Madaba First Instance Court
Workshop on court activity
management and the
functioning of courts
The program “Mizan” is one of the management tools in courts. Mizan is an
advanced program with limited complexity. It is a desktop application that can
be connected to the computer software and files. The data is saved in a
central database, which allows an easy support, an easy maintenance and an
easy use of the data for statistics; it also allows a secure access to the data.
Mizan program is used to help evaluating the judges’ workload and the
workflow in the courts. Most of the work for the court procedures is carried
out by this program, from the moment the case is recorded until the execution
of the judgment, including the intermediate steps: determining the amount of
the fees, sending this information to the judges, determining the date of the
hearings, connecting the minutes (official report), postponing the cases…
whether it is a civil case or a criminal case.
This program also includes secondary programs concerning other tasks carried
out by the courts such as the public notary program, the execution program,
and the prosecutor program.
Through the Mizan program we can process all the phases linked to the
types of cases below:
1. magistrates’ (conciliation) cases (criminal and legal).
2. First instance cases (criminal, misdemeanor or legal).
3. Requests (magistrates and first instance).
4. Appeal cases (the mandated instances, the mandated court of appeal in
Amman).
5. The execution of legal cases.
6. The prosecutors’ investigations.
7. The prosecutor’s execution.
And that, from the moment the case is recorded until the judgment and
the execution of the judgment.
To ensure a JUST distribution of cases between the judges, the
program sends the cases electronically to all the judges in turn, in an
equal way, from lists established for all types of cases.
The types of magistrates’ cases include 16 lists, for example:
1- harm cases list
2- robbery cases list
3- traffic cases list
etc…
This program helps producing quickly accurate daily and periodic
statistics concerning all types of courts and cases.
This program enables to produce the notification documents which the
“follow-up clerks” send to the bailiffs’ office, who is in charge of reaching
the parties and notifying the decisions according to the bailiffs’ rules.
This eases the litigation process and shortens the timeframe for the
resolution of the litigation.
Mizan program provides a database containing data from the Civil Status
and Passport Department: the complete names and the national identity
numbers of the citizens. This database is periodically updated. It allows to
check the identity of the parties involved in a case before recording it,
which facilitates the procedure from the beginning to the execution of the
judgment.
Through this program, the amount of legal fees for magistrates’ and first
instance judgments can be fixed electronically to make the execution of
judgments easier.
With a view to helping the court users and the lawyers, a number of clerks
offices were created in Madaba First Instance Court to accelerate the
procedures using the Mizan program, such as:
1- The Fees Office (which concerns the cases’ fees and the issuance of
arrest warrants)
2- The Central Typing Office (which carries out the decisions’ typing, the
execution procedures …).
The magistrates’ cases (criminal cases) are a clear example of an effective
use of Mizan, since this program helps simplifying and organizing the
court’s work:
1- Using this program, we can make lists of the cases which are resolved; after
recording them in the relation (correspondence) register, they are sent to the
prosecutor to do whatever is necessary according to the law.
2- After review of the cases by the prosecutor, the lists are handed over to the
clerks in charge of the notifications, to produce the notification documents and to
send them electronically to the bailiffs office.
3- The bailiffs office carries out the notification and enters (registers) it into the
system.
4- At the expiration of the time limits for the objections and appeals, the clerk in
charge of the notifications produces a summary of the judgement (criminal cases),
and sends it to the execution office in the prosecutor’s department to execute the
judgment.
5- The clerk in charge of the notifications enters (registers) the financial
receipts in the Mizan program in the cases where fines have being paid or
where a detention has being replaced by a fine.
6- In the case where the notification is returned because the sentenced
person is not found, a form prepared by the Ministry of Justice is filled out
with information about the sentenced person, the case number, and the
summary of the judgment, for publication in the Official Bulletin. The form
is then sent to the execution office to execute the judgment.
7- The clerk in charge of the notifications keeps a special record of those
cases, which is sent to the archives’ employee to be saved.
8- The judgments and the financial receipts of all cases are archived.
The work carried out by the Quality and Institutional Development
Department is another example of the effective use of the Mizan program:
1- This department is in charge of periodically controlling the tables of the
court’s work, preparing a list of the resolved cases and a list of the hearings in
order to check that the cases are correctly connected to the program.
2- At the end of every month, this department prepares an exhaustive
inventory of all the judges’ work, and compiles a table containing information
about the number of the registered and resolved cases that is sent to the
technical office.
3- This department also receives the lists sent by the liaison officer of the
Mizan program outlining the cases that are not connected to the program, and
works on fixing this issue.
We present bellow some examples of the Mizan program tables that can be
produced by a Head of court or an employee from the Quality and
Institutional Development Department:
Judgments’ hearings (sessions) presided by one judge in one month
Searching sessions of cases
parties
selection
Magistrates’ cases
judgment
1-12-2014
Session situation
Last hearing date
Case number
Madaba
Case number
session
Case type
1-11-2014
Incoming date
Judge name
Classification of case
Harm
Judge name
Session situation
Judgment Session
Case Description
Case number
Searching result
Date of Session
Juveniles cases
Simple Harm
54 records
out
Help
print
Cancel
Searching result
search
One type of incoming cases during one month:
Non-sufficient funds (NSF) checks
Case searching
Support of case
Police Number
Connected cases
Selection
Not finished (pending)
Classified
Case
situation
Number of receipt
Magistrates
Case
situation
Parties information
Madaba
Incoming date to:|
Date of judgment to
Delete
NSF checks
Case number
Incoming date from:|
Date of judgment from
Case classified
Type of case
Selection
Start date of
proceeding
out
help
Incoming date
Case
situation
Case
type
Case
classification
print
Case description
cancel
Case information
Judge
Basic number
Case parties
Case file
Case number
search
Sessions planning of a judge during one day
Table of the judge work
- All
Case situation
Bring
- All
Case situation
Delayed hearing
Judge name
Print
weekly
Determined hearing Judgment
Session Aim
Session
Court
Madaba Magistrates
Deleted
Daily
convey
Case number
Case file
Session
time
9:00 am
Session
report
Session
date
Completed
out
Help
20 sessions
Average sessions
Planning of the sessions (magistrates’ cases) of all the judges during one day
Table of court works
Magistrates
Bring
- All
Case situation
Madaba
court
Print
Determined session
Session Aim
Session
Court
situation
Judgment
Court
weekly
Deleted
Daily
convey
Case number
Case file
Session time
Completed
Out
Help
Session report
Session date
9:00 am
51 sessions
Average sessions
List of one type of incoming cases to one judge
Case searching
Support of case
Police Number
Connected cases
Number of receipt
Parties information
Case information
Selection
Not finished
Classified
Case
situation
Incoming date to:|
Case
situation
Incoming date from
Incoming date from:|
Date of judgment to
Case classified
Delete
Type of case
Judge
Date- first litigation Incoming date
Case
situation
Not finished
Case
type
Case
classification
public
Worker rights
Case description
Basic number
6 records
Out
Help
Print
cancel
Parties
Case number
Searching result
Case file
search
List of the sessions programmed during one month
Sessions searching
parties
Selection
Magistrates
Madaba
Determined Case situation
session
Hearing date to
Case number
Case number
hearing type
hearing date from
judge
0
Out
help
Print
Record result
cancel
search
There is no records because they are handled periodically
Procedure of handover of cases from one judge to another
in case of transfer of a judge
Transfer of cases from one judge to another
Selection
cancel
search
Case year
Current judge
Case number
Currently cases
The case
Select all
cancel all
Send to another judge l
The new judge
The new judge
Out
Help
List of the cases registered three years ago and not resolved yet
Case searching
Support
Support
of case
of case Police Number
Selection
Not finished
Classified
Case
situation
Connected
Police Number
cases
Magistrates’ cases
Case
situation
Number of receipt
Legal, Magistrates’ cases
Incoming date to:
Parties information
Case number
Incoming date from:
Date of judgment to
Date of judgment from
Type of case
Judge
Date- first litigation Incoming date
out
Help
Case
situation
Case
type
Case
classification
Case description
print
Basic number
cancel
Parties
Case number
Case file
search
Number of magistrates’ cases (criminal) in September 2014 in Madaba court
Ministry of justice
Madaba Magistrates’ court
The Hashemite Kingdom
Number of cases in Madaba Magistrates’ court during September 2014
Out
help
813
Registered cases from the last month
349
Incoming cases during this month
1162
Total
563
Resolved cases during this month
599
Cases left to the next month
Print
The planning of Madaba court in September
The Hashemite Kingdom
Ministry of justice
Planning of the first instance court of Madaba during September 2014
Prosecutor
Penal
notifica
tion
Investi
gated
Magistrates
Urgent
Criminal
requests
Penal
First instance court
Media
tion
Manage
Execution
ment
cases
cases
Appeal
Appeal
execution penal
and legal
Urgent
requests
Legal
cases
Criminal,
Penal
31 August
Incoming
cases
Total
Resolved
cases
30 Sept.
The Head of Madaba court
Notice : there are 5 judges in the First Instance Court and 5 judges in
the Magistrates’ Court and one judge in execution
We notice that the number of magistrates’ cases is the same in this slide and
the previous slide.
Propositions from Madaba First Instance Court in reaction to the
recommendations in the CEPEJ report “Performance study of the judiciary
of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan – First evaluation and
recommendations”
1- We suggest the conception of a program that shows the progress of the
examination of cases by the judges (workflow). This program can be run
through an Intranet site without needing internet.
And then, trainings could be organized for the employees and the judges
on this program.
For information, the Mizan program provides a special application that
allows to follow the files, but it is not operational because the cases have to
be archived from registration until the delivery of the final judgment.
2- We suggest to draft Guide Booklets outlining the different types of
cases, the information/documentation requested in each type, and
explaining the procedures, the average time needed for the judgment…
to the attention of any interested person.
We also suggest the publication of a guide containing information on the
court: all the departments, and the role of each department in every type
of cases. Copies of this guide should be available at the reception desk
of the court.
An organizational chart of the court could also be published, mentioning
the location of the different offices and sections, to facilitate people's
orientation within the court.
3- Since there is a convention between the Ministry of Justice and the
Jordanian post office which stipulates that the court can use the
Jordanian post office services for the notifications, we suggest to make
this service operational in the courts or to create an ARAMEX office in
the court for notification.
We also suggest to set up an electronic connection between the
bailiffs’ section and institutions or organizations that possess clear
addresses (water company, electricity company, the department of
lands and survey and others) in case the address provided by a person
is not clear or doesn’t exist.
4- Concerning the execution of judgments in criminal cases: we suggest
the creation of an electronic link between the execution section attached to
the prosecutor and the execution of judgments department.
Concerning the execution of judgments in legal cases and the financial
bonds, and in order to accelerate the execution process, we also suggest
the conception of a special system that allows to get information about the
sentenced persons’ assets from specialized departments like the
department of lands and survey, the department of licenses and the
companies control department.
5- We would like to find a way to simplify the procedures of file preparation
before the hearings (data submission, lawyers’ documents…), so that only
the complete files would be submitted to the judge, which will allow him to
begin the proceeding directly.
6- We suggest the conception of a booklet (guide) containing all the
information needed for foreign nationals to have access to justice. This
guide could be available in English and other languages, in airports,
boundary crossing points, courts, police stations and other places.
7- We propose to install a screen in the court that shows the case
numbers, the time when hearings take place, judges’ names, parties’
names in each case… That would simplify the orientation of the court
users and the lawyers, and save employees’ time.
Notice: The most important need of the court is actually an operational
archive system because the cases have to be archived from registration
until the delivery of the final judgment.