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SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL PRACTICE DIRECTION 2011

The President of the Supreme Court of Appeal hereby issues the following Practice directions in respect of the Supreme Court of Appeal and replaces all previous practice directions.

1 Because of problems experienced in obtaining orders from registrars in High Courts, the Registrar will for the time being accept applications for leave to appeal or notices of appeal without the certified copy of the order as required by rule 6(2)(c) or 7(3)(c). Instead, a letter from the Registrar of the Court certifying the date of the order will be sufficient.

 

2 If an application for leave to appeal is filed within 21 court days instead of within 21 ordinary days as required by s 21(2) of the Supreme Court Act 59 of 1959, it will for the time being not be necessary for the applicant to apply formally for condonation for the failure to comply with that provision.

 

3 If any party to a pending appeal is of the view that it warrants preferent enrolment whether by reason of urgency or other good cause, such view must be conveyed immediately by letter to the Registrar for the attention of the President.

 

4 (a) Documents longer than ten pages lodged with the Registrar, including records of appeal, applications and heads of argument, must, in spite of the wording of the court rules, ordinarily be printed on both sides of the page.
(b) Where a party uses single-sided printing, it must by letter to the Registrar indicate the reason for this.
(c) Records containing double-sided printing must be bound in a way that permits both sides of each page to be fully legible.
(d) This rule will be enforced as from 1 May 2011.

 

5 The mode of address to the Bench in proceedings before this Court will no longer, in English, employ the expressions ‘My Lord’, My Lady’, ‘Your Lordship(s)’ or ‘Your Ladyship(s)’. Instead, the Bench will be addressed through the presiding Judge and be referred to as the ‘Court’. Where an individual member of the Bench is referred to this should be by using the Judge’s surname preceded by the word ‘Justice’. The current mode of address used in Afrikaans will continue to apply.

Dated at Bloemfontein on 28 February 2011.

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