The court system was made a little bit more user-friendly yesterday with the introductions of three new services, including an SMS alert to notify lawyers when cases are put off.

Decrees and transcripts of evidence in civil cases would be sent by e-mail to the lawyers the minute they were available, the Parliamentary Secretary for Justice, Owen Bonnici, said.

Speaking on the steps of the law courts in Valletta, with the administration heads standing behind him, Dr Bonnici said these measures were just the first of the improvements that would be made. “We are still at the aperitif,” he said.

The idea was to move towards a fully virtual system in which cases could be filed from the comfort of lawyers’ offices, he said, adding that the Government wanted the Court Registry to be similar the Malta Financial Services Authority, where everything was filed online.

Decrees by the Family Court would only be sent to the lawyer asking for a court decision, in view of the sensitivity and nature of the cases.

Dr Bonnici said this would address the problem that people had been complaining about when Family Court decrees were communicated weeks after being handed down.

It would also stop the need for lawyers to go to the Court Registry to check whether decrees had been given.

Dr Bonnici acknowledged some members of the judiciary had already implemented a system whereby transcripts of evidence and decrees were delivered to lawyers.

Court security will be stepped up with the installation of a second X-ray machine at the main door to ease morning queues.

On Thursday morning, lines had stretched to the middle of Republic Street.

Dr Bonnici said the problem was too many cases began at 9am. He said there would be a system in which cases would start at times staggered throughout the day.

The additional X-ray machine would necessitate changes to the court structure and a planning permit had first to be issued before any work could be done.