In a keynote address at the Negeri Sembilan Bar Law Conference in Seremban today, she criticised the abuse of the court process with trivial applications.

“It has become an unhealthy norm for some lawyers to file application upon application, no matter how unmeritorious or trivial they are.

“The result is the diversion of valuable but limited judicial time away from good work,” Bernama quoted her as saying.

Tengku Maimun said judges should answer to no one except their conscience, and learn and make decisions based solely on the evidence presented in court.

“An independent judge decides cases on the merits, without regard to personalities involved, with no fear of any kind of threat or sanction,” she said.

She also said judges cannot be expected to be “omniscient or omnipresent”, and they require the guidance of lawyers.

“We cannot humanly be expected to know everything and be everywhere at once.

“If lawyers do not adequately guide judges on the law and the facts, we, being human, are inevitably bound to make mistakes,” she said.