POLS 3130 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Job Security
2 Jul 2016
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Judicial impartiality refers to a subjective frame of mind, where independence refers to more objective (external) institutional relations between courts and other actors. Judges should be placed in a position where they have nothing to lose by doing what is right. Relational concept: formal institutional protections for judges individually and collectively from interference by individual: includes tenure and financial security. Behavioural concept: actual judicial behaviour and whether it clearly displays autonomous decision making: good and bad behaviour. No single definition of judicial independence that is agreed upon universally: so there is no criteria. 3 components of judicial independence: judges are not answerable to the bureaucracy for judicial matters. The sole justification for judicial rulings appear in their oral and written decisions: judges are drawn from or part of an aggressively independent legal profession. Lawyers in canada that are self-regulated: judges traditionally adhered to formalistic decision-making that maximized deference to parliament.
