There are some 50 judgements outstanding in the Supreme Court that goes back three to four years.
Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia revealed this today when addressing new lawyers in court.
He said even when a case is started on time, the party suffer losses because judges and lawyers waste time mooting over trivial or minor issues that occupy time and the main case is never reached in time.
He told the court there are many judgements that are outstanding for too long, some of which goes back some five to ten years in the National Court from the day the decision was deferred or reserved.
“In the National Court, there are some 297 reserved judgements waiting for decisions to be delivered.
“We judges in delaying judgements are killing the legal profession. We should not be starting to hear new cases if we have long outstanding judgements to deliver.
“It’s time for us to take stock as we commence the next 40 years journey.”
The Chief Justice said parties prematurely benefit from preliminary orders before the substantive matter is even heard and determined because time is wasted by judges in not getting to the main case soon enough to decide its fate on the merits.
He told the new lawyers entering the profession to be good pupils of time and extended that same message to lawyers already in the field and for judges sitting on long delayed judgements to also take note of time.