Tenure Of Judges Research Articles

Institutions that define the policymaking role of courts: A comparative analysis of the supreme courts of Scandinavia

Abstract Scandinavian supreme courts have been described as deferential to the elected branches of government and reluctant to exercise their limited review powers. However, in recent years, these courts have increasingly decided cases impacting public policy making. Yet we lack comprehensive, comparative knowledge about the legal rules and judicial practices that govern the policymaking role of courts in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Addressing this gap, this article develops an analytical framework and systematically compares the evolving laws, rules, and practices that regulate the supreme courts’ constitutional review powers and court administration, the appointment and tenure of judges, access to the supreme courts, and their decision-making procedures over the last fifty years. The comparison reveals notable institutional differences across these judiciaries and finds that judicial expansion in Scandinavia has coincided with institutional changes that enhance judicial autonomy. This suggests that consequential reforms of domestic origin may have played a larger part in this development than previously appreciated.

Judicial Impartiality and Independence in Divided Societies: An Empirical Analysis of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina

The role of constitutional courts in deeply divided societies is complicated by the danger that the salient societal cleavages may influence judicial decision-making and, consequently, undermine judicial impartiality and independence. With reference to the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina, this article investigates the influence of ethno-national affiliation on judicial behaviour and the extent to which variation in judicial tenure amplifies or dampens that influence. Based on a statistical analysis of an original dataset of the Court's decisions, we find that the judges do in fact divide predictably along ethno-national lines, at least in certain types of cases, and that these divisions cannot be reduced to a residual loyalty to their appointing political parties. Contrary to some theoretical expectations, however, we find that long-term tenure does little to dampen the influence of ethno-national affiliation on judicial behaviour. Moreover, our findings suggest that this influence may actually increase as a judge acclimates to the dynamics of a divided court. We conclude by considering how alternative arrangements for the selection and tenure of judges might help to ameliorate this problem.

The Missouri Plan for Selection and Tenure of Judges

The Missouri Plan for Selection and Tenure of Judges

The Selection and Tenure of Judges

The Selection and Tenure of Judges

Removal and Tenure of Judges

Removal and Tenure of Judges

The Selection and Tenure of Judges

The Selection and Tenure of Judges

Selection and Tenure of Judges

Selection and Tenure of Judges

HAYNES, EVAN. The Selection and Tenure of Judges. Pp. xix, 308. The National Conference of Judicial Councils, 1944. No place. No price

HAYNES, EVAN. The Selection and Tenure of Judges. Pp. xix, 308. The National Conference of Judicial Councils, 1944. No place. No price