Opening ceremony of the legal Year | Courts face record high workload and emerging pressure

Sam Hou Fai

Court of Final Instance President Sam Hou Fai urged for changes to regulations in light of a growing number of litigious cases, which has left the basic court’s collegiate bench and sole-
judge penal arm faced with an unbalanced workload.
During the official ceremony to mark the commencement of the 2015/2016 Legal Year, the court’s head revealed in his speech that the previous judiciary year saw a record surge in the number of cases handled by all the local courts, signaling a 13.64 percent spike to 22,199 from 19,535 the year before.
The two-digit increment, which
emerged two legal years ago, deserved “attention,” the judge said.
Hou stressed that the cases the Court of First Instance’s two sub-courts have settled during that time have hit a record high. The escalating workload has created an unbalanced quantity of cases for the basic-level court’s collegiate bench and sole-judges.
The call for an amendment to the law has been around since several ceremonies ago, said Hou. Nonetheless, the plight has yet to be addressed, which he believed was the reason behind the piling cases awaiting settlement.
While the president commended the existing regulations that systematically ensure indicial independence in the region, he highlighted another predicament with which the judges and judicial department officials were faced: the pressure from the media and press.
“We should recognize the concerns, comments from the general public and media on the judicial department’s operations and decisions, or even criticism that takes an active role in helping enhance judicial transparency, efficiency and quality,” he said. “Some of them are pertinent, yet we can’t rule them out as some are made groundlessly.”
He further stressed that the court only abides by  laws, regardless of any attempted inference from its surroundings. Hou also exhorted his fellow legal practitioners to remain resistant against lures and meddling in the ever-changing socio-economic landscape and adhere to principles of integrity and impartiality.
“To keep a distance from society, as though there’s a glass wall between them and the judges. We’re able to see the society and understand its situation while being removed from it,” he said.

Neto Valente

The court president’s remarks drew comments from Macau Lawyers Association President Jorge Neto Valente who urged for profound discussion in the judicial sector to address long-term issues making inroads into department’s operation.
He expressed the belief that without exposure to social reality, judges will end up “being isolated from the rest of society,” which could further result in inaccurate verdicts.
“I hope to not repeat the same critiques made over the past few years, meanwhile I hope I will no longer be disappointed with the existing circumstances already identified long ago,” he said in the beginning of his speech.
An acute shortage of relevant facilities and skilled personnel, was said to be among the most imminent issues faced by the court and other relevant organs.
“Given the Macau government’s economic resources, it’s hard to not put it down to the failure to plan for the future or erroneous prioritizing,” he remarked, referring to the stalled building projects of the prosecution office and the courthouse, both of which were promised by the government several years ago.
Neto Valente highlighted in his speech the waning presence of the Portuguese language in the court, also pointing to the dwindling number of Portuguese-speaking judges and legal officials, most of whom he deemed lack the required competence to master the language.
As most judges work under unprecedented pressure, which seems palpable according to the figures provided, the Portuguese lawyer continued to advocate regulation reform. He believed a shake-up could help ratchet up case handling.
The association’s head also criticized the legal courses currently available at different institutions as poor quality. “Some of the courses don’t guarantee employment prospects. It’s not only a matter of a waste of resources, but there’s more of a focus on student quantity than teaching quality,” he explained. “That’s why we won’t have local talented staff when there’s no quality.”
Without proactive efforts to turn the situation around, Neto Velente believed that the territory’s legal bodies would remain bogged down with the dilemma.
“With the growing number of cases and their pressures, cases will be assigned under a scenario of insufficient judges. Our judicial progression will continue to slow down and its quality might go even lower as a result,” he concluded.

long court delays

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the ceremony, the AAM president called for a “profound analysis that has never been done before to assess the situation in courts.” Contradicting the official information given at the session, according to which the maximum waiting time for a trial is 57 working days, Neto Valente said that there are extensive court delays and gave as an example of a trial where he will advocate, with the first audience scheduled for May next year.