Updated 5.25pm with Chamber of Advocates comments

It is time for Malta’s courts to physically split up and move to different buildings, Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti believes.

Having specialised courts housed in their own buildings is a “necessity not a capricious wish”, Malta’s top judge argued on Monday at the start of the forensic year. 

Malta’s main court building, in Valletta, is bursting at the seams and struggles to house the cases – and people – it currently does. 

People are currently forced to wait for hours without finding anything to eat or anywhere to sit, in stuffy corridors which lack air conditioning and where windows are kept shut for security reasons. 

The Chief Justice believes it is now time for the government to invest in medium-sized buildings in Valletta or nearby to house particular courts, such as the Commercial Court and the Criminal Court.

He noted that the Family Court, which currently operates from a site just around the corner from the main court building, is too small to handle the load of very sensitive cases assigned to it. 

It is common to see people milling around outside the court entrance on Strait Street, waiting their turn simply because there is not enough space to accommodate everyone inside, he noted. 

In a similar vein, the three judges presiding over family cases just could not keep up with the workload heading their way, he added. 

Similar shortcomings plague the Gozo law courts building in Victoria. 

The Gozo Court cannot keep struggling against the serious administrative shortcomings whilst delivering its duties as necessary and expected, the Chief Justice argued. 

Chief Justice Chetcuti was speaking during the opening speech marking the start of the 2023-24 forensic year, as all members of Malta’s judiciary and other VIPs listened on. 

Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti surrounded by other judges and magistrates. Photo: Jonathan Borg

While his call for a physical reassignment of court spaces is a longer-term one, the chief justice’s speech proved to be a veritable handbook of practical shorter-term suggestions to address the ever-present challenges faced by justice systems both locally and abroad.

Additional judges, magistrates 

Increasing the current complement of five judges presiding over civil appeals from the superior courts, by another two judges would surely not place too great a burden on the administration, but would doubtlessly help to cut down on the present backlog of cases which currently stands at around 800, he suggested. 

Although the five judges have gone a long way in almost halving the pending appeals, there were an average 400 new cases filed annually over the past two years. 

Appointing another magistrate to hear domestic violence cases is another “necessary and indispensable” measure.

Such cases filed at the rate of some 1000 per year, reflect the ever-growing problem of domestic violence that needs to be addressed and to ensure timely justice with victims but also with the accused who is either cleared as soon as possible or serves punishment. 

Money laundering proceedings are also on the rise, with the two magistrates currently handling those cases finding it very difficult to keep up with the “volume and complexity” thereof. 

Another magistrate is necessary to lend a hand.

With the recent amendments to rental laws, the Rent Regulations Board has been flooded with claims for increases in rent.

Some 1000 new claims were filed this year.

This workload could be shifted to specialized tribunals, thus relieving some of the pressure faced by the magistrates who currently preside over the RRB. 

Persons appointed to preside such tribunals could be selected in the same manner as members of the judiciary so as to ensure transparency in the process, also ensuring that the persons chosen are competent, independent and impartial. 

There is also an urgent need for two new magistrates to handle the “large volume” of summary drug cases, collisions and law enforcement concerning health, hunting and environmental issues. 

Hours after his speech, the Justice Ministry said it would be opening posts for two new judges and two new magistrates to join the judiciary. 

Anachronistic systems

The “anachronistic” system of court notification also needs to be tackled to ease unnecessary delays in court hearings. 

The system today is focused mainly manual-focused with court “employees running about here and there” to track down the person to be served notice. 

When all attempts fail, the notice must be affixed to the local police station or Local Council offices and published in the Government Gazette and two newspapers. 

The system needs to be tweaked to make it more efficient.

The time has come for each magistrate, like judges, to be allocated a court attorney to assist with the workload, even by helping with the drafting of judgments.

Attracting the right staff to join the local judicial system would require more than a wage reform, he said, adding that budding lawyers should be introduced to court practice even throughout their student days.

Finally, the Chief Justice believes that the distinction between magistrates and judges should be abolished.

Removing the existing distinction would place all members of the judiciary on the same footing and remove the “undue shadow” cast upon magistrates, whilst helping to overcome the “artificial boundary” between the lower and superior courts, concluded the Chief Justice.

Chamber of Advocates

The Vice President of the Chamber of Advocates, Stephen Tonna Lowell, told the audience that a specific court or tribunal should be assigned issues concerning fines handed down by regulators. 

Fines imposed by regulators like the FIAU and MFSA have triggered an influx of cases faced by the constitutional courts, presenting an additional burden for these courts. 

Tonna Lowell said the Chamber believes that such issues ought to be handled by a court or tribunal, providing people with an ordinary remedy without needing to resort to the constitutional courts. 

The chamber vice president reiterated calls for specific legislation regulating the legal profession – calls that date back well over a decade. 

Unlike other traditional professions, lawyers lacked ad hoc legislation and the Chamber found it difficult to understand why the legal profession was singled out by such a lack of regulations, he said. 

During meetings with the new Justice Minister, the need for such a law has been acknowledged and suggestions made for setting up a working group to this effect. 

That, Tonna Lowell said, was a “very positive step”. 

The Chamber said it looked forward to revisions to the system of compilation of evidence proceedings being introduced to speed up criminal justice. The system worked well, it said, and it was just some defects within it that caused delays.

It also called for the magistrates’ courts to get immediate access to case records, to be able to speed up proceedings.