Court’s delegations led by the Secretary General, Heru Setiawan, visited the Supreme Court of Scotland at the Parliament House Building, Parliament Square, Edinburgh, Scotland on Monday (6/24/2024).
EDINBURGH (MKRI) – The delegation of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) visited the Supreme Court of Scotland at the Parliament House Building, Parliament Square, Edinburgh, Scotland, on Monday, June 24, 2024. The visit aimed to exchange ideas and experiences on judicial digitization and openness. In addition, it discussed issues related to cyber-era justice and cyber-judicial security measures.
The MKRI delegation consisted of Secretary General Heru Setiawan as the head of the delegation, accompanied by the Head of Planning and Finance Bureau Tatang Garjito, Constitutional Registrar Mardian Wibowo, Muhammad Halim, as well as Donny Yuniarto and Rizki Kurnia Chaesario as the translators. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Scotland was represented by Supreme Justice Paul Benedict Cullen (The Honorable Lord Pentland), Supreme Justice Lorna Allison Drummond (The Honorable Lady Drummond), Supreme Justice Leeona June Dorrian (The Honorable Lady Dorrian), Head of Cyber Security Division Lora Crabtree, and several court staffs.
Lord Pentland opened the meeting by explaining that the Scottish legal system, including its judiciary, differs from those in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The four territories are a kind of "states" joined together under the United Kingdom (UK). Each state has different legal and judicial systems, although similarities and commonalities exist. Such differences in legal systems have been accepted as part of the UK constitution because, from the very beginning of the Scottish parliament's decision to join the Parliament of England and Wales in 1707, it was agreed that legal issues arising in Scotland would be settled there.
According to Lord Pentland, the current Scottish law is a mixture of Roman law, which came during the French war against England, and common law from England and Wales. The education of Scottish lawyers also influenced the formation of the country's legal system, where most of the old lawyers studied law in France and returned with Roman law, while others studied law in the Netherlands and returned with a blend of Roman law and continental thinking.
As the legal divide has narrowed, the composition of the Supreme Court of the UK has changed. In the past, the Supreme Court was only filled with justices from England, but now several Scottish justices join the UK Supreme Court. Furthermore, England and Scotland exchange jurisprudence in resolving each other's legal cases.
The development of Scottish law reached its peak in 1998 when it was agreed that the Scottish Parliament would devolve from the UK Parliament. This meant that the Scottish Parliament had full authority to make its own laws that could differ from English law.
Open Justice
Lord Pentland also discussed the concept of open justice adopted by the Supreme Court of Scotland. This concept ensures that all parties can follow or access court proceedings and decisions. Litigants may not request the court to hear their case in private. If the parties still want a closed hearing, the court will suggest that they resolve their issues through an arbitration mechanism that allows for closed hearings.
Responding to Lord Pentland's explanation, Heru Setiawan explained that conceptually, open justice aligns with the principle of open justice for the public adopted in MKRI's procedural law. In fact, in addition to conducting open hearings, MKRI also broadcasts live streaming of examination hearings and decision pronouncement hearings through YouTube.
At the end of the discussion on open justice, Lord Pentland shared some reflections on the mechanism related to the widespread development of IT and AI. According to him, relatively vulnerable litigants will find it difficult to protect the confidentiality of their identity. The internet network has given rise to the phenomenon of jigsaw identification, where through the internet, everyone (netizens) can search, then find piece by piece, and conclude the identity and events that are being tried by the court.
The use of IT/AI and Cyber Security Issues
Lady Drummond explained that the use of IT and/or AI in the Supreme Court of Scotland is limited to three things: transcribing, summarizing, and translating. Although it is not entirely left to technology, a checker is still in charge of ensuring the accuracy of the IT work, in casu AI.
In response to the MKRI’s delegation question regarding the use of IT technology in decision-making assistance, Lady Drummond emphasized that "Judges are not using AI." When preparing decisions, justices analyze and make their own decisions without any help from AI. The Court uses AI only as an information-seeking tool, while the justices continue to decide cases using their conscience and knowledge.
She added information that the Court once heard a petition and found that one of the references to the case decision in the petition was an AI creation that was not real (fake decision). She said that AI can hallucinate. This makes the Supreme Court even more careful regarding using AI in the judiciary.
The final discussion session with the Head of the Cybersecurity Division, Lora Crabtree, reaffirmed that AI did not reach the decision-making stage in the Supreme Court of Scotland. Even the analysis of evidence has never used AI.
Crabtree showed an application of the case management system, where AI is used only to read and record information in the forms submitted by the parties, including names and addresses, which are then stored in the court database in the handling of court documents. Crabtree said that using AI has reduced costs and streamlined time. However, according to her, AI still cannot replace the quality of human work in the field of justice.
Author : MW/RKC/DY/MH
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator : Putri Ratnasari/ Rizky Kurnia C. (NL)
Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.
Monday, July 01, 2024 | 09:40 WIB 98