More judges, magistrates needed, says Chief Justice

Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano yesterday insisted there was still a need for more judges and magistrates.

Speaking during the ceremony to mark the beginning of the forensic year, Mr Justice De Gaetano said that what he had said in his speech a year ago was still valid today because there was still a need for more members of the judiciary, especially magistrates.

"Whoever thinks that the problem stems from the delegation of the workload, and not the lack of people to carry out the work efficiently, is wrong," he said.

With the recent appointment of two female judges the number of judges has gone up to 19, but this was only temporary, he cautioned.

To start with, the new judges had been appointed before others were about to retire, one example being Mr Justice Anton Depasquale who was to retire in January.

Moreover, the new judges also covered for those who could not hold sittings for various reasons, including ill health.

Mr Justice De Gaetano said that one problem in the recruitment of judges and magistrates, especially when it came to older and more experienced individuals, was the pensions situation.

While not going into detail, he highlighted the fact that the Commission for Human Rights and the Commission for the Administration of Justice had already expressed their views on the matter with the government.

"The longer the government takes to deal with this problem of pensions for members of the judiciary, the worse the human resources problem will become," he said.

He added that the judiciary did not expect special treatment but was asking that its important and fundamental role in society be recognised.

Speaking about the newly appointed Mrs Justice Abigail Lofaro and Mrs Justice Anna Felice, he said they did not qualify because of "positive gender discrimination", but because they were qualified to fill the posts.

He referred also to the proposed amendments to the Civil Code, which dealt with the setting up of a section to deal with property matters.

While he also saw the need for a section to deal with commercial and maritime matters, he agreed with the setting up of specialised sections in the Civil Courts.

Such a section ensured that the judge was focused and specialised and, therefore, more efficient. However, one had to ensure that the infrastructure and human resources were in place.

The Chief Justice called for a careful study of the amendments and their repercussions. If amendments were proposed and discussed in Parliament in a hasty manner, there was the risk that good ideas would become counter productive, he said.

On his part, the president of the Chamber of Advocates, Robert Mangion expressed satisfaction at the appointment of the two female judges.

He spoke about difficulties lawyers faced when working during the summer, especially in August, and proposed a legislative intervention that would regulate work during the summer holidays so that legal time limits would be suspended unless a case was urgent.

Dr Mangion complained about the lack of space available for sittings and meetings. Although a few years ago additional rooms were built, there was still an urgent need for space.

He quoted a recent speech by the Parliamentary Secretary for Justice who said that lawyers were to blame for delays in court.

Such comment was uncalled for and, Dr Mangion added, many agreed that the problem stemmed from the many civil cases being heard.

Most civil cases took years to be decided and this ought to be stopped by abiding by the Code of Organisational and Civil Proceedings which laid down a time frame within which cases were to be heard. This would allow a case to be decided within a few sittings.

In order for this to become a reality, he said, all the court rooms had to operate in the same way and judges needed the assistance of a judicial team.

He expressed concern at a recently proposed amendment stating that, if a case had been pending for over three years, the parities may request that it be assigned to another judge.

This was not the solution. The solution lay in abiding by procedure and moving away from the current mentality were up to 40 cases were appointed for one sitting.

He expressed gratitude and satisfaction at the fact that suggestions by the chamber, on amendments to the Criminal Code, had been considered and even adopted.