The Problematic of Judicial Accountability

Legalities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-230
Author(s):  
Emily Schindeler

Judicial officers are critical actors in the operation of the justice system. Because of the powers inherent in this role, protections for judicial independence and protections against judicial misconduct are equally essential elements in the design and operation of the justice system. Judicial self-regulation has been the primary arrangement for responding to substantiated allegations of misconduct that is deemed insufficient to warrant referral to parliament for consideration of removal from office. Reflecting on the relatively recent performance of systems and processes in responding to alleged judicial misbehaviour, this article seeks to foster discussion on the best means for achieving the balance between the power of the position and accountability for its exercise.

Author(s):  
Alisdair Gillespie ◽  
Siobhan Weare

The English Legal System presents the main areas of the legal system and encourages a critique of the wider aspects of how law is made and reformed. The book is structured in five parts. Part I looks at the sources of law including domestic and international sources. Part II looks at the courts and the practitioners. It considers the structure of the courts and tribunals, judges and judicial independence, the legal professions, and funding legal services. Part III examines the criminal justice system. It describes issues related to lay justice, trials, and criminal appeals. The next part is about the civil justice system. It looks at civil litigation, remedies, appeals and alternative dispute resolution. The final part looks to the future.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-67
Author(s):  
Neven Ricijaš ◽  
Valentina Kranželić ◽  
Lorena Leskovar

Studies confirm that adolescents experiment with the use of psychoactive substances during their growth. The main motivational processes are related to their desire to behave in accordance with social norms, an identity of individuality, to escape from discomfort and self-regulation. Attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge about psychoactive substances have been linked with substance use behaviour, but showed weak to moderate correlation. The main goal of this study was to gain insight into the frequency of psychoactive substances consumption of young men with behavioural problems placed in educational institutions, while the specific objectives were to explore the differences in the frequency of substance use with regard to the type of institution as well as the level of knowledge about psychoactive substances A total of N=74 young men placed in the justice system institutions (39.2%) and social welfare institutions (60.8%) participated in the study. The age of the participants ranges from 14 to 21 years of age (Mage=16.90, SDage=1,627). In addition to general socio-demographic data, the instrument measured knowledge about psychoactive substances, as well as the lifetime and past-year prevalence and the frequency of consumption. The results show a somewhat more frequent psychoactive substances use among young men institutionalized within the justice system, but also among participants with a higher level of knowledge of psychoactive substances. It is important to emphasize that the effects of differences are low to moderate. The results are interpreted in the context of other domestic and foreign prevalence studies and within the perspective of the importance of knowledge in creating interventions for young people in the area of the prevention of psychoactive substances use.


2002 ◽  
Vol 357 (1421) ◽  
pp. 683-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy M. Lenton ◽  
Marcel van Oijen

We define the Gaia system of life and its environment on Earth, review the status of the Gaia theory, introduce potentially relevant concepts from complexity theory, then try to apply them to Gaia. We consider whether Gaia is a complex adaptive system (CAS) in terms of its behaviour and suggest that the system is self–organizing but does not reside in a critical state. Gaia has supported abundant life for most of the last 3.8 Gyr. Large perturbations have occasionally suppressed life but the system has always recovered without losing the capacity for large–scale free energy capture and recycling of essential elements. To illustrate how complexity theory can help us understand the emergence of planetary–scale order, we present a simple cellular automata (CA) model of the imaginary planet Daisyworld. This exhibits emergent self–regulation as a consequence of feedback coupling between life and its environment. Local spatial interaction, which was absent from the original model, can destabilize the system by generating bifurcation regimes. Variation and natural selection tend to remove this instability. With mutation in the model system, it exhibits self–organizing adaptive behaviour in its response to forcing. We close by suggesting how artificial life (‘Alife’) techniques may enable more comprehensive feasibility tests of Gaia.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 152
Author(s):  
Pan Mohamad Faiz

The judicial appointment process is one of essential elements for maintaining judicial independence and public confidence of a court. This article analyses the practices of judicial appointment process exercised by three different main state institutions in selecting constitutional justice in Indonesia where the mechanism and process for selecting them have been implemented differently. It also examines the tenure of constitutional justice, which is a five-year term and can be renewed for one term only, that may lead to another problem concerning the reselection process of incumbent constitutional justices for their second term. The article concludes that the judicial appointment process and tenure of constitutional justice in Indonesia have to be improved. It suggests that if the proposing state institutions could not meet the principles of transparency, participation, objective and accountable required by the Constitutional Court Law, the judicial appointment process should be conducted by creating an independent Selection Committee or establishing a cooperation with the Judicial Commission. Additionally, the tenure of constitutional justices should also be revised for a unrenewable term with a longer period of nine or twelve years.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 152
Author(s):  
Pan Mohamad Faiz

The judicial appointment process is one of essential elements for maintaining judicial independence and public confidence of a court. This article analyses the practices of judicial appointment process exercised by three different main state institutions in selecting constitutional justice in Indonesia where the mechanism and process for selecting them have been implemented differently. It also examines the tenure of constitutional justice, which is a five-year term and can be renewed for one term only, that may lead to another problem concerning the reselection process of incumbent constitutional justices for their second term. The article concludes that the judicial appointment process and tenure of constitutional justice in Indonesia have to be improved. It suggests that if the proposing state institutions could not meet the principles of transparency, participation, objective and accountable required by the Constitutional Court Law, the judicial appointment process should be conducted by creating an independent Selection Committee or establishing a cooperation with the Judicial Commission. Additionally, the tenure of constitutional justices should also be revised for a unrenewable term with a longer period of nine or twelve years.


2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 120-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Agmon-Gonnen

In a democratic country an independent justice system plays a major role in protecting human rights and the rule of law. However, an independent judicial system is at risk from a number of factors that derive from outside the sytsem as well as from within. The external dangers facing judicial independence are often discussed; whereas the internal perils that weaken the system as well as judicial independence, are far less known. This article will focus on the danger from within and will discuss the judicial administration's influence on human rights, specifically the right to due process under the law.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 201-209
Author(s):  
Vivi Ariyanti

The duty and obligation of a state based on law is to provide protection for the public from all possible crimes, so that the state has a role in conducting prevention and repression of crime, and this cannot be separated from the implementation of criminal law by the state, as a tool to protect the public. The authority of the state to provide criminal sanctions is then delegated to law enforcement officers working in a system known as the Criminal Justice System. The criminal justice system itself is strongly influenced by the community environment and the field of human life. Therefore, the criminal justice system will always experience interaction, interconnection, and interdependence with its environment and sub-systems of the criminal justice system itself. One of the supporting sub-systems that have a very important role in implementing the criminal justice system is the court, which contains judges who are authorized by law to adjudicate. Judges in their capacity as authorities in the legal field have freedom as a form of independence in carrying out their duties. This independence does not mean that judges are freed from all obligations and responsibilities, but the independence of judges has the meaning of their existence as bearers of moral responsibility for upholding justice. This paper discusses the role of judges in ensuring legal certainty and justice in society, especially in handling criminal cases. This paper uses normative and philosophical analysis to the application of judicial independence principle in adjudicating criminal cases in the Indonesian criminal justice system.


Author(s):  
James E. Archibong

Intention to create legal relations is one of the essential elements of a valid contract. It is a critical factor in validating a contract alongside offer, acceptance and consideration. Even when an agreement fulfills these three basic elements, failure to prove intent to be legally bound nullifies the contract and justifies the refusal of the justice system to enforce it. It has been argued on one hand that as far as an agreement has met the basic elements of offer, acceptance and consideration necessitating a separate test of intention to create legal relations is inordinate. On the other hand, it has also been submitted that the doctrine should be retained. Through an analytical approach, this paper examines both sides of the contention and resolves in favour of retaining the doctrine. This will enhance commerce; guaranty contracting parties’ uninhibited right and freedom to enter into a contract and ensure certainty and stability in the realm of contract in a manner consistent with the requirements of modern global era.


Amicus Curiae ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-168
Author(s):  
Lesley A Allport

This article examines the place of mediation both internally and externally to the civil justice system. The growth of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and the culture of settlement within formal justice has somewhat absorbed mediation as a process by which to resolve disputes at the door of the court. Yet, it can be argued that its origins lie within the community setting where social norms have a distinct role to play and where collective as well as individual interests have a significant impact. This paper considers the application of mediation in a much wider sense than simply as a tool for settlement. It explores the concept of mediation as an educative process that supports the generation and advocation of social norms. Mediation can be understood as a form of self-regulation which relies on perceptions of fairness, justice and trust. In so doing, it can be argued that it provides a means of informal justice amounting to dispute prevention as far as its relationship to the justice system is concerned. Viewed in this way, mediation provides a genuine first choice as a means to address and resolve conflict rather than an alternative method by which to settle disputes. Keywords: mediation; dispute resolution; dispute prevention; community norms; formal justice; informal justice; process pluralism; alternative; first choice.


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