NCJ Number
86301
Date Published
1979
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The efficiency of Canadian courts can be improved by ensuring judicial responsibility for court administration, the use of new administrative schemes, the institution of the court executive, and improvement in management tools and techniques.
Abstract
Court congestion and backlogs inevitably prevent the court from rendering just decisions and increase the cost to the litigants, so improved court efficiency is crucial to maintaining the credibility of the court system. In Canada there is nothing to prevent the provincial legislatures from transferring increased control over court administration to the executive branch of government. This would only hamper the courts; the judiciary should maintain control over all aspects of judicial administration. To implement effective self-administration in the courts, the following have been suggested as appropriate components of a restructured system: (1) the establishment of a single directing authority over both administrative and judicial functions; (2) the provision of overall policy direction either through judicial committees, administrative judges, or both; and (3) development within the judiciary of administrative expertise so as to implement a systems approach to caseflow management and court administration. Because of the difficulty of finding a sufficient number of judges trained in court administration, the development of a new position, that of court executive, to manage the courts seems the best alternative. Of the variety of management methods that will have to be used to administer a restructured court system, some are the individual calendar or individual assignment system, the master calendar or central assignment system, automation and computerization, pretrial conciliation, and continuing education for judges. Twenty-nine footnotes are listed.