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 human, and the things they must decide can matter greatly to people. Therefore, we are also concerned with providing institutional shields against the threats or temptations that might come their way. Judicial independence, in this sense, is a feature of the institutional setting within which judging takes place. Institutional judicial independence is, however, a complex value in that it really cannot be seen as something valuable in itself. Rather, it is instrumental to the pursuit of other values, such as the rule of law or constitutional values.