When a procedural act must be taken by a person far from the court, can the statutory period be made longer, and who decides that?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we check where the person performing the procedural act lives or keeps an office, where the court, each prosecution office or branch office sits, and whether Supreme Court Rules extending the period cover the step in question, since the extension is set by those Rules rather than granted by the court.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the provision at its word: statutory periods may be extended by Supreme Court Rules, taking account of the distance between the domicile or office of the person who must perform the procedural act and the location of the court, each prosecution office or branch office, and of the degree of inconvenience of transport and communication.
Another reading stresses that the provision sets only the grounds on which Rules may extend periods and does not itself extend anything, so what matters in a file is whether a Supreme Court Rule in force covers the particular period and step, which the provision leaves open.
Your judgment
If the distance is great but transport is now easy, does the extension still reach this step under the Rules in force?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We revisit this card if Supreme Court Rules are amended to change which periods are extended or by how much, or if a decision explains how the distance and inconvenience are to be weighed.