Shadow Attorney General Trevor Moniz yesterday called for a clear system for appointing temporary judges after claiming there was ?shock? among senior lawyers about the appointment of Justin Williams.

Mr. Moniz said the appointment last week of 38-year-old Mr. Williams as an acting assistant justice came ?out of the blue? to senior members of the Bermuda Bar as no one else, as far as he knew, was aware of it or had been canvassed.

Acting judges are appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Justice, but with acting justices being appointed more frequently, there was a need to have a regularised process, said the United Bermuda Party MP, who was a former chair of Bermuda Bar Council.

And he said lawyers in Scotland were concerned the increased use of temporary judges could undermine the independence of the judiciary.

?Why was this not circulated around the Bar? This was dropped out of the blue,? Mr. Moniz told yesterday.

?Justin is not considered a senior member of the Bar so why was he appointed and not someone else? As far as I have been able to ascertain from members of the Bar Council, there was complete shock. No one knew it was coming.?

Mr. Williams, who has sat as a magistrate for seven years, is a member of Cox, Hallett, Wilkinson, the same law firm as the Island?s other acting justice Philip Storr.

Mr. Moniz said former Chief Justice Austin Ward was always complaining he could not get enough money to appoint full-time judges so he used his discretion to name part-time members of the bench.

?If the Finance Minister is not giving enough money to appoint full-time judges and we are increasingly using temporary judges, we need to set up a proper framework to regularise things,? said Mr. Moniz.

?I have spoken to (Finance Minister) Paula Cox about it, saying the Chief Justice wants more judges and her attitude was there was only so much money to go around.

?We?ve now got a temporary Judge (Archibald Warner) and two acting justices (Mr. Storr and Mr. Williams), and two temporary courts in the old Salvation Army building so the whole situation is highly unsatisfactory.

?You have the caravan outside the police station and these temporary situations can go on and on and on. Everything is held together with little bits of string and it is going to fall apart.?

Mr. Moniz said the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland ? which is similar to Bermuda Bar Council ? had complained that the increasing use of temporary judicial appointments ?was undermining and damaging and character and status of the supreme courts in Scotland?.

It added: ?Judicial independence is at risk when the duration of office of temporary judges and the likelihood of that reappointment is at the pleasure of the executive.?

Mr. Williams declined to comment yesterday.