Judicial reform is the complete or partial political reform of a country's judiciary. Judicial reform can be connected to a law reform, constitutional amendment, prison reform, police reform or part of wider reform of the country's political system.[Peter Barenboim, Natalya Merkulova. " The 25th Anniversary of Constitutional Economics: The Russian Model and Legal Reform in Russia, in The World Rule of Law Movement and Russian Legal Reform", edited by Francis Neate and Holly Nielsen, Justitsinform, Moscow (2007).]
Stated reasons for judicial reform include increasing of the independence of the judiciary, constitutionalism and separation of powers, increased Speedy trial, increased fairness of justice,[European Parliament, Council and Commission, Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, 26 October 2012] and improving electoral accountability, political legitimacy and parliamentary sovereignty.
Areas of the judicial reform often include: codification of law instead of common law, changing between an inquisitorial system and an adversarial system, changes to court administration such as judicial councils or changes to appointment procedure, establishing mandatory retirement age for judges or increasing the independence of from the executive.
Examples
Judiciary Act of 1789
Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937
Judicial reform of Alexander II
Judicial Reform Committee of South Sudan
2023 Israeli judicial reform
2024 Mexican judicial reform
Protests against Polish judiciary reforms
Romanian judicial reform
Scottish judicial reform
The period from 2012 to 2015 is the period of the Lord Presidency of Lord Gill whose agenda was to overhaul and modernise a failing judicial system.
[See under "Reforms to the Scottish Courts system" in Lord Gill] His initial Report dated from 2009, and followed a lengthy public consultation. His opinion was that the system as it stood was "outdated, expensive, unpredictable and inefficient."
[ Senior judge hits out at 'Victorian' Scots courts The Scotsman, by the Newsroom, 8 May 2009 ] The principal statutory changes were contained in the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.
Judicial reform in Ukraine
Other reforms
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1960 Puerto Rican judicial reform referendum
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Administration of Justice Act
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Constitutional Reform Act 2005
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Supreme Court reform in the United States
See also
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Constitutionalism
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Constitutional economics
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Criminal justice reform
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United States federal judiciary legislation
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Electoral reform
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Government failure
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Judicial activism
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Judicial independence
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Judicial interpretation
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Judicial review
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Political corruption
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Parliamentary sovereignty
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Regulatory capture
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Rule of law
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Rule according to higher law
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Security sector governance and reform
Notes
External links
