Maltese judgments by year, 2002 to 2025
The judgments ligi.ai holds from eCourts show 2025 as the busiest year since 2002, and most of the rise since 2020 comes from three courts.
The headline. We count 6,934 judgments dated 2025 so far, so about 6,900, the most of any year since 2002, the first year for which our archive is complete. That is 70% more than in 2020 and 50% more than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic.
ligi.ai data
Maltese judgments by year, 2002 to 2025
| Year | Judgments |
|---|---|
| 2002 | 5,528 |
| 2003 | 6,263 |
| 2004 | 5,958 |
| 2005 | 5,888 |
| 2006 | 5,559 |
| 2007 | 5,057 |
| 2008 | 4,876 |
| 2009 | 4,958 |
| 2010 | 5,490 |
| 2011 | 5,557 |
| 2012 | 5,881 |
| 2013 | 5,810 |
| 2014 | 5,689 |
| 2015 | 5,478 |
| 2016 | 5,263 |
| 2017 | 4,916 |
| 2018 | 4,575 |
| 2019 | 4,628 |
| 2020 | 4,080 |
| 2021 | 4,580 |
| 2022 | 5,407 |
| 2023 | 6,115 |
| 2024 | 6,611 |
| 2025 | 6,934 |
Source: ligi.ai count of judgments obtained from eCourts, held on 2 October 2026. Monthly figures use official eCourts dates (6,889 of 6,934 judgments dated 2025). Tap or hover over a bar for its figure.
Three phases. From 2002 to 2014 the courts' published output sat between 4,876 and 6,263 judgments a year, with 2003 the high point. From 2015 it slid to a low plateau: 2018, 2019 and 2021 all fell between 4,575 and 4,628, and 2020 was the lowest at 4,080. Since 2021 the count has risen five years in a row, to 6,611 in 2024 and about 6,900 in 2025.
The pandemic year. The courts and their registries were closed from 16 March 2020 until the closure order was repealed on 5 June 2020. That year ended 12% below 2019. The closure explains the dip in 2020, but it doesn't explain the low years around it, since 2018 and 2021 were nearly as low without any closure.
Where the rise came from. Between 2020 and 2025 the yearly count rose by 2,854.
| Court | 2020 | 2025 | Change | Share of the rise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Court of Magistrates (criminal) | 597 | 1,719 | +1,122 | 39% |
| Rent Regulation Board | 126 | 705 | +579 | 20% |
| First Hall (constitutional) | 166 | 555 | +389 | 14% |
| Court of Appeal (superior) | 326 | 488 | +162 | 6% |
| Civil Court (Family Section) | 461 | 560 | +99 | 3% |
| All other courts | +503 | 18% |
Not every court grew: the Court of Criminal Appeal (inferior) fell from 446 to 370.
The 2022 jump. The Rent Regulation Board went from 179 judgments in 2021 to 485 in 2022, and the First Hall in its constitutional jurisdiction from 225 to 486, and both stayed at the higher level. The year before, Act XXIV of 2021 gave landlords of pre-1995 leases the right to ask the Rent Regulation Board to raise the rent, up to 2% of the property's open-market value a year. Old-rent cases have also been a steady source of constitutional claims about the right to property. The timing fits, but we will read the judgments themselves before saying how much of the jump it explains.
Language, length and the summer. 6.0% of 2025 judgments were written in English, against 4.6% in 2019. The median judgment grew from 2,155 words in 2019 to 2,791 in 2024, then dipped to 2,640 in 2025 because more short Magistrates' judgments entered the mix; between 2019 and 2025 the First Hall's median went from 2,362 to 3,444 words, and the Court of Appeal (superior)'s from 4,584 to 5,959. And the calendar shows the courts' summer recess, which runs from 16 July to 15 September: 90 judgments in August 2025, against 891 in October, the busiest month.
What the count can't tell us. We count judgments published on eCourts, so a rise can mean courts deciding more cases, more of their decisions being published, or both, and our data can't separate the two. Courts that only appeared on eCourts recently explain almost none of the rise (12 of the 2,854). A few judgments are published months after they're delivered, so the 2025 total may still rise slightly.
Method. Counts are of unique judgments in the archive ligi.ai holds from eCourts, as at 2 October 2026, with duplicate texts, placeholders and details-only records removed. Years use the official eCourts date; 45 of the 2025 judgments had none and were dated from their own text. Court names follow eCourts' official labels, with variant spellings of the same court merged.
Sources for context:
- European e-Justice Portal on the 2020 court closure
- Mamo TCV on Act XXIV of 2021
- MaltaToday on the courts' summer recess
Judgments by year, 2002 to 2025
| Year | Judgments |
|---|---|
| 2002 | 5,528 |
| 2003 | 6,263 |
| 2004 | 5,958 |
| 2005 | 5,888 |
| 2006 | 5,559 |
| 2007 | 5,057 |
| 2008 | 4,876 |
| 2009 | 4,958 |
| 2010 | 5,490 |
| 2011 | 5,557 |
| 2012 | 5,881 |
| 2013 | 5,810 |
| 2014 | 5,689 |
| 2015 | 5,478 |
| 2016 | 5,263 |
| 2017 | 4,916 |
| 2018 | 4,575 |
| 2019 | 4,628 |
| 2020 | 4,080 |
| 2021 | 4,580 |
| 2022 | 5,407 |
| 2023 | 6,115 |
| 2024 | 6,611 |
| 2025 | 6,934 |