The high Court Vacation Period 2026

From 1 July 2026 until 31 August 2026, the High Court and the Court of Appeal will be retiring for a vacation period. This is a new occurrence for the High Court and it only dates back to 30 June 2025, with the publication of the Practice Direction 1 of 2025 – The Court Vacation Practice Direction. Why is this important for Businesses to be aware of this now?

Planning the timing of litigation of course. While the vacation does not prohibit the filing of litigation, it does limit the matters that can be considered by the Court during this period and the hearing dates that will be given for matters filed during this period will be in September 2026 or later.

During the vacation period the court will only set hearing for matters which are deemed urgent. The direction allows the following criminal matters that deal with applications for bail, extending detention of detained persons, matters dealing with the interception of communications, matters dealing with Anti-Money Laundering/Countering Terrorist Financing, Habeus Corpus applications to be heard during this time.

On the Civil front applications for injunctions, stays of execution for orders of Court, Admiralty applications are deemed urgent enough to be heard during the period.

For Family court applications dealing with decree absolute for divorce, matters concerning the protection of children will be considered during the vacation period. Of course it will come as no surprise that any matters concerning national, regional or local elections are considered urgent and can be considered.

If a litigant feels a matter they have filed although not in the deemed urgent list is a matter than needs to be urgently heard, they can request a hearing through the process set out in the Practice Direction.

Businesses that have disputes or have been planning litigation for a while need to act before the Court vacation commences and litigants are looking at hearing dates in Quarter 4 of 2026.