King's Bench Division of the High Court

Administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service

What we do

The cases we most commonly handle are disputes relating to:

  • personal injury
  • negligence
  • breach of contract
  • breach of a statutory duty
  • breach of the Human Rights Act 1998
  • libel, slander and other torts
  • non-payment of a debt and ‘enforcement orders’ which allow the court to ensure that a party complies with a judgment against them

Many of these cases can also be heard by the Chancery Division.

We also handle:

  • applications to ‘enrol’ (register) deeds, including changing your name by deed poll
  • registration of judgments obtained abroad so that they can be enforced in England and Wales
  • election petitions to challenge the results of Parliamentary, European Parliamentary and local government elections
  • applications for bail
  • serving documents overseas and obtaining evidence for foreign courts
  • registration and satisfaction of ‘bills of sale’ (legal agreements transferring title between a seller and a purchaser)
  • ‘interpleader proceedings’ where a High Court Enforcement Officer is attempting to recover goods to settle a debt and a third party claims to be the owner of the goods

All of these cases can only be heard by the King’s Bench Division.

We maintain a list of group litigation orders (for managing cases where there are multiple claimants or defendants).

We contain a number of specialist courts with their own individual areas of work:

Who we are

We are one of 3 divisions of the High Court of Justice, together with the Chancery Division and the Family Division.

We are based at the Royal Courts of Justice in London and also at district registries across England and Wales. Hearings at the Royal Courts of Justice are heard by a High Court judge (or sometimes a deputy High Court judge or circuit judge) while other issues (eg case management, listing and most applications) are handled by a master.

Outside London, hearings are heard by circuit judges while the work of masters is handled by district judges.

Court information

Contact the King's Bench Division of the High Court

General enquiries

King's Bench Division
The Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London
WC2A 2LL
United Kingdom

Telephone

020 3936 8957

Opening hours and facilities: https://www.find-court-tribunal.service.gov.uk/courts/kings-bench-division