Judicial year: Efficiency weighed down by the workload

The theme chosen for the new judicial year is «the seriousness of judicial action, dependent on the credibility of ethical commitment». The official opening of the new judicial year took place last Monday in Rabat. It was an opportunity for the Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary to take stock of the sector’s performance, as well as the constraints that limit the efficiency of judicial action.

In detail, over the course of 2023, the courts recorded a total of 4,661,927 new cases. These come in addition to the previous year’s backlog of 767,847 cases. At present, the number of cases pending before the courts stands at 5,429,774, representing an increase of 335,062 cases compared with 2022. In total, the courts have made a final decision on 4,696,203 cases, or 101% of the cases recorded in 2023.

As far as the Court of Cassation is concerned, the number of judgments published on the Council’s website exceeded 24,000. Last year, the highest court ruled on 46,757 cases, out of a total of 48,130 new cases registered, i.e. 97%. It should be pointed out that 98,004 cases remained pending, taking into account the backlog from previous years. For the Deputy Chairman of the Higher Council, «this large number of cases shows the enormous effort made by magistrates, and highlights a legislative malfunction in the management of cassation referrals». In concrete terms, «the backlog exceeds the magistrates’ capacity to rule. The situation is getting worse, as the number of cases registered exceeds the number of cases judged, year after year», he explained. According to Mohamed Abdennabaoui, the challenge today is to review the philosophy of legislation, so that «the Court of Cassation does not become a third level of jurisdiction, whereas internationally, justice is only served at two levels, and the Court of Cassation plays a role in unifying jurisprudence and guaranteeing judicial security».

M.A.M.