•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Are judicial decisions written and regularly available to both legal
professionals and the public?
Do judges of the highest courts in the land have lifetime
appointments?
Do judges receive appropriate salaries, commensurate with other
justice sector officials?
Can a judge be removed only for reasons of cause (breach of ethics,
etc.)?
Can a judge be transferred only with his/her consent?
When the jurisdiction of the court to hear a case is contested, does
the presiding judge decide?
Do prosecutors generally respect the judge’s authority and
decisions?
Does the judiciary have a budget adequate to carry out its
responsibilities?
Do judges have material and substantive resources (including
statutes, codes, laws, copies of opinions, regulations, supplies,
etc.) sufficient to perform their duties?
Are judges selected, promoted and fired based on competence
(knowledge/skills), fairness, integrity and experience?
Are cases assigned randomly?
b) Capability: Judges
i)
Measurement Indicators
•
Are the requirements for appointment to the bench public and
transparent?
•
Must judges be qualified to hold office?
•
Do judges receive periodic training to stay current in the law?
•
Are the rules governing judicial ethics and conflicts of interest
written down and made public?
•
Do judges accused of misconduct or improprieties receive written,
documented explanation (including grounds) of accusation and the
ability to appeal a disciplinary decision to an independent body?
•
Are judges judged by their peers (as well as any other tribunal) in
these circumstances?
•
Is there a requirement that judges must file financial disclosure
forms on a regular basis?
c) Capability: Court Administration and Record Keeping
ii)
Measurement Indicators
•
Is there a designated/elected/appointed official (or professional
office) empowered with the responsibly for court management? (At
a national level, and at the level of each court)?
•
Is the case tracking system reasonably calculated to make sure
that cases are accounted for (perhaps with the tickler file or other
systematic alerting system) and that the court, attorneys, plaintiffs
and defendants are notified of due/suspense dates?
22