The pending case load in the civil courts has dropped below 10,000 for the first time in 16 years, but there is room for improvement in certain appeals courts, with Justice Minister Owen Bonnici commenting that these are giving the government "a hard time".

In the criminal court the drop in pending cases was modest and the figure is still hovering above 14,000.

Details on the pending caseload at the law courts up to the end of last month, were divulged this morning during a new conference marking the launch of a quality service charter.

The document outlines the citizens rights when resorting to the the judicial system and other general information on the services available at the law courts.
It transpired that up to last June the pending caseload in the civil courts was of 9,560, down from 11,208 in 2012. During this period the clearance rate (ratio between resolved and incoming cases) improved from 108 per cent to 127 per cent.

In the criminal court there are currently 14,301 pending cases, which is about 500 less from the corresponding figure of four years ago. The clearance rate improved from 99 per cent to 106 per cent.

While expressing himself satisfied on the momentum gained by the government to reduce pending cases, the Justice Minister said he was not satisfied by certain appeals courts. While noting that an increase in judgments in the lower courts would likely result in a higher number of appeals being filed he said that in certain quarters the government has being given "a hard time" in its bid to reduce the case load.

As for the criminal courts he said the solution is to increase the number of magistrates and judges. He also noted that three new court rooms are being built to address the pending case load.

Referring to the service charter, Dr Bonnici acknowledged that it was not yet up to the desired standard as the government was aiming to set maximum duration times for court cases. Nevertheless he said that this was still a very important step