Rule 47. Adjournment of appeal

Chapter V · Hearing of Appeal

47.1 The rule

The Appellate Tribunal may, on such terms as deem fit and at any stage of the proceedings, adjourn the hearing of the appeal.

47.2 What it does

Rule 47 is the Rules' expression of the Tribunal's power to put a hearing off, and on its own face it is unconditional in three respects: no ground is prescribed, no number of adjournments is fixed, and no stage of the proceedings is excluded. Two of those silences are filled by the Act itself — the proviso to s.113(2) requires reasons to be recorded in writing and caps adjournments at three per party during the hearing of the appeal (see (g) below). What r.47 does supply is the leverage — "on such terms as deem fit" — and terms are where the rule bites.