Judiciary disheartened by indiscriminate criticism - chief justice

The new chief justice yesterday had a few choice words for 'indiscriminate' critics, saying the situation at the law courts was not as black as painted by some politicians and journalists who made sweeping statements without offering a hint of a solution.

Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano voiced his concern at "the trend, which has sprouted in some quarters of late, of criticising the judiciary and its administration with gay abandon", possibly because it was well known that the judiciary felt ethically bound not to be drawn into responding to criticism, whether fair or not.

Chief Justice De Gaetano spoke at the ceremony marking the start of the forensic year, which traditionally marks the end of the summer recess, and said matters had been bad enough before recess, which was "dominated by a great sadness".

Judges and magistrates had been disheartened mainly because of recurrent attacks, most of which had been unfair. They now had to face the fact that it was not going to be easy to reacquire the public's trust but the task was not impossible and the judiciary was committed to making "the extra effort and sacrifice required, in the circumstances, to ensure that the people could be really proud of their judicial system".

The new chief justice's remarks echoed that of his predecessor last year when the then chief justice Joseph Said Pullicino had warned that the administration of justice was under a concerted 'emasculating' attack although he acknowledged that there could be elements at work within the judiciary which were colouring public perception.

Criticism was all very well, Chief Justice De Gaetano said yesterday, constructive criticism was actually essential and very welcome, but indiscriminate and generic criticism only served to dishearten the judiciary particularly when they were faced with it week after week after week and from different quarters, be it Parliament or the media. And most of the time the critics did not even offer a hint of a solution.

These remarks led the judge to "start asking himself: what happened to all those hours I spent hearing cases, all the hours at home, Sundays and holidays included, writing judgments with great concentration so as to do my best not to make mistakes, the sacrifices my family and friends had to make for me to carry out my duties to the best of my ability, what happened to all this?"

"Or was it just an illusion? Do judges really spend all their time chatting on the phone, running up astronomical bills, or frequenting places and societies of ill-repute? Is this the reality?"

The chief justice made only two somewhat veiled references to what he described as the traumatic crisis of the past summer.

"Our holidays, if one can say we had any this summer, were clouded by a great sadness. The judiciary ... faced a crisis and its traumatic effect is still being felt and will be felt for years to come.

"Naturally, since the alleged facts which gave rise to this crisis are currently sub judice, I should not, I can not and I will not say more.

"I will only say that it is now up to us to show, in deed and not just in words, that this country has a judiciary which deserves trust."

In a second reference to the after-effects of the resignation of two judges over charges of bribery, Chief Justice De Gaetano said the resignations had meant the work had to be redistributed among the remaining judges and this had led to some judges' workload increasing by 100 or 200 cases.

He warned lawyers they would be asked to make submissions afresh in some cases so as to apprise the new judge of the facts of the case and asked them to be prepared and to cooperate.

He then moved on to make suggestions for the improvement of the administration of justice, reminding everyone that they were there to provide a service which was essential to any democracy.

"The public, or maybe the journalists and columnists who write in the newspapers, as well as the politicians, have to appreciate that it is a service which has to be carried out according to law, following legal procedures with all the formality of the law as well as judicial time limits.

"It is also a service provided in the context of thousands of pending cases, applications and other proceedings and in the context of the fact that the day has but 24 hours and that everyone requires some time off, judges too."

Chief Justice De Gaetano found the time to single out the work of magistrates, saying their investigative role was probably not very much appreciated or even that well known, except when some sensational case hit the headlines as had happened last year (with reference to the magisterial inquiry into the allegations which led to the police commissioner's resignation).

The magistrates' new role took up quite some time, time which magistrates previously utilised to hear cases or write judgments, the chief justice said in the presence of only half the complement of magistrates for the ceremony.

He also remarked that statistics were all very well, and at times quite important to help highlight shortcomings, but simple comparisons between the figures of the judgments given by magistrates or judges was at best farcical and at worst a disheartening exercise.

The figures alone could not illustrate what kind of work went into each and every judgment.

The chief justice also appealed to the administration to understand the need for cooperation and to respond quickly to requests and not when weeks and months had gone by and the response came too late to be effective.

On the other hand, the judiciary were cautioned against losing their temper and making public scenes about the administration because it was important that court staff were not made to feel publicly humiliated.

He also expressed concern at taking people to court for nothing, saying he was mostly worried when witnesses who had no interest in the outcome of a case were repeatedly summoned for nothing.

He called on the police to work harder at delivering court summons because it was pointless summoning witnesses if a defendant was not properly summoned and failed to appear.

The chief justice's remarks, rounded off with Rudyard Kipling's If, were made in response to the traditional speech made by the president of the Chamber of Advocates.

Chamber president Joseph Azzopardi promised the cooperation of lawyers and other members of the legal field to help regain the public's trust in the institution but called on the authorities to throw their gaze at other institutions emitting "a bad smell" because the problems faced by the law courts were not limited to it but were rather existent in other institutions and government departments.

"It would be well, amid all this talk of lifestyles, to examine the lifestyles of certain people whose salaries certainly do not permit the luxury they live in," Dr Azzopardi said, auguring that recent events would serve as a lesson to all and sundry.

In the evening, the Labour spokesman on justice Anglu Farrugia complained in Parliament that no seat was reserved for him in the court room unlike previous years.