Amnesties given out on the government's advice were frustrating law-abiding citizens and detracting from the public's esteem for the law courts, Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri said today.

In a speech to mark the opening of the new forensic year, the Chief Justice said that those that followed the law were furious especially after having gone through the inconvenience of having to comply with their legal obligations. Meanwhile, those who did not were given amnesties and this, he said, led to a sense that the law was not equal for all.

“I believe it is time for a serious reflection on this practice,” he said.

Shortage of human resources 

The Chief Justice again complained that the number of judges in Malta was well below the EU average and that this made the necessary changes to improve the judicial system all the more difficult.

“You might be asking yourself how many times will he bring this up, well I hope that one day the judiciary will have all the necessary resources and I won't have to mention this matter again,” he said.

Despite a lack of human resources, he said, the past year, like the preceding one, had marked an improvement in the performance of the courts, both civil and criminal, with more cases concluded than new ones registered. This, he explained, meant that the number of pending cases had dipped.  

New law courts

Dr Camilleri also said it could be time to consider moving the law courts from the current court house on Republic Street.

The building being used today was too small and office spaces were shrinking every year. An increase in human resources would be pointless if these did not have the space to work, he said.

Misinformed scrutiny

The Chief Justice said that while public scrutiny of the judicial system was important, this was often purely of a negative nature, particularly in the media. Criticism of the judiciary was often made without the necessary legal knowledge or without insight into the particular case or judgement.

Juvenile court

The Chief Justice also referred to recurrent problems at the juvenile court, which he said was also not fit for purpose.

The current building, in Sta Venera, was inconvenient for all parties’ concerned, including court experts and police. It was not large enough and it was used by other entities so equipment such as video players and TVs, often used in cases involving minors, had to be set up for every single sitting.

(Read the full speech in Maltese on pdf below)

Judicial appointments still political - Chamber of Advocates

Earlier, Chamber of Advocates president George Hyzler complained that although the government had introduced a number of judicial reforms, the way members of the judiciary were appointed was still “political”.

Dr Hyzler said the legal amendments introduced over the past year had not reflected what the chamber had called for.

“We are certainly not going to be stopping here in our efforts to convince the authorities that the executive can no longer be involved in, or at least should be distanced from the appointment of new members of the judiciary,” Dr Hyzler said.

The reform to the system by which members of the judiciary are appointed has seen the introduction of a mechanism by which the Justice Minister would now have to explain why he chose to ignore recommendations for such appointments in Parliament. While this was a step forward, it was not enough he said.

Still no new regulations for lawyers

Dr Hyzler said there was a “strange situation” today where the government was being asked by the legal profession for increased regulation for lawyers.

The chamber has long been calling for new regulations to govern the legal profession, however, another year had gone by without these having been introduced.

Dr Hyzler questioned whether this was because the government was being pressured not to introduce such changes.

Better regulations, he said, would mean better ethical practices, and a legal profession that was held to higher esteem by the general public.

Illustrating how the sector needed a regulatory revamp, Dr Hyzler said there was no way for a member of the public to know if someone was a licensed lawyer, other than to look at the warrant often hanging on their office wall.

An academic exercise by Albert Ganado had created a list of lawyers from 1666 until WW II but there was no current comprehensive list for today’s professionals, he said.