Doing justice to the law courts

The court house is getting a much needed face-lift with the largest court room, number 22, being restored to its pristine state.

Giuseppe Sammut, a 60-year-old painter, who has been part of the court house maintenance team for the last 20 years, can remember it being built.

"I can still recollect the hole and the foundations being set by the contractor Joseph Micallef, who went by the nickname Fażolu," he reminisced.

Mr Sammut says he could not remember when the court house was last given such a sprucing up, adding that it was long overdue.

So far, court rooms number six, seven, 12 and 13 have been finished. The custard-coloured thick paint which covered the portico entrance to every court room has been removed and the stone stripped to reveal the limestone.

Court room number 22, which is the largest room in the court house and usually used for criminal trials, is undergoing extensive works. Painting and varnishing are well under way and it promises to be quite spectacular once finished.

A Malta Environment and Planning Authority permit is currently pending to replace the bases of the columns on the façade which have eroded over time.

The columns do not structurally support the court building and are simply aesthetic, only holding up the portico on a façade typical of many court houses around the world.

This series of refurbishments started in winter when the front doors were all stripped and re-varnished. Work is expected to draw to a close before the end of summer.

Ċensu Attard, a 59-year-old registrar in the criminal court, who has worked for the Law Courts since before the present building was even conceived, recalls how the Magistrates' Court was situated in Old Bakery Street while the Judges were in Auberge D'Italie in Merchants Street.

"I have been working here for so long I can remember the time when the entire judiciary were still working lawyers," he said, adding that the workload, since the 1970s, has increased twofold with the substantial increase in social problems.

"There was an explosion in the number of drug cases in the late 1980s and early 1990s," he said.

He laments the small changes that have taken place, such as lawyers no longer being required to keep to the strict dress code especially when defending someone.

"Women had to wear a veil in the court room and the judges always wore full attire, no matter what. Things were different back then."