Hurrah to our Chief Justice, Anthony
Smellie.

In his speech at the opening of the
2020 Law Courts last week, one of his insights is to see the
introduction of an electronic ticketing system through which traffic
offenders can instantly pay their fines rather than having to attend
in person at the courts.

Obviously, if this is implemented, it
will enhance the process for dealing with ticket offences, for
example speeding, by an unnecessary court appearance.

Chief Justice Smellie pointed out the
benefits of an automated process have been recognised for many years.

He said, “The intention is to allow
for the electronic filing of traffic tickets into the courts’ JEMS
[Judicial Enforcement Management] register, immediately as the
tickets are issued by the officers on the streets. Persons who wish
to simply pay the tariff instead of going to court may do so. The
cases will then be completed, the files will be closed, and the RCIPS
notified automatically, as soon as that is done,”

“It will obviously save a great deal
of administrative time, effort and costs for both the courts and the
RCIPS. I am pleased that the commissioner [of police] is reported to
be as resolved as we are to achieve this and am more confident than
ever that implementation will soon be a reality,” he added.

Another of the measures he would like
to see put in place is an online public register platform to be
placed on the judiciary website.

There already is a fully functional
courts’ e-Filing and Jury Management Platform that is ready for the
start of the pilot programme. Participation has already been agreed
with some of the leading Cayman law firms in the e-filing pilot
programme, The Chief Justice said instructions for its commencement
will be issued soon.

He also pointed out that the online
registers went back to 1995. This was the date when the modern Grand
Court Rules were promulgated.

Access to court documents have been
confined to the physical inspection of the hard-copy registers at
court.

“For the moment, the website access
will be ‘read only’”, Smellie said, “until an appropriate new
fee structure to allow downloading and printing access can be agreed
with Cabinet. A proposal for the new fees, which we propose to be
less than the existing fees because of the saving of administrative
costs, will soon be sent to Cabinet.”

The online service platform is already
access to over 1,000 of the unreported judgments with the remaining
3,000-4,000 judgments to be added soon.

Already implemented is a facility for
the electronic transfer of funds for child-maintenance payments and
to pay traffic ticketing fines without the need to appear in Court.

I applaud you sir, by embracing the now
available technology that will help our Courts do their job more
speedily, and help with the backlog. A backlog that has been added to
by other departments not realising the seriousness their inaction is
producing.