The Culture Of Judicial Independence

The creation of a culture of Judicial Independence is of a central significance both in national domestic legal systems, as well as for the international courts and tribunals. The main aim of this volume is to analyze the development of a culture of Judicial Independence in comparative perspectives, to offer an examination of the conceptual foundations of the principle of judicial independence and to discuss in detail the practical challenges facing judiciaries in different jurisdictions. The proposed volume is based on the papers presented at the five conferences held in the framework of The International Project on Judicial independence. The editors of this volume and the contributors to it are leading scholars and distinguished experts on judicial independence and judiciaries.

The Culture of Judicial Independence: Rule of Law and World Peace, is the third book by Shimon Shetreet on Judicial Independence. The first was Judicial Independence: The Contemporary Debate (edited by Shimon Shetreet and Jules Deschênes, Nijhoff,1985). The second was The Culture of Judicial Independence: Conceptual Foundations and Practical Challenges (Edited by Shimon Shetreet and Christopher Forsyth, Nijhoff, 2012). This volume contains essays by senior academics, judges and practitioners across jurisdictions offering an analysis of several central issues relative to the culture of Judicial Independence. These include judicial review, human rights, democracy, the rule of law and world peace, constitutional position of top courts, relations between the judiciary and the other branches of government, impartiality and fairness of the judicial process, judicial ethics, dispute resolution in arbitral awards and international investments, international courts and cross country issues, judicial selection. The volume also offers an update report on the International Project of Judicial Independence of the International Association of Judicial Independence and World Peace, including the relations of top courts and international courts, administrative judges, culture of judicial independence and public inquiries by judges.

This volume The Culture of Judicial Independence in a Globalised World, is an academic continuation of the previous three volumes: Judicial Independence: The Contemporary Debate, edited by Professor Shimon Shetreet and Chief Justice Deschenes (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1985), The Culture of Judicial Independence: Conceptual Foundations and Practical Challenges, edited by Professor Shimon Shetreet and Professor Christopher Forsyth (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2012), and The Culture of Judicial Independence: Rule of Law and World Peace edited by Professor Shimon Shetreet (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2014). This volume offers papers and studies by academics, judges and practitioners from many jurisdictions on judicial independence – both national and international.

This book is an academic continuation of the previous five volumes on judicial independence edited by Shimon Shetreet, with others: Jules Deschenes, Christopher Forsyth, Wayne McCormack, Hiram E. Chodosh and Eric Helland, all books were published by Brill Nijhoff: Judicial Independence: The Contemporary Debate (1985), The Culture of Judicial Independence: Conceptual Foundations and Practical Challenges (2012), The Culture of Judicial Independence: Rule of Law and World Peace (2014), The Culture of Judicial Independence in a Globalised World (2016), Challenged Justice: In Pursuit of Judicial Independence (2021). This volume offers studies by distinguished scholars and judges from different jurisdictions on numerous dimensions regarding the essential role of judicial independence in democracy. It includes analyses of basic constitutional principles and contemporary issues of judicial independence and judicial procces in many jurisdictions and analyses of international standarts of judicial independence and judicial ethics.

This volume offers an in depth analysis of current issues of culture of judicial independence in comparative perspective by senior academics, judges and practitioners across jurisdictions. It deals with central topics that stand high in the academic and public discourse on the role of judges in society and in the system of government, their constitutional position, and the relations between top domestic courts and international and supra-national courts.

The book offers articles by senior jurists on important aspects of judicial independence and judicial process in many jurisdictions, including indicators of justice. It comes at the time of serious challenges to the judiciary, the rule of law and democracy.

This book addresses one central question: if justice is to be done in the name of the community, how far do the decision-makers need to reflect the community, either in their profile or in the opinions they espouse? Each contributor provides an answer on the basis of a careful analysis of the rules, assumptions and practices relating to their own national judicial system and legal culture. Written by national experts, the essays illustrate a variety of institutional designs towards a better reflection of the community. The involvement of lay people is often most visible in judicial appointments at senior court level, with political representatives sometimes appointing judges. They consider the lay involvement in the judicial system more widely, from the role of juries to the role of specialist lay judges and lay assessors in lower courts and tribunals. This lay input into judicial appointments is explored in light of the principle of judicial independence. The contributors also critically discuss the extent to which judicial action is legitimised by any ‘democratic pedigree’ of the judges or their decisions. The book thus offers a range of perspectives, all shaped by distinctive constitutional and legal cultures, on the thorny relationship between the principle of judicial independence and the idea of democratic accountability of the judiciary.