The face of the judiciary

If we were to ask judges across the world what they regard as the essential characteristics of a judge, they would all answer: independence, legitimacy, integrity, and impartiality. Yet the preparation judges receive for their work varies a great deal. Judges are molded by their culture, especially their legal culture, and they are different despite these common characteristics.

In some countries, Saudi Arabia for example, judges are religious men, with years of learning in the Sharia – the religious law of Islam – and its application. In other countries, England and the USA for example, judges simply are people learned in the law: graduates of law schools, with experience at the bar, who then move on to become judges. In England, for the upper echelon of the courts, this requires a royal appointment on the advice of the Lord Chancellor, and these judges are addressed as “ your lordship”. Lower court judges (lay judges or magistrates) are appointed by the Lord Chancellor, and legal education is not required. In the US, most judges win their post in partisan elections. All federal judges are appointed by the chief executive (the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate), and in some states the governor has similar power.

Judicial education in the usa

How to bridge the gap between having a trial lawyer’s experience and becoming a good judge is a hotly debated topic among American lawyers. In 1965 the National Judicial College was founded. It has undertaken to educate freshmen judges to develop special skills and competence. Some of the courses aim at a deep-ended knowledge of law and procedure. Others emphasize decision making, dispute resolution, sentencing and corrections, psychology, or court management. By now tens of thousands trial judges have gone through the program.

Other systems

The countries whose laws are based on the system of Roman law (civil law countries) nearly all have a career judiciary. Becoming a judge in Portugal, France or Japan, for example, requires graduating at the top of the law school class and then passing a rigorous examination for entry into the judiciary. There follows a training course of several months’ duration at judicial training centres (academies). More difficult exams follow. Then comes training in the field, during which the student judge renders nonbinding decisions in the presence of senior judges who actually decide the case. These decisions are evaluated. If the candidate has not flunked out by now, he or she goes back to the centre or the academy for further training, more examinations, and ultimately an appointment to a small court somewhere in the countryside.

Explain the meaning of the following phrases from the text:

Judges are molded by their culture; experience at the bar; lay judges; partisan elections; to bridge the gap; to educate freshmen judges; to have a career judiciary; the candidate has not flunked out.

Answer the questions:

1) What qualities of a judge are recognized across the world?

2) Why does the preparation judges receive for their work vary a great deal in different countries?

3) What procedures are necessary to become a judge?

4) What approaches to judicial education are typical of different legal systems?

TEXT 4. Read the text and get ready to discuss it.