Overview of the Supreme Court of Tasmania

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REPORT OF THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE

SUPREME COURT OF TASMANIA

ANNUAL REPORT 1999/2000

This report is submitted pursuant to the Supreme Court Civil Procedure Act 1932, s194H which requires the Chief Justice to provide a report to Parliament which includes details as to the administration of justice in the Court during the current year and which includes any other matter that the Chief Justice considers appropriate.

THE JURISDICTION OF THE COURT

The Supreme Court of Tasmania is the highest court in the State. The Court has an extensive original jurisdiction in both State and Federal matters. In criminal matters, the Court tries accused persons on indictable offences. All criminal matters where a person pleads not guilty are tried by a judge and jury of twelve persons. In civil matters, the Court deals with disputes involving sums in excess of $20 000. Such cases are usually conducted by a judge sitting alone, although provision does exist for cases to be tried by a judge and a jury of seven persons. The Court also exercises jurisdiction under a broad range of Acts.

Appeals from the decisions of a single judge, or a judge and jury, are heard by a bench of two or more judges. This court is called the Court of Criminal Appeal when sitting in criminal matters and the Full Court when sitting in civil matters.

The Supreme Court exercises appellate jurisdiction over the Magistrates' Court and Tribunals with a right of appeal lying to a single judge from decisions of Magistrates' Courts and most State Tribunals, although in some cases the right of appeal lies only in respect of matters of law.

REGISTRIES

Principal and District Registries

The Court has three registries. The Principal Registry is located in Hobart and is responsible for the overall administrative policies and functions of the Court’s registries. Other registries are located in Launceston and Burnie. A specialist Probate Registry is located in Hobart.

Registries provide operational support for the Court as well as an information service to legal practitioners and members of the public. Registries receive court documents, arrange court sittings, maintain the court’s records, assist with the administration of the jury system and facilitate enforcement of orders made by the Court.

THE JUDGES OF THE COURT

The Supreme Court Act 1887, s2, provides that the Court consist of a maximum of 7 judges. Until my appointment in 1995 that was the composition of the Court, but since that time the Court has not had a complement of more than 6 judges. Those presently holding office are the following:

Chief Justice

The Honourable William John Ellis Cox AC RFD ED

Judges

The Honourable Peter George Underwood

The Honourable Ewan Charles Crawford

The Honourable Pierre William Slicer

The Honourable Peter Ethrington Evans

The Honourable Alan Michael Blow OAM

In March 2000, the Honourable Christopher Reginald Wright retired after some 13 years' service as a Judge. Tributes were paid to his contribution to the administration of justice as Judge, Solicitor-General, Magistrate and private practitioner at a special sitting of the Court on 7 March 2000.

THE WORK OF THE COURT

GENERAL

The work of the Supreme Court is divided into two major jurisdictional areas - criminal matters and civil matters. Unlike many other Supreme Courts, the Court is not divided into divisions. All judges hear matters in both jurisdictional areas. In addition, the Court sits in three locations - Hobart, Launceston and Burnie.

The workload of the Court is subject to fluctuations which are beyond the ability of the Court to control. The nature of the legal process requires that any matter falling within the jurisdiction of the Court may be brought before it. As the jurisdiction of the Court expands and contracts with statutory changes, so does its workload.

MANAGING CIVIL MATTERS

The case management of civil matters is conducted by the Master of the Supreme Court under the new Rules introduced in May 2000. These Rules provide that a directions hearing will take place upon the filing of a defence. Initially case management in all cases is limited to non personal injury matters. Personal injury matters and matters other than actions can come under the case management guidelines either at the request of a party or a judge in individual cases. The aim of a directions hearing is:

(i)to ensure that issues are clearly defined at an early stage;

(ii)to tailor the timing and nature of the pre-trial steps to suit the requirements of the case;

(iii)to facilitate the early investigation, and possible resolution, of issues which, once resolved, enhance the prospects of successful settlement negotiations;

(iv)to assist the parties in having the action progress to a stage where a trial can occur at the earliest possible time;

(v)when cases are ready for trial, to ensure that proper steps are taken to facilitate efficiency at the trial, including dealing with matters such as admissions of fact; proof of documents; mode of evidence (affidavits, expert reports, evidence by video link, etc);

(vi)to generally reduce the time and cost involved in litigation without jeopardising the fair and just determination of issues in dispute.

At this stage, no evaluation of the impact of the new Rules has been undertaken. This will be undertaken in or about May 2001 when the Rules will have been in force for a period of 12 months. However, early indications are that the processes which have been introduced will have a positive effect on the progress of matters through the Court.

MANAGING CRIMINAL MATTERS

The Annual Report of the Director of Public Prosecutions 1999/2000 notes a growth in criminal matters of 40.7% from 1998/99 to 1999/2000 and is concerned with the back log of cases in Launceston. This back log was compounded by the non-appointment of a sixth judge for three months following the retirement of Mr Justice Wright and is despite additional judicial resources being diverted to criminal matters generally and, in particular, in Launceston and Burnie. A further additional two months of sitting time has been allocated to criminal matters in the 2001 sittings.

With the co-operation of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the legal profession, a number of initiatives have been trialed to manage the increasing numbers of criminal matters. Larger cases are individually case managed by judges to ensure early indication of a plea of guilty or readiness for trial. In 2001 the Criminal (Case Management) Rules will be introduced to formalise these procedures. The Court has recently trialed set days for pleas of guilty. Initial figures indicate practitioners are taking advantage of the set days to list a number of matters and pleas of guilty are being indicated at an earlier date. This in turn has impacted on the disposal rate in each of the centres.

The introduction of legislation to enable the Magistrates' Court to deal with some matters formerly dealt with by this Court will reduce the number of less complex matters before the Court. It is expected, however, that there will be at least two complex trials in 2001 that are estimated to take at least five months of judicial sitting time. This will severely impact on the ability of the Court to maintain the current time standards in criminal matters.

THE CRIMINAL CASE WORKLOAD

Criminal lodgments continue to rise, with property crimes, especially aggravated burglary, accounting for the most substantial increase in the workload of the Court. The criminal case workload of the Court has been steadily increasing over the past five years with lodgments increasing from 398 matters in 1995/1996 to 717 matters in 1999/2000.

Criminal Lodgments 1993 - 2000

Of these lodgments, 69% were resolved by the entry of a plea of guilty.

The regional lodgment figures demonstrate that the Northern and North West Region total exceeds that of the Southern Region with a total of 379 matters originally listed to be dealt with in the northern registries. There is little doubt that the high number of matters originally listed to be dealt with in the north of the state has contributed to delays in those areas.

Criminal Lodgments by Region 1999 - 2000

The efficiency rate of the Court in dealing with matters has remained amongst the highest in Australia, despite the significant increase in workload. This is aided by the number of accused persons entering pleas of guilty. This reflects well on the overall approach taken to these matters by all agencies involved in the criminal justice system and on the legal profession for not unnecessarily prolonging the resolution of matters where it is apparent that no reasonable defence is available to the accused.

The finalisation statistics are as follows:

Time Taken to Finalise Criminal Matters 1999 - 2000

The hard work of the Court, the DPP and the legal profession to reduce delays in the finalisation of matters, despite the record number of lodgments, has been rewarded with a significant decrease in the number of matters awaiting disposal at the end of this financial year.

Criminal Matters Awaiting Finalisation1999 - 2000

THE CIVIL CASE WORKLOAD

With the introduction of the Magistrates Civil Division in 1998, it was thought that civil disputes involving sums of less than $20 000 would be litigated all but exclusively in that jurisdiction. Whilst debt recovery matters involving sums less than $20 000 are now generally lodged in that jurisdiction, some civil matters continue to be lodged in the Supreme Court regardless of the sum involved. The matters that have currently been transferred to the Magistrates' Court because of the increase in jurisdiction have, however, not impacted on the work of the Court as the vast majority of them were debt recovery matters and disposed of by default judgment processes.

The following table shows the total number of civil lodgments received in the Court from all sources, excluding Probate lodgments. The effect of the introduction of the Magistrates Court Civil Division is clearly demonstrated with the significant reduction in the number of matters lodged in 1998/1999 and 1999/2000.

Civil Lodgments

Civil Lodgments by Region

The time taken to finalise civil matters is of increasing concern to the Court. With the need to devote increasingly large proportions of Court time and resources to the resolution of criminal matters, the time taken to finalise civil matters is increasing.

Time Taken to Finalise Civil Matters

The Contribution Made By Assisted Dispute Resolution

Assisted dispute resolution processes have been in place in the Supreme Court since 1995 when a pilot project was introduced. The pilot project has proved enormously successful and in May 2000 the new Supreme Court Rules adopted mediation as part of the civil litigation process. Under Part 20 of the Supreme Court Rules a judge is able to direct parties to attend a mediation.

Mediation conferences are conducted by the Registrar and Merrin MacKay, a legal officer. Both officers travel extensively to ensure that each Court registry has mediation services available. The profession has strongly supported assisted dispute resolution and in a development for 2000/2001 will be able to book a mediation conference on line through the Court web site.

The following table ably demonstrates the effectiveness of the mediation conference program.

Settlement Conferences Conducted

Not all matters are capable of being resolved at a settlement conference. However, the conference may act as a catalyst for settlement with all parties better able to realistically assess their positions a result of conference. This re-assessment process can, and does, lead to the settlement of matters within a relatively short time after conducting the conference. The following table clearly shows that settlement conferences continue to have an effect on the manner in which matters are conducted well after the date of any conference.

The graph draws on three time periods to demonstrate both the immediate effect (one week), the medium term effect (one month) and the long term effect (three months):

Matters Resolved After a Settlement Conference But Before Trial

1999 - 2000

PROBATE

The Probate Registry has two full-time staff members and is supported by both the Deputy Registrar and Legal Officer on a part-time basis. It has been undergoing significant change as a result of restructuring. The Probate Registry will complete the transfer of the vast majority of probate documents to the Archives Office of Tasmania late in 2000. This significance project will ensure that these important records are appropriately stored and maintained whilst ensuring accessibility for research. A computerised register has been introduced this year and a proposal to electronically scan all documents is being undertaken.

Probate Lodgments, including both applications for Probate and Letters of Administration, have declined by approximately 10% since 1996/1997. This is balanced by the high number of interventions which have had to be made by Probate Registry staff by way of requisitions with 330 being issued in 1999/2000. Applicants in person remain at a low level with only 26 applications received from private individuals.

Lodgment figures for the past four years are included in the following table:

Primary Probate Lodgments

TECHNOLOGY

CASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Civil Case Management

The Court has a small registry system. In order to develop proper case management systems and performance indicators it is necessary to urgently develop an integrated registry diary and case management system. The Court has been examining the Magistrates Court civil information system, but that was developed over 10 years ago and would not support electronic lodgement or other browser based applications. Its introduction to the Supreme Court could only be regarded as an interim measure.

Criminal System

A criminal case management system has been developed in house and will be used to monitor criminal cases from the year 2001. It is a small Access database and again is an interim measure until proper funds are made available.

VIDEO CONFERENCING

Video conferencing will be established in all registries during 2000/01. Stage 2 was commenced bringing video conferences to the civil courts in Hobart and a second court in Launceston. The system is used almost daily. Virtually all remands of persons in custody are conducted by video link. Interstate witnesses, particularly medical witnesses, regularly give evidence by video link in civil cases and the Master conducts call overs and short matters by video link twice weekly in Burnie and Launceston. The provisions of the Evidence (Audio and Audio Visual Links) Act 1999 are not sufficiently wide to enable the routine reception of evidence by way of video link from venues within the State, that Act being designed to permit reception of such material from participating States. On occasion evidence has been received in this form where both parties consent but it is desirable that the Court should have a discretion to receive it in this form where a party objects, unless prejudice or unfairness is apparent.

YEAR 2000 ISSUES

The Supreme Court undertook a rigorous Year 2000 testing program under the direction of the Court’s Librarian. With the assistance of two computer consultants, and the support of the Department of Justice and Industrial Relations Information Technology Branch, all computers and programs were tested for Year 2000 compliance. A number of issues arose during testing including problems with three Microsoft Access databases and the Dataflex Civil Registry System.

Consultants were engaged to upgrade these programs, and all work was completed within the time limits specified. No Year 2000 problems were experienced after 1 January 2000.

SUPREME COURT WEBSITE

In November 1999, the Court commenced the re-design of its web site. This work was undertaken by the Librarian and was completed in January 2000 when the site was launched at its new address (

The web site is an important tool, providing the Court with a mechanism through which it can easily disseminate information. In the near future it is hoped to make the web site more interactive and to provide an enhanced range of services. At present the web site provides:

• access to law lists
• contact details for judges and court staff
• links to Tasmanian Supreme Court judgments
• the full text of all comments made on sentencing
• practice directions
• jurisdictional information
• an overview of the Court
• information relating to judicial officers
• links to related sites

In the longer term, the web site will provide access to electronic lodgment and commerce facilities.

ADMINISTRATION

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The Court is funded through the Department of Justice and Industrial Relations. As a consequence, the Court is required to provide reports accounting for its expenditure and activities to the Secretary of the Department. See Attachment 1.

Court Outputs

Two major outputs have been determined for the Court:

• Judicial Officers and Support

• Administrative Support to the Court Process

These outputs are funded and output reporting provided against established performance criteria. The Court ‘s view is that these outputs do not accurately reflect the work of the Court. The Court is moving towards a jurisdictional approach to outputs, focusing on the three major jurisdictions of the Court:

a.Civil

b.Criminal

c.Probate

This jurisdictional approach, rather than the existing functional approach, is preferred due to its coalescence with the major data collection undertakings and performance indicator measurement activities already undertaken by the Court. It will also allow the Court to accurately measure, record and comment on the cost of service provision for each major jurisdictional area. Appropriate performance indicators will be developed to reflect each jurisdictional area.