Institutional Judicial Reform Experiences in Belgium: New Bodies Governing the Judiciary

Institutional Reform and the Judiciary Which Way Forward ?

This paper presents some general lessons in institution building that has relevance for reform of the judiciary. The paper emphasizes the value of simplicity in design commensurate with country capacity, the importance of innovation/experimentation, and of economic openness in effective institution building. It underscores how the incentives of individuals depend on both the details of institut...

Judiciary: Explaining Judicial Independence

Judicial independence is an idea that has both internal (or normative) and external (or institutional) aspects. From a normative viewpoint, judges should be autonomous moral agents, who can be relied on to carry out their public duties independent of venal or ideological considerations. Independence, or impartiality, in this sense is a desirable aspect of a judge’s character. But judges are hum...

New Developments in the Reform of China ’ s Judicial Procedures

Specific measures that have been adopted to promote greater transparency and fairness in the trial process include improving the ability of litigants to test evidence; requiring greater explanation of judgments from the bench; greater use of technology to increase public access to decisions made by the judiciary; reducing the cost of litigation; provision of legal assistance for parties whom ar...

Does Political Bias in the Judiciary Matter?: Implications of Judicial Bias Studies for Legal and Constitutional Reform

Recent empirical scholarship that shows that judges decide cases in a manner that is consistent with their political biases has motivated a stream of proposals for reform, including judicial term limits, limitations on judicial review of statutes and agency actions, revision of the judicial appointments process, and mandatory mixed party representation on judicial panels. However, these proposa...

First Steps to Judicial Reform