Opposition to vote in favour of civil procedure amendment bill

The Opposition will be supporting government's bill to amend the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure, even though Labour MPs Jose Herrera and Justyne Caruana expressed their concern that through this bill the hands of the Court of Appeal will be tied.

Presented by Justice Minister Chris Said, the aim of the bill is to explicitly provide for the right of appeal from decisions of the Family court. Another aim is to remove obstacles to the hearing of causes that arise when a party to a cause dies or where there are many plaintiffs or defendants to a cause.

The bill also proposes the provision for a right of appeal when the production of a document which is an exempt document in terms of article 637(4) of the Code is ordered in a court of first instance.