1. The sittings of the Court of Appeal and of the High Court shall be three in every year, that is to say—
(a)the Michaelmas sittings which shall begin on 5th September and end on 21st December, subject to a recess from the Monday which falls on or nearest to 31st October to the following Friday, both days included;
(b)the Hilary sittings which shall begin on 6th January and end on the Friday before Good Friday; and
(c)the Trinity sittings which shall begin on the second Monday after Easter Sunday and end on 30th June.
[E.r. 1]
2.—(1) A judge of the High Court or Court of Appeal, selected each year in accordance with this rule, shall be available during every vacation to act as Vacation Judge.
(2) The judge selected shall act as Vacation Judge for one year beginning with the 1st day of July next following the date of his selection.
(3) Unless the judges otherwise arrange between themselves, the Vacation Judge shall be selected in rotation, commencing with the judge last appointed who has not already served as Vacation Judge and ending with the judge who has most recently so served.
(4) Any other judge of the High Court or Court of Appeal may sit in vacation for the Vacation Judge.
[E.r. 2]
3.—(1) The Vacation Judge shall sit in vacation as occasion may require.
(2) No order made by the Vacation Judge or a judge acting as such shall (except on consent) be reversed or varied except by the judge who made the order, a court of two or more judges or the Court of Appeal.
[E.r. 3]
4.—(1) All such applications as require to be immediately or promptly heard shall be heard in vacation by the Vacation Judge, a court of two or more judges or the Court of Appeal, as may be necessary.
(2) Any party to a cause or matter may at any time apply by summons to a judge for an order that the cause or matter shall be tried or heard during vacation, and if the judge is satisfied that there is urgent need for the trial or hearing to take place in vacation he may make an order accordingly and fix a date for the trial or hearing.
[E.r. 4]
5.—(1) The offices of the Supreme Court shall be open on every day of the year except—
(a)Saturdays and Sundays,
(b)Good Friday and the day after Easter Monday,
(c)Christmas Eve or—
(i)if that day is a Saturday, then 23rd December,
(ii)if that day is a Sunday or Tuesday, then 27th December,
(d)Christmas Day, and, if that day is a Friday or Saturday, then 28th December,
(e)Bank Holidays in Northern Ireland under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971(1), and
(f)such other days as the Lord Chancellor, with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice, may direct.
(2) The hours during which any office of the Supreme Court shall be open to the public shall be such as the Lord Chancellor, with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice, may from time to time direct.
[E.r. 7]