The main responsibility to ensure a court case proceeds smoothly falls on the presiding judge or magistrate. Still, there are a number of factors that could and, indeed do, adversely affect the justice supply chain.

Just days ago, in an outburst, a superior court judge hit out at what he defined as a “new practice” by some lawyers, dreaming up every kind of mechanism to do their best to hamper the course of justice.

On the pretext of protecting an accused person’s rights, Mr Justice Francesco Depasquale said, such lawyers drag out proceedings for “years or decades”. Then, when the criminal proceedings are concluded, the same lawyers claim their client’s fundamental rights were breached by the delay they themselves were primarily to blame for, the judge said.

This was only the latest ‘episode’ in the administration-of-justice circus.

It was the same judge who, just over a year ago, severely criticised the government for failing to provide the resources necessary for the judiciary to function effectively and deliver justice within a reasonable time.

Speaking as president of the Association of Judges and Magistrates of Malta, Mr Justice Depasquale had, two years earlier, warned that the situation in court was “certainly critical”, adding that, if “urgent and immediate action” was not taken, it could lead to “the eventual collapse of the essential institution responsible for maintaining the rule of law”.

Lawyers blame the delays on an outdated court system. Working practices and laws of procedure must change to make the judicial process smoother and “more aligned to the 21st century”, the president of the Chamber of Advocates declared early last year.

Just a few weeks later, Magistrate Victor Axiaq lambasted the police prosecution over “another classic example of unnecessarily dragged-out proceedings”.

Later that same year, the attorney general was given a dressing down by Madam Justice Joanne Vella Cuschieri because of an “unjustified” and “capricious” delay in issuing a bill of indictment, giving rise to a “surreal” situation.

Justice Minister Jonathan Attard certainly made a good synthesis of the prevailing situation when speaking in parliament more than a year ago.

“We must not point fingers at one source of the problem, and we must not isolate any sector in our criticism… There are cases where the lack of resources leads to delays as there are circumstances where the parties abuse. There are also members of the judiciary who do not tolerate such abuses and have full control of their courtroom but others who are lax in discipline. We cannot attribute the cause to a single source,” he rightly said.

But did he walk the talk? Hardly.

Those on the receiving end cannot be blamed for disagreeing with the minister when he said efficiency in court is not “an impossible milestone”. The recent report putting Malta right at the bottom of an EU list showing the average time taken for the court to decide on cases against the government speaks volumes.

The main stakeholders in the justice delivery chain all seem to acknowledge problems exist and can even identify them. However, rather than make a concerted effort to take the bull by the horns, they only point fingers at each other. In the meantime, unjustified delays persist, injustices law-abiding people may be experiencing becoming even more pronounced.

The right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time is protected by both the constitution and the European Human Rights Convention. Sadly, it is increasingly being respected more in its breach. Shame.