The Council of Europe is calling for widespread reform of national judicial systems in Europe to solve the problem of delay in court proceedings.

But it praised England & Wales for its civil reforms.

A report released at last week's European ministers of justice conference said: 'Most heartening was the fact that some systems like those of England & Wales and France have embarked on wholesale reform of their civil judicial systems in order to make them more efficient, less costly and more speedy.'The Council received 24 replies to its questionnaire, including England & Wales, France, Germany and Italy.

It found that some European states claimed that their lack of judicial infrastructure and a shortage of trained judges were key obstacles to developing a cost-effective and efficient legal system.

Anne Mizzi