Foreword by the Chief Justice of NSW

This Review provides information on the Court’s stewardship of the resources made available to it. The full details of the Court’s contribution to the people of New South Wales exists in the large volume of documentation produced –encompassing tens of thousands of pages of judgments and hundreds of thousands of pages of transcript. The bald figures of filings, disposals and pending caseload, upon which this Review reports, cannot reflect the richness that is contained in the considerable volume of documentation which the Court’s judicial officers and registrars generate in the course of the year.

An indication of the contribution made by the Court, and the effectiveness and efficiency of its procedures, can be gleaned from this Review, which contains information of a quantitative kind about how the Court has dealt with its caseload and the speed with which litigants have had their disputes resolved.

However, the primary measure of the Court’s performance must be qualitative: fidelity to the law and fairness of its processes and outcomes. This Review sets out in short summary a few of the cases decided in the year 2005. This is a small sample of the 2,000 or so separate substantive judgments delivered by the 51 judicial officers of the Court.

Two particular matters are worthy of special mention. First, this year, after a considerable investment of time and effort, the courts of New South Wales adopted a uniform set of court rules for civil cases. Secondly, considerable progress has been made in developing the CourtLink system. These two matters will improve the cost effectiveness of the administration of justice in this State, both from the point of view of the courts themselves and from the perspective of litigants. They manifest the dedication of the judges and officers of the Court to continued reform.

Throughout the year, the rule of law was administered by the judicial officers of the Court with a high level of independence, impartiality, integrity, efficacy and efficiency. I am confident that this will continue to be the case.

J J Spigelman AC