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Safeguarding judicial impartiality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Kate Malleson
Kate Malleson*
Affiliation:
Department of Law, London School of Economics
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Abstract

Since the decision of the House of Lords to overturn its earlier judgment in the case of Re Pinochet (No 2) the courts have closed the floodgates to further claims of judicial bias by adopting a restrictive approach to the rules on judicial disqualification. In the light of these restrictions on claims of individual bias, this paper reviews the institutional mechanisms for safeguarding impartiality at a collective level through the appointments process and the system for allocating cases to judges. It highlights weaknesses in these arrangements such as the lack of openness, the potential for inappropriate political control and the lack of diversity in the composition of the judiciary. It argues that as the concept of impartiality is increasingly linked to these institutional arrangements the continuing legitimacy of the judiciary requires that these problems are addressed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Legal Studies , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , March 2002 , pp. 53 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Legal Scholars 2002

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References

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3. The presumption of judicial impartiality is clearly set out in Blackstones Commentaries and has been adopted by many other common law systems as well as the European Court of Human Rights (see the 1997 Canadian Supreme Court decision, R v S (R D) (1997) 118 CCC (3d) para 117).

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