Chancery Division
From 2018, when the Business and Property Courts were established in the regions, the three specialist jurisdictions of the Chancery Division, the Circuit Commercial Court and the Technology and Construction Court have come together, in Birmingham as in London.
Chancery work, which has a long tradition in Birmingham, is now done in the Chancery lists of the Business and Property Courts.
The range of cases heard in the Chancery lists is wide and varied, but include:
Insolvency
For example: for individual’s bankruptcy petitions and individual voluntary arrangements; for companies and partnerships, winding up petitions and administration appointments; and claims relating to individual, corporate and partnership insolvency under insolvency legislation.
Business disputes
For examples, breach/interpretation/rectification of a contract. The sale and purchase of businesses. Professional negligence. Partnership disputes and the taking of accounts.
Company disputes
Claims and applications made under the Companies Act 2006 and related legislation, including unfair prejudice petitions and other forms of dispute regarding the management of a company.
Partnership disputes
Claims and applications relating to disputes between partners, including dissolution of a partnership and matters arising therefrom.
Property, Trusts and Probate
For examples, disputes about land ownership or development, commercial mortgages and leases, receivership, orders for sale to enforce charging orders and resulting and constructive trusts. The trust’s work includes removal of trustees, claims against trustees, issues of construction/rectification, and disputes concerning trust property. The probate work includes validity of wills, rectification of wills, substitution or removal of Personal Representatives, financial provision from the estate of the deceased, and cases involving the Presumption of Death Act 2013 and the Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act 2017.
High Court Chancery cases may be issued and heard in Birmingham, regardless of the value or complexity of the case and including issues of EU law, except for cases in the Patents Court, the Revenue List and the Financial List, which must be issued in London.
Competition law cases involving allegations of breach of articles 101 and 102 of the EU Treaty or their equivalents in Chapter I and II of the Competition Act 1998 must be issued in or transferred to London.
For particularly high value, high profile and/or complex cases issued in Birmingham, the parties may request that the case be managed by a Specialist Circuit Judge and tried by a visiting High Court Judge to reflect the overriding principle that no case is too big to be heard in Birmingham.
Birmingham also operates a list for Chancery cases issued in the County Court to be case managed and tried by specialist Circuit/District Judges.
Profiles of all the judges, who sit in Chancery cases in Birmingham can be found on the Judges and clerks in Birmingham webpage.