Every branch of government and every public body should aim to be as open and transparent as possible. This applies to the administration of justice, although there are some special considerations.
The judiciary must at all times be fair and impartial and, as it is central to our rule of law, must never be compromised. There will always be times when proceedings of a particular court case need to be dealt with more sensitively than other cases.
This does not mean, however, that the judiciary should be exempt from moving with the times. Technology has made it easier to record court proceedings. But gaining access to these records is a costly exercise. And where transcripts are needed by litigants wishing to bring an appeal, the high fees can inhibit access to justice.
This has been recognised by the government with its decision to effectively reduce the fee charged for transcripts in English and to make available audio compact discs and DVDs of proceedings. The move is a step in the right direction, but there is room for more to be done.
The costs could still prove prohibitive despite a change to the basis for charging fees from per page to per word. While this means English transcripts will be halved in price, Chinese ones will be slightly more expensive than before.
For complicated proceedings that sometimes run to thousands of pages of transcripts, this can mean a substantial outlay for litigants. It also raises the issue of equality under the law, as the Department of Justice and other government departments are not charged for transcripts.
