We spend a lot of time discussing our justice system internally, but we rarely have the opportunity to compare our system with that of our European neighbours. Comparison is a key to knowledge and self-improvement, and so we should welcome such rare opportunities.
We continue to be members of the Council of Europe, at least for so long as Robert Jenrick is not prime minister. Its Committee on the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) publishes biennial evaluations of member state justice systems, including our own. The latest was published last week, based on 2022 data.
The overall blurb gives data on Europe in general (which extends well beyond the EU in this case, with 44 member countries and 2 observer countries, Israel and Morocco). Nothing very sophisticated can be learned from comparing such a broad range of countries with data based on very different legal systems. But there are separate country files, including on England and Wales, which have more useful conclusions.
Regarding the overall picture, covering all 46 countries, the publicity for the report mentions these highlights:
‘From this new CEPEJ report you will learn, for example, that on average in Europe, an administrative case will be dealt with in 741 days through three court instances, a civil case in 591 days and a criminal case in 344 days, or that in Europe there are 57% female judges but 42% female court presidents, that the gross salary of judges is on average 2,5 times higher than the average national salary at the beginning of their career and 4,9 times higher at the end of their career, that access to courts is free in only three member States, or that European countries spend on their judicial system an average of 85,4 € per inhabitant (7,31 € more than in 2020) and 0,31% of GDP.’
I guess that that provides some broad and useful benchmarks against which to compare our own performance.
For a reason that I don’t understand, there is very little budgetary information available about our legal system (as opposed to for Scotland and Northern Ireland where more is available). If you look at the country file for England and Wales, it merely says ‘The judicial system budget cannot be calculated for 2022, data on legal aid budget being unavailable’. We are one of the few countries not to provide it.
However, our courts' budget increased from €37.4 (2020) to € 47.2 (2022) per inhabitant and exceeded the European median. Given that our courts are crumbling and underfunded, the conclusion is as above: that such a broad survey, with many poor countries in the mix, doesn’t tell us much. However, if you go to the detailed graphic, you will see that many of the countries with which we would usually compare ourselves – Spain (€82), Netherlands (€70.1), Italy (€67.2), France (€54.3) – spend much more than we do per inhabitant on their courts.
One of the notable characteristics of our system is the low number of judges per 100,000 inhabitants. With 2.6 judges per 100,000, our number is well below the median of 17.6 (explained largely by our lay magistrates not counting). Our number of prosecutors per 100,000 (4.96) is also significantly below the median of 11.20. However, our ratio of non-judge staff per judge (9.4) is among the highest in Europe (3.5 median).
To take a different subject altogether: we do not fare well in our percentage of female judges. 34% of our judges are women, which is lower than any other European country surveyed apart from Azerbaijan, Armenia – and Scotland (28%). The European median is 57% - a good 23% higher than our figure. It is only by seeing figures like this that we can see how our current appointment system – the best in the world? – is failing us. Yet our number of women prosecutors is comparatively high (61%).
There are figures on lawyers, too. We have among the very highest number of lawyers per 100,000 inhabitants, 338.2, when the median is 156 (the strength of the City of London as a global legal centre doubtless explains that). Interestingly, whereas the vast majority of countries showed a gradual and constant increase since 2012, England and Wales had an 82% increase in numbers between 2020 and 2022 alone. What caused that statistical blip?
The number of women lawyers overall in the countries surveyed is going up only slowly. While the average proportion of women among judges and public prosecutors throughout Europe is over 50%, this is not the case among lawyers, where only 44% overall are women (up from 43% in 2018).
On and on the statistics go. Yes, they should be taken with a pinch of salt given the very different backgrounds of the countries surveyed. Nevertheless, they provide some telling truths.
Jonathan Goldsmith is Law Society Council member for EU & International, chair of the Law Society’s Policy & Regulatory Affairs Committee and a member of its board. All views expressed are personal and are not made in his capacity as a Law Society Council member, nor on behalf of the Law Society
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