Judges’ appointments must no longer be political, says Chamber president

The president of the Chamber of Advocates, former Nationalist minister George Hyzler, has called for a system of appointments for magistrates and judges that is carried out by a committee independent of the government.

Hyzler’s speech on the start of the new forensic year was made to a new line-up of judges and magistrates which included new appointments by the Labour administration of former party officials.

“The executive must relinquish its unfettered right to appoint members of the judiciary. Advanced democracies have systems with various checks and balances and without the complete withdrawal of the executive, but we should aim at the separation of its legislative and justice powers,” Hyzler said.

Under Labour, new judges and magistrates included Wenzu Mintoff, a former Labour MP (1989) who formed Alternattiva Demokratika and spent years there before rejoining Labour to run for MEP in 2004; former international secretary Joe Mifsud, and former mayor Monica Vella.

A new appointment for chief justice is also in the offing if Silvio Camilleri is successful in a candidacy for judge to the EU’s Court of First Instance.

But for years, Malta's judiciary has been exclusively nominated by the government of the day. Now, a commission led by former ECHR judge Giovanni Bonello has recommended an independent body to scrutinise appointments.

“The separation of powers has to be reflected in the recruitment of judges as well as their removal. This is no hypothetical situation, but one we’ve been through… where judges’ impeachments saw partisan interests trumping the institution’s credibility,” Hyzler, who chairs the Malta Arbitration Centre, said.

Hyzler took issue with the government’s request for the resignation of the members of the Industrial Tribunal. “Whatever the grade of judicial assistants, they cannot be considered as political nominations. And this applies to the various tribunals and commissions.”

Hyzler also said he disagreed with the appointment of lawyers to preside over the Small Claims Tribunal. “You find yourself facing them in a court case one moment, and then deciding on your case in the tribunal… I find it hard to digest this sort of principle.”

The former MP went further in questioning appointments of Court Attorneys made on a ‘person of trust’ basis whose tenure and reappointment was “at the executive’s leisure and pleasure”.

Hyzler recommended that judges and magistrates facing backlogs should have their retirements postponed by two years to clear their caseloads. “It is a shame that these retired members, whose contribution is still valid, no longer serve the public good. I also think this would address retiring judges’ financial situation better than having them appointed to inquiries… the safeguards of their ‘independence’ indeed no longer apply after retirement, so I think it’s mistaken to exploit their ‘independence’ when appointing these retired members. If the executive needs independent judges for its inquiries, it should appoint those sitting judges who enjoy constitutional safeguards.”

Hyzler also complained of the lack of resources for the judiciary’s and lawyers’ watchdog, the Commission for the Administration of Justice, and the pace of change that was expected to be brought upon by the Bonello report’s reform.

He praised the clearance rate of cases of over 100% since 2012, but said the disposition time of cases – the time it takes for cases to be decided – had also increased. “We look towards the new year with optimism, and I’m convinced there is good will from the protagonists of the administration of justice in Malta, who are genuinely determined in improving the state of judicial administration.”

Chief Justice: more transparency needed in judicial appointments

Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri has called for more transparency in judicial appointments by the government, and more forward planning for judges’ and magistrates’ retirement.

Camilleri said he was a supporter of having an independent authority scrutinise government nominations to the bench, and added that vacancies should be addressed two years before a judge is set to retire, in his address for the opening of the 2015-2016 forensic year.

He said retiring judges left a backlog of cases that had to be redistributed and reduced, creating both logistical and legal problems.

And he also recognised that there was a genuine effort to fill vacancies which arise in the judiciary, but that it was not always easy to find lawyers who are willing to serve as members of the judiciary.

The Chief Justice also said the volume of work in the family court was always on the increase, and called for an additional judge to be appointed, as well as more judges to handle the courts’ backlog of cases.