POL 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Precedent, Helena Jaczek, Judicial Independence
22 Nov 2017
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The law should be decided by a democratic society, applied justly, many people can engage in politics to change those laws. For the law to be just it needs to cons der all people"s r g ts (same sex, people w t d sab l t es) Importance of judicial independence: judges who apply and interpret the law must be free of any political or other forms of influence or pressure. Rulings must be impartial; essential principle of the rule of law. Once appointed, judges serve until age 75; security of tenure guarantee of impartiality. Judges appointed on the basis of their professional accomplishments/achievements as lawyers and/or experiences as judges in lower courts. Supreme court: as of 2016 appointments are made on the advice of an independent advisory board which screens applications. >pm decides who sits on this board, and who can actually make good decisions. They make recommendations to the pm. (similar process with both federal and provincial)
