The Commission for the Holistic Reform of the Justice System in Malta, headed by Judge Giovanni Bonello, published its detailed initial report earlier this month. It dealt with the judiciary, delays in concluding court cases and the place of technology in cutting down delays. It proposed taking 135 measures. Other aspects of the reform will be dealt with in a subsequent report.
Justice is not enough. It must be backed up by solidarity
Justice is one of four social values inherent in the dignity of man. The four values are truth, freedom, justice and love. These values are inter-related, and together, not singly, bring about genuine growth in the human person. Where they are put into practice together, they enhance the social existence of human beings.
Reading through the commission’s lengthy report, the values that clearly stand out are truth and justice, although freedom and love are also present to some extent.
All human beings are meant to seek the truth, respect it and bear responsible witness to it. Only where human living within a community is founded on truth, can it be ordered and fruitful, truly reflecting human dignity. The more individuals and groups seek to resolve social problems according to the truth, the more likely will their actions reflect objective ethical standards, which we know society needs and yet we often see sadly transgressed.
In the classic formulation of St Thomas Aquinas, justice “consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbour”. Justice towards God is referred to as the virtue of religion. Justice towards fellow human beings, on the other hand, is expressed by concrete acts that evidence the will to recognise the other as a person.
Catholic social teaching embraces the age-old forms of justice. These include distributive justice, which apportions goods, wealth and honour among citizens in terms of merit, needs and (as far as possible) equality.
Commutative justice, on the other hand, is concerned with various forms of relationships between human beings, particularly but not exclusively with righting wrongs.
Beyond this, social justice in Catholic thought has been given ever-greater attention, because social, political and economical issues have grown in importance, both on the national and on the international scale.
Justice must not be reduced to a mere contractual agreement between people. It is determined and thoroughly marked by the very nature and identity of the human being.
By itself, however, justice is not enough. It must be backed up by solidarity. As Pope John XXIII wrote in the encyclical Pacem in Terris (1963), peace will “be achieved through the putting into effect of social and international justice, and also through the practise of the virtues which favour togetherness, and which teach us to live in unity, so as to build in unity, by giving and receiving, a new society and a better world”.
The combination of the values of truth and justice in the commission’s report can be seen, for instance, in the attempt to ensure that the appointment of members of the judiciary be as transparent as possible, made after a public call for applications by a Judicial Appointments Commission, followed by the screening of applicants, and the commission’s subsequent recommendation to government.
In the same vein, the report praises the ongoing formation activities offered by the de facto existing Judicial Studies Committee, chaired by Judge Joseph David Camilleri. It recommends that this committee be established by law, and that a period of six to nine months mentoring (by way of apprenticeship) become obligatory when a person is first appointed to the judiciary.
Seminars organised by the committee should be obligatory, and unjustified absence at them considered a breach of the code of ethics.
Given our innate desire for truth and justice, it is in everyone’s interest that the reform of our justice system be permeated by the values mentioned above, be well thought-out and practicable, and enjoy the largest possible consensus.
Fr Robert Soler is a member of the Society of Jesus.