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Judicial Independence

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Submitted By willie
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Introduction Judicial independence, although often argued to be a fundamental concept to the rule of law, democracy and political stability, alarmingly continues to be contested and vague even in economically developed liberal democratic states recognized for the rule of law. This was particularly indicated by leading US constitutional scholar ‘name’, ‘there is a disagreement about whether or how to criticize judges and their decisions, and about whether or how to discipline judges. And, of course, there is pervasive disagreement about whether our judges exhibit too much or too little independence.’ The problems are exaggerated in cases of developing countries with unstable democracies and non-liberal authoritarian regimes. The key objective of this essay is to subject judicial independence and the statements presented on its behalf to critical examination. China is of use when analysing general ideas as it signifies a challenge to the universal understanding about what judicial independence is and why it is important. Although China ‘has never had independent courts’, the country continues to be an effective single-party socialist authoritarian regime, becoming a likely model for other developing states. Judicial Corruption in China It is certainly reasonable to say that judicial independence is an acknowledged theory in the Chinese Constitution. The original 1954 Constitution declared the need for the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) to judge cases independently. In the current Constitution, Article 126 additionally states that the SPC shall use judicial power independently in accordance with the law, without any intervention by governmental agencies or social institutions. However, in practice judicial independence is not implemented. The activities of the SPC are not entirely free from interference. This is due to the inherent defects which are present in

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