small claims, traffic and municipal bylaw cases.

Provincial Court Criminal Cases Length - This measure reports the proportion of all Provincial Court criminal cases in B.C. that concluded within the following categories: one to 60 days; 61 to 120 days; 121 to 180 days; 181 to 240 days; 241 to 365 days; and greater than 365 days.

Provincial Court Criminal Cases Median Time to Conclusion - This measure reports the median time to conclude criminal adult and youth cases in Provincial Court based on the number of days between the first scheduled appearance on a case and the date the case was concluded.

Provincial Court Criminal Concluded Cases - Concluded court cases indicates the number of Provincial Court criminal cases with a final disposition recorded against all the charges on an Information or ticket. Cases that are on outstanding bench warrants are not counted as concluded cases. Only Provincial Court criminal case figures are currently available.

Supreme Court - The Supreme Court of British Columbia is the province's superior trial court. The Supreme Court is a court of general and inherent jurisdiction, which means that it can hear any type of case, civil or criminal. It hears most appeals from the Provincial Court in civil and criminal cases, and also hears appeals from arbitrations.