YESTERDAY was Law Day, at least here in America. In most of the rest of the world it was Labor Day, and a day for celebrating workers called in some countries International Workers Day. Such activities were considered “communist” back in the 1950s, so President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared May 1st Law Day in the United States.

Here on Guam it’s become traditional for the Chief Justice of the Guam Supreme Court to deliver a State of the Judiciary address to a session of the Legislature. Although there have been tensions between the Judiciary and Legislature recently, financial issues have been worked out for now, and the Chief Justice was mostly upbeat.

The Judiciary arguably touches more lives more directly than almost any other part of our government. In 2011, 9,294 cases were filed in Superior Court – 2,027 of them criminal. In addition, there were 14,921 traffic citations processed, plus 1,228 juvenile cases, 482 child support cases, and 878 domestic cases. The Judiciary’s jury unit also processed nearly 12,000 citizens who were called for jury duty. And the Probation Division supervised almost 8,000 probationers. No wonder it is so difficult to find a place to park over at the court.

Chief Justice Carbullido highlighted the court’s new Case Management System. New technologies are making it easier to do business with the court; and by late October of this year, you will be able to pay your traffic tickets and court fines, fees, and restitution online from your home computer. That should actually ease some of the pressure on those court parking lots, which often force people across the street to the Agana Shopping Center for a place to park.

Carbullido also said beginning later this year, if you are called to jury duty, you’ll be able to fill out your jury questionnaire online, speeding up the process when you report for duty and, presumably, weeding you out of the process if you don’t pass a review of your questionnaire.

All of this is good news for the Judiciary, which should improve the efficiency of the court. “Generally speaking,” the Chief Justice said, “all criminal cases should be fully adjudicated within 12 months, and all civil cases should be concluded in 18 months or less.”

Carbullido went back to the money as he concluded his remarks, pledging to work with Gov. Eddie Calvo and the Executive branch in finding ways to cut expenses. He stopped short of requesting, as he did a year ago, that the U.S. Congress fix the percentage of funding for the court system in federal law. But that was in the back of the minds of many who listened yesterday, in tough financial times, to the head of our separate but equal third branch of government, the Judiciary.

Happy Law Week!