The province's justice system is headed towards collapse because of insufficient funding, according to the chief justice of the B.C. Supreme Court.

In a speech delivered to the B.C. branch of the Canadian Bar Association on Saturday, Chief Justice Baumann warned his audience that the province's courts are "threatened, if not in peril."

He said that inadequate funding has been a problem for B.C.'s courts for a number of years, and the stability and integrity of the system is steadily eroding.

"Then comes a tipping point when that gradual, insidious process of incremental damage yields its dramatic finish -- the structure is diminished and collapses," Baumann said.

"We are not at the tipping point yet, but we are steadily edging towards it."

Baumann's speech points to the dire consequences of budget cuts in the U.S., including a municipal court in Ohio that has stopped accepting new cases because it can't afford to buy paper.

He said that in B.C., the budget for court services will be cut by more than 10 per cent between 2008 and 2013. That means staffing has been slashed, leading to trial delays and holdups in processing court orders.

The situation in the provincial court system is even worse, according to Baumann. Since 2005, the provincial courts have lost the equivalent of 16.65 full-time judges.

A lack of judges, clerks and sheriffs has been blamed for a series of recent cases in which charges are dropped because of unreasonable delays in trials for drunk drivers, cocaine dealers and even a man accused of shooting a puppy to death.

"Without adequate resourcing, the court's traditional and essential role in maintaining societal order is being eroded and degraded," Baumann said.

"And here the stakes become simply too great."

The chief justice said that the judicial system is actually more important than education and health care when it comes to budgeting, because it is "a foundational institution in our democracy" and can never be allowed to crumble.

In response to the criticism, Solicitor General Shirley Bond said the government has added 14 judges in the last two years and continues to look for ways to divert some proceedings, like drunk driving offences, out of the courts.

With files from The Canadian Press