Judiciary should not be isolated from society, says new judge

Newly appointed judge Antonio Mizzi, once the target of a government boycott after being accused of being in breach of the judiciary's code of ethics, today said the judiciary should not be isolated from society and called for a review of the ethics code.

Mizzi was formerly the president of the Malta Basketball Association when the government launched a social boycott claiming that he was in breach of the code of ethics that prevents judges and magistrates from occupying such positions. Impeachment procedures against Judge Lino Farrugia Sacco - who still occupies the role of president of the Malta Olympic Committee -launched by former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi, are still ongoing in the Commission for the Administration of Justice.

Quoting the words of former Italian minister Antonio Brancaccio, Mizzi said the judiciary should show moral fibre, culture, and humility and that these factors precluded it from being isolated from society.

He attacked a policy that severed judges from any form of social interaction. "With the excuse of a strict adherence to the code of the ethics, most of us have been made to abandon our social duties... the code should be reviewed in a way as to mirror the occurrences of daily life."

"One may not agree with me. I believe our society is too small to refuse the help of any individual. Serving society over and above the judicial aspect, is a call of honour."

Mizzi, formerly a magistrate, praised the courts for much of its judicial work which he said "was carried out in silence". In a comment on the Bonello Commission's work on judicial reform, Mizzi said there was no need for laws to hasten the judicial system, but for better cooperation between the police, the Attorney General and private lawyers to work together for a proper judicial reform to take place.

"Applying common sense and better synergy amongst all sections of the court, would hasten our work, but then again common sense is not always so common," Mizzi said, adding that social cases, health sittings and housing matters should not even be dealt with in the courts but in other appropriate fora.

In his own address to Mizzi, the vice-president of the Chamber of Advocates Ian Spiteri Bailey called for both lawyers and judges to safeguard the law courts' authority by respecting their codes of ethics. "Lawyers must make choices that favour their profession and resist a modern temptation to consider it as some sort of business. If a lawyer wants to be part of the administration of justice, the search for truth, he must behave like one."