12 Facts About Judicial independence

Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government.

One way to promote judicial independence is by granting life tenure or long tenure for judges, which ideally frees them to decide cases and make rulings according to the rule of law and judicial discretion, even if those decisions are politically unpopular or opposed by powerful interests.

Judicial independence serves as a safeguard for the rights and privileges provided by a limited constitution and prevents executive and legislative encroachment upon those rights.

Development of judicial independence has been argued to involve a cycle of national law having an impact on international law, and international law subsequently impacting national law.

The second phase was evident when England's concepts regarding judicial independence spread internationally, and were adopted into the domestic law of other countries; for instance, England served as the model for Montesquieu's separation of powers doctrine, and the Founding Fathers of the US Constitution used England as their dominant model in formulating the Constitution's Article III, which is the foundation of American judicial independence.

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In recent decades the third phase of judicial independence has been evident in the UK, as it has been significantly influenced by judicial independence principles developed by international human rights constitutional documents.

In recent years, the principle of judicial independence has been described as one of the core values of the justice system.

Canada has a level of judicial independence entrenched in its Constitution, awarding superior court justices various guarantees to independence under sections 96 to 100 of the Constitution Act, 1867.

In 1982 a measure of judicial independence was extended to inferior courts specializing in criminal law by section 11 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, although in the 1986 case Valente v The Queen it was found these rights are limited.

Institutional independence means the judicial branch is independent from the executive and legislative branches.

Decisional Judicial independence is the idea that judges should be able to decide cases solely based on the law and facts, without letting the media, politics or other concerns sway their decisions, and without fearing penalty in their careers for their decisions.

Judicial independence began to emerge during the early modern period; more courts were created and a judicial profession grew.