Notification by SMS or e-mail of cancelled court sittings is part of a comprehensive review of the judicial system that Labour is promising to implement by the end of the year if elected.
We want the law courts to communicate directly with the public
Labour leader Joseph Muscat pledged yesterday that the review would encompass all aspects of the system, including the way judges and magistrates are appointed.
He indicated that Labour already had someone in mind to conduct the review.
Dr Muscat declined to name the person but said whoever was charged with the task would be universally respected, politically independent and beyond reproach.
Speaking outside the law courts in Valletta, he said he wanted “a system that works for the people, not the other way round”.
It was also time the courts moved into the digital age.
“We want the law courts to communicate directly with members of the public, who are the courts’ primary customers,” he said.
Aside from SMS and e-mail alerts for deferred sittings, court cases would also be scheduled electronically, doing away with the problem of cases being put off due to lawyers having multiple cases being heard at the same time.
He acknowledged that the end-of-year deadline was tight but said he expected any eventual justice minister to have the review’s conclusions in place by the start of 2014.
A perennial complaint about Malta’s court system is the long time it often takes to conclude cases.
Malta’s judiciary has also been rocked by a series of scandals over recent years, with the most recent being the resignation – and ongoing trial – of former judge Ray Pace on corruption charges.
Members of the judiciary are appointed by the President on the Prime Minister’s nomination. Dr Muscat suggested moving towards a system involving broader parliamentary scrutiny of candidates but said nothing was being excluded.
“The review might recommend a medium- to long-term shift to a specialised judiciary with specific post-graduate training. We’re open to suggestions – but the existing system definitely has to go,” Dr Muscat said.
A specially trained judiciary has previously been suggested by a former judge in the European Court of Human Rights, Giovanni Bonello.
Dr Muscat also said that enacting whistleblower legislation would be a priority for a Labour government, and suggested two changes to the current draft law.
The first would make whistleblower legislation applicable retroactively, while the second would ensure anyone exposing the truth was immune from prosecution if their evidence was self-incriminating.
Dr Muscat also said the Commission for the Administration of Justice needed to be given broader powers of enforcement.