The Nationalist Party has urged the government to allocate more manpower and provide a better infrastructure for the law courts.

In a statement to mark the opening of the forensic year, the shadow minister for justice, Karol Aquilina, said delays remained the biggest problem at the law courts. 

It was pointless of the government to announce the re-establishment of the Commercial Court or reforms of the Family Court unless resources and space were provided for them. 

He observed that according to official statistics, at the end of July 2024, in the criminal sector, a magistrate had 8,401 pending procedures, including 2,588 traffic cases and 5,558 appeals from decisions of the Commissioner for Justice. Another magistrate had 1,483 pending domestic violence cases and another magistrate had 1,347 pending district cases. 

In the civil sector, five judges each had over 500 pending cases before them. Six judges each had between 400 and 500 pending cases. The Constitutional Court had 323 pending cases before it. 

"These statistics show that in our country, thousands of individuals and businesses are suffering injustice due to excessive delays," Aquilina said.

"Our judges and magistrates are being asked to do the impossible in fulfilling their duties, with limited resources."

He said it was also scandalous that, after almost a year, magistrates who were appointed solely to carry out magisterial inquiries were without adequate space from which to work and without permanent staff.

"If the government continues to fail to invest in the justice system, it would be choosing not to respect the rule of law and instead obstruct citizens in the enjoyment of their rights," Aquilina said.