The pending caseload at the Civil Court (First Hall) and the Magistrates Court continued to fall in April, with more cases decided than the number of new cases introduced.

The Civil Court (First Hall) reduced its number of pending cases by three per cent compared to the end of 2001, while the Magistrates Court registered a decrease of 12 per cent.

However, the various appeal courts as well as the Constitutional Court registered slight increases, and the trend since January has been for the number of new appeals to exceed that of disposed appeals.

This had no doubt been influenced by the change in Chief Justices and the consequent redistribution of judicial duties, a Justice Ministry statement said.

The ministry said that now that the redistribution had been given full effect, it was expected that the contrary trend would be registered in the coming months.

The Small Claims Tribunal again registered an increase in backlog and April saw more cases introduced than cases disposed of.

This tribunal, the ministry said, had gained in popularity since the introduction of the reforms, with new cases in the first four months of this year registering a four-fold increase compared to the same period last year.

The intention was to make good for this increase through the appointment this month of a new adjudicator.

The number of new cases introduced in all civil courts and tribunals in the first four months of this year was 1,307 compared to 979 last year.

The criminal courts of appeal and the Criminal Court have maintained disposal rates at the level of new introduced cases which means that the backlog has been maintained at the same level as at the end of 2001.

The Magistrates Court (Criminal) in Malta in April disposed of more cases than were introduced and compared to the end of last year has further reduced its backlog by some 1,000 cases.

The contrary has, however, been registered in the Gozo Court where the number of pending cases increased by 120.

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