New Chief Justice - 'family law system outdated'

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4: The island’s family law system needs upgrading if it is to better serve the community, according to new Chief Justice Ian Kawaley.

The island’s top judge, who has vast experience in civil cases, said the current system had become outdated due to a rise in divorces and children not living with both parents.

Mr Kawaley told the Sun divorce petitioners should no longer have to give oral evidence from the witness box at hearings.

And he said the lack of family court social workers also needed to be addressed.

Ramifications

Mr Kawaley added: “It is more important to ensure the courts are able to devote the time and expertise which is required to deal with family law, especially the welfare of children because it can have dramatic human ramifications.

“At present there is only one family court social worker, who has to prepare all the court reports.

“It is impossible to deny that is a deficiency that needs to be addressed.

“It should also be possible to get a divorce without having to hear oral evidence from the petitioner going into the witness box.

“That happens every Friday morning once a month.

“If you got rid of that requirement the cost of divorce proceedings would be reduced.

“It has been abolished in other jurisdictions and is something we need to abolish here.”

Mr Kawaley said that the basis for his recomendations was the 2009 Law Reform Sub Commitee Report called Justice For Families. He maintained the family law system was served by good judges, good lawyers and good support professionals.

But he added: “The system needs to be upgraded so it works more smoothly and achieves better quality results.

“Why it has become outdated is partly the passage of time but also the rise in family problems.

“The number of divorces is much greater than it used to be and so is the number of children not living with both parents.

“Theses stresses and strains if not dealt with effectively in the family court can feed into the criminal justice system later on.”

The new Chief Justice said some areas of the criminal system could also be improved, but insisted the jury system continued to work well.

He said: “I think everyone would agree that the Supreme Court facilities are not modern criminal court facilities capable of meeting all the needs of the system.

“We are making do because we have not yet been provided with the sorts of financial input that everyone agrees we need at Supreme Court level.

“It is one area I would like to see addressed but I think every Chief Justice for the last 20 years would have liked that also.

“The present financial environment is not ideal.”

He added: “We constantly have to monitor the jury selection process like issues relating to the risk of jury tampering.

“But it is difficult to imagine that the judge alone system would inspire more public confidence.”

Mr Kawaley said that there were ways the criminal justice system could be streamlined to avoid wasting money.

But he maintained both prosecution and defence barristers should continue to be allowed to ‘object without cause’ to jurors during the selection process.

“Empowering judges to make rulings on the admissibility of key evidence like confessions before a jury is empanelled would mean we don’t waste time and money on a trial when important evidence is not admissible.

“Another area which may be somewhat controversial with the defence bar would be abolishing preliminary inquiries. A number of jurisdictions have abolished this filter process.

“If that was to happen it would get rid of costly long form preliminary inquires when witnesses come over from overseas to give evidence before it has been decided that there will be a trial.”

Privilege

The new Chief Justice, who was officially appointed yesterday at Government House, said it was a ‘great privilege’ to take on the position.

And he paid tribute to his predecessor Richard Ground.

He said: “I see my role as trying to encourage members of the judicial team to perform at their best, while being mindful that I have to lead by example.

“I hope to consolidate the work of my predecessor who has left the judicial system in good standing and demonstrate to the people of Bermuda and other countries that we do not intend to let the high standards we have set over the last few years slip.”