Updated 10.55am

Malta’s new Chief Justice used his inaugural sitting on Monday to send out a message that he was determined to tackle the ever-increasing workload before the superior court of appeal.

'No time to waste': Chief Justice Azzopardi dispensed with formalities and began hearing cases.

Chief Justice Joseph Azzopardi started off his inaugural speech by pointing out that, contrary to the norm, his first sitting was not to be a merely symbolic one but was to proceed with the hearing of a scheduled list of cases as any normal sitting would involve.

The message being sent out was that “since there is so much work to be done, we cannot waste time,” declared the Chief Justice, lending a new significance to the symbolic scenario normally associated with the inaugural ceremony.

Chief Justice Azzopardi attributed the ever-growing load of cases before the superior court of appeal to various factors, including the increasing number of judgments delivered by the First Hall, Civil Court as well as the fact that constitutional cases were on the rise.

The number of fast-track cases, ending up before the court of appeal, had also grown, the Chief Justice pointed out, adding that family cases needed to be handled without delay due to their nature.

Other cases involving massive Government contracts also fell under the fast-track list, as did arbitration cases, Chief Justice Azzopardi observed, which meant that the backlog continued to grow in spite of the record number of judgments handed down by the court of appeal.

Addressing Justice Minister Owen Bonnici and other parliamentarians present at the ceremony, the Chief Justice appealed to them to ensure that any possible amendments having a bearing on the work of the courts would be duly seen to.

'Humbled'

Saying he was “humbled” by the opportunity of following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Chief Justice Azzopardi, 63, vowed to do his utmost in the few years left to retirement age. Members of the judiciary must retire at the age of 65.

Chamber of Advocates President George Hyzler congratulated his former university colleague for his elevation to the highest post within the Maltese judiciary and lauded him for the “serene and persuasive style” in which he presided over his sittings.

Dr Hyzler appealed to the newly-appointed Chief Justice to address the problem of delays before the superior court of appeal.

In our modern society, marked by an attitude of “anything goes”, the Chamber would continue to speak out, as it did recently when two candidates to be admitted to the bar were found to possess a tainted criminal record.
Dr Hyzler stressed the need for a law to regulate the legal profession - “a lacuna in our system,” he said - which so far the Government has failed to tackle.

Turning to lawyers and legal procurators, the Chief Justice urged them to ensure that there would be no unnecessary delays on their part, such as when parties notice of summons to parties took excessively long to be issued and served, thereby delaying the hearing of cases.

Pointing out this serious shortcoming on the part of the Government, Dr Hyzler expressed his hope that the new Chief Justice would support this move, having himself occupied the position of President of the Chamber of Advocates between 2000 and 2003 and enjoying respect from all quarters.