Lawyer Franco Debono has proposed a change to the role of the Chief Justice.

Currently, the Chief Justice sits on the Court of Superior Civil Appeals the Court of Superior Criminal Appeal and the Constitutional Court. All three courts are made up of three judges, with the Chief Justice sitting on all three.

Debono is arguing that the Chief Justice should not remain on all three. He said that he has complete faith in the current Chief Justice and that he is speaking about the system not the incumbent.

Debono said that "we live in an era of specialisation."

In a vlog on Facebook, he asked whether the time has come to debate whether the Chief Justice should preside over all those courts, arguing that changing this will help divide the workload and reduce delays. He said that lawyers themselves specialise in fields, and thus this means that they are not as knowledgeable in all areas of the law.

He said that the Chief Justice should remain presiding over the Constitutional Court and that the two Courts of Superior Appeals should be presided over by someone else, judges specialised in those fields. "You cannot expect to have one person specialise in all three."

He took aim at criticism about delays, adding that cases before the European Court of Human Rights for example, sometime stake up to five years. He said that the Maltese judiciary kept working even during the pandemic.

Debono said that he had proposed reforms in 2011 which are still relevant today, as one of the proposals regarding raising of the retirement age to 68 for members of the judiciary is currently being discussed in Parliament. He also said he agrees with the Association of Judges and Magistrates on the need to appoint new members of the judiciary in a manner that tests the recent reforms.