Judicial training should provide a judge and magistrate with the necessary skills to determine and recognise the line of demarcation between judicial and non-judicial duties and functions, Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano said yesterday.

Chief Justice De Gaetano was speaking at the commemoration of the third anniversary of the official launch of the Judicial Studies Committee (JSC).

He explained that ongoing judicial training is important not only to “sharpen the knowledge of judges and magistrates in the field of law, but also to familiarise them with methods and practices”.

They will be equipped with the necessary skills which will enable them to administer justice correctly and efficiently, he added.

Chief Justice De Gaetano said that when he became Chief Justice in 2002, he was requested by the then Justice Minister Austin Gatt to set up an academy for the training of judicial personnel, including judges and magistrates.

He went on to explain that he discussed the issue with Mr Justice Joseph David Camilleri, who was “the only member of the judiciary who had shown a sustained interest in judicial training and had already established contacts with various institutions abroad dealing with judicial training”.

Chief Justice De Gaetano said that he approached the minister with a counter-proposal that the judiciary should be responsible for, and manage, its own training programme independently of the academy.

This was accepted and the Judicial Studies Committee was launched, he said.

Mr Justice Camilleri was appointed chairman, now in his second term of office, and he is assisted by the deputy chairman, magistrate Silvio Meli.

Chief Justice De Gaetano pointed out that unfortunately members of the Judicial Studies Committee cannot take time off from their judicial duties.

Furthermore, he added, it was only last year that the JSC was officially recognised and allocated a budget.

Chief Justice De Gaetano referred to the Bill presented last year before Parliament, which proposed a specific reference to the JSC in the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure.

“This also is an important step towards the recognition and acceptance of the importance of such a body,” he said.

However, Chief Justice De Gaetano said, “there is still much to be done before we can claim to have a judicial training set-up worthy of a member State of the EU and the executive must play a more supportive but non-patronising role in this as well.”

He went on to say that judicial training is inseparable from that of judicial independence.

“Judges and magistrates cannot assert in practice their independence from the other two branches of government unless they are equipped with the skills to enable them to administer justice properly and efficiently,” said Chief Justice De Gaetano.

It is only then that they can stand out for what they really are – ministers of justice and defenders of the rule of law and the rights of citizens, he said.

Constructive and measured criticism by the judiciary of the executive is a necessary ingredient of good government and a practical application of the balance that must exist between these two branches of government, concluded Chief Justice De Gaetano.

In his address, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said that although services provided by the Judicial Studies Committee need to be developed further, they have given an opportunity to the members of the Bench to feel more

There are some professions where training is required before assuming office, Dr Borg said. In the field of the judiciary – as in politics – one is suddenly immersed in the workings of the profession, and left to find one’s way through motions, pleas, decrees, and the nightmare of any member of the judiciary: keeping up with the constant changes in law and procedures regularly enacted by the legislature.

The enactment of the European Union Act, 2003, making any EU Regulation directly enforceable in Malta – on the lines of UK European Communities Act, 1972, – means that no judge or magistrate, particularly in the civil and commercial litigation, can ignore the reality that laws, some of which might not even have been formally enacted through local legislature, would have to be interpreted and applied, in preference to domestic legislation.

The raising of an issue which might be within the competence of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg requires the member of our Bench to be alert and prepared to this new experience, Dr Borg said.

The Judicial Services Committee, aided by public funds, and contributions from the European Commission, the British High Commission, the United States and The Netherlands embassies, has done its very best to provide essential training in a number of subjects, practical and academic, which should prove to be useful to members of the Bench.

A strengthening of judicial training in the future will probably occur this year, with the admission of Malta to the Academy of European Law in Trier, Germany, the minister added.

The Academy was founded in 1992 on the initiative of the European Parliament and promotes the awareness, understanding and good practice of EU law by providing legal professionals, with training and a forum for debate.

It thus enables judges, lawyers in private practice, business and public administration, academics and others, who encounter legal issues in their work, to gain a wider and deeper knowledge of the diverse aspects of European law.

After three years from its inception, the Committee needs a fresh thrust to meet the challenges ahead. The opportunities created by Malta’s EU membership in this field, and particularly the participation in the European Judicial Training Network must be fully utilised.

Improving the state of legal preparedness of our judges and magistrates, is not only a question of preserving the dignity and prestige of judicial office in Malta, but also of ensuring the best possible quality in decisions and judgments delivered – particularly in the pastures new which we have ventured, Dr Borg said.