Appeals to the Supreme Court

Since the passing of the Court of Appeal Act 2014 appeals of civil cases tried in the High Court are now heard by the Court of Appeal rather than the Supreme Court.

Legal aid to take a further appeal from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court or to take a “leap frog” appeal (where the appeal is directly from the High Court to the Supreme Court, “leap frogging” the Court of Appeal) will be granted only in specific circumstances where in Counsel’s opinion there is an important point of law to be litigated. These may be granted at Assistant Director level or above only following a full and thorough application of each of the merits criteria (or “reduced” merits criteria if applicable) to the case.