Sir Burton spoke with the Journal Wednesday and said the Supreme Court is housed in "too many different locations."
"One of the serious handicaps to my mind is the question of not being in one building," he said. "The fact that we are in seven locations means that there has to be a duplication of staff and the movement of files."
"The court is a court of record and that means that files have to move from the registry among the several locations of the court and even within the registry, there has for years been a serious space problem."
There are currently two courts located in the British American Bank building, one court on the ground floor of the Senate building, another in Ansbacher House, one in the old colonial Secretariat building and the others are in the current Supreme Court Building on Bank Lane.
He explained that files are misplaced because they have to be moved from court to court.
"Even within the registries of the Supreme Court there is often not sufficient space to house files," the chief justice said. "Apart from the number of files, the size of files particularly in commercial matters, to use the word voluminous is an understatement."
"You may have an affidavit that is 500 pages long and that may be just one of several affidavits in a matter, so because of the volume of paper in modern litigation, especially commercial litigation, the management of files is a mammoth task."
Sir Burton said all those issues combined add to the inefficiency of the judiciary.
"I know that the government recently spoke of mid-term plans to remodel the Supreme Court and make the other annexes of the court better, but until we are in building we will remain seriously handicapped," he said.
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said in his 2009/2010 budget communication that his government would not be able to build the proposed Supreme Court complex on Market Street.
