An appeals court ruling against Lula may disqualify this popular former Brazilian president from running again in October 2018. Supporters vehemently maintain his innocence.
Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
An appeals court ruling against popular Brazilian ex-president Lula has hotly divided Brazil. A legal scholar argues that this is a case of activist judges taking their anti-graft crusade too far.
Ghana’s justice system is not just slow. It’s also expensive and sometimes even harsh.
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It is obviously important to protect the institutional integrity and independence of the judiciary – but the judiciary and judicial decisions should not be immune from criticism.
At least half of the UK’s Supreme Court will retire in the next two years, presenting a prime opportunity for a more representative judiciary.
A prison officer stands guard outside the Chief Magistrate’s court in Nairobi. Safeguarding reforms is key mandate for the in-coming Chief Justice.
Noor Khamis/Reuters
Jan van Zyl Smit, British Institute of International and Comparative Law
Despite some criticism, the screening of 50-odd judges and nearly 300 magistrates was a remarkable achievement. But Kenya’s new Chief Justice has some cleaning up left to do.
Kenya’s Supreme Court judges file into the chamber during the opening of parliament.
Reuters/Noor Khamis
The electorate and those involved in public governance should focus more on how judges are appointed. This is because they need to make sure that individuals of the highest quality get the job.
Trade union royal commissioner Dyson Heydon refused to find that he was affected by apprehended bias.
AAP/Joel Carrett
There are inherent shortcomings in a procedure that asks judges to make objective and rational assessments about how their own conduct, relationships or interests might appear to others
South African President Jacob Zuma, right, listens to Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng ahead of Zuma’s second inauguration in Pretoria.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
Tensions are probably inevitable in any constitutional democracy that empowers the courts to overrule the executive and legislature. But, judges are worried cabinet undermines the rule of law.
The standard of proof that applies in different types of judicial proceedings may result in quite different verdicts.
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After saying he was ‘deeply suspicious’, a judge cleared a man of child pornography offences. We need to understand the standard of proof to make sense of verdicts, including AFL rulings on doping.
Should Australia’s High Court judges be representative of the community that their rulings affect? Should politics play a part?
AAP/Lukas Coch
Late last week, the federal government appointed Geoffrey Nettle, a Victorian Court of Appeal judge, to the High Court to replace retiring justice Susan Crennan. Nettle is an excellent lawyer and his appointment…