Publication details
Ethical perspectives of judges in motion
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Judges, representatives of judicial power in the rule of law state establishment, are often considered to be people of high level of reputation, honour, and dignity. But is that just a sociological presumption, or are judges bound by statutory law to uphold these values? Is there a legal definition stating what judicial dignity entails and encompass? What balances can the legal system provide when a judge does not act in accordance with these prerequisites? This paper focuses on the concept of judicial dignity in the theoretical sense and provides an empirical evidence of disciplinary proceedings with Czech judges where the threat to trust to judiciary and violation of judge’s dignity played a crucial role. It also provides a brief introduction to Czech legislative background of disciplinary proceedings that underwent a significant turn from two-instance model to (much criticized) one-instance model. This exact turn had been under the scope of interest of many significant individuals, as well as groups such as GRECO. Rule of law is a crucial concept of a functioning modern democracy. In recent years, in several countries in Europe, the rule of law is under attack. And the judiciary, can be traced, is one of the primal targets of this attack. Thus, this paper presents that it is essential to know what ethical qualities the judges need to uphold (with special concentration of judge’s dignity), and how they can be punished if they do not. From the other point of view there is the issue of ensuring the fair trial for the accused. Czech Republic, having the experience with various versions of statutory regulations, can provide an interesting reflection on these issues. |
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