The president of the Chamber of Advocates, Reuben Balzan, said today that while he backed calls for the members of the judiciary to be adequately compensated and supported in their work, the people were also right to expect accountability from them.

In a forthright speech at the ceremony to mark the opening of the Forensics year, Dr Balzan  said Malta needed a system to deal effectively with the issue of accountability from the members of the judiciary.

Other organs of the state, such as the Executive, were accountable to the people, he observed. The members of the judiciary  were right to expect autonomy and independence, but the people were right to expect that the members of the judiciary who they appeared before acted with dignity and integrity both professionally and in their life.

The people were also right to expect that justice was administered effectively within a reasonable time, that cases were not repeatedly put off, that judgements were not put off for years, and that sittings were held on time.

They expected that when this did not happen, discipline was administered.

Dr Balzan said that unfortunately, the Commission for the Administration of Justice lacked teeth.  If the commission felt that a member of the judiciary was not working effectively, or if his or her behaviour could impact on the people's confidence in the law courts, it could only draw attention to this failing. Other than that, the only other measure which could be taken was removal of that particular judge or magistrate through a resolution approved by two-thirds of the members of parliament.

Malta, Dr Balzan said, needed an effective mechanism of discipline and accountability between these two extremes. That there was nothing in between these two extremes was ridiculous.

In his address Dr Balzan referred to the recent boycott of national events by the members of the judiciary, saying that reflected the extreme situation which they felt they had reached because of poor compensation and a lack of sufficient support.

Clearly, he insisted, the compensation of the members of the judiciary should reflect their responsibilities and should equal that of the higher echelons of the civil service.

The members of the judiciary also needed to be effectively supported by judicial teams.

But, Dr Balzan said, that was only part of the picture. The people needed to have confidence in the judiciary. Justice needed to be done but also seen to be done. The people needed to be satisfied that the members who they appeared before were persons of integrity in their life. The people also needed to be respected.

Most of the members of the judiciary were what the people expected of them, but the behaviour of even one member of the judiciary could have a bearing on the people's respect of the judiciary as a whole.

In his speech Dr Balzan also called a common diary system or better management of cases, saying this was a major problem which needed to be solved as soon as possible.