Introduction
Independence of the judiciary can be explained with three basic points. That are: (i) sovereignity of the judges from executive and the legislature, that are the other branches of government (ii) neutrality from political ideologies i.e, it should be free from the pressure of all the political parties, media and public (iii) self sufficiency of each judge i.e., every individual should be free from the pressure of his or her seniors so that he or she can easily make any judgement without any pressure and according to the reaquirement of law (Faúndez, 2016).
So basically the independence of the judiciary system depends on such a system where a judge can freely make any decisions without the pressure of public, media or any external power. For an independent judiciary, it msut be separated from the other two parts of the government that are executive and legislature. Baron de Montesquieu, a French philosopher, gave the idea of separation of powers (Green, 2014).. He presented the idea that one person should not be allowed to serve in more than one branch of the government as it will help us to maintain the democracy otherwise we will have to face the dictatorship.
In United Kingdom, we donot have a systematic and organized constitution that positions the rule of law and it doesnot cleary separates the power. But this does not give a negative impact about the persuation of rule of law and it does not mean that the judiciary of UK is not independent.
Description
Judicial independence plays a vital role in the politics of UK as it is rudimentary to British Constitution. The citizens of the United Kingdom always bow their heads upon the decisions that are made by the courts. It is crucial for all the judges that are serving the British judiciary that they have to make such decisions that are benefitting all the citizens of the country not to make a decision that is in the interest of any one individual.
For the proper functioning of the judicial system and all of its organs, some boundries have been set for all the judges working in the judiciary system of the United kingdom, against which they will never participate in any case in which the judge has any kind of interest (Heywood, 2015). In UK, judges are totally free from the pressure of government all the political parties because if they ever try for biasedness they face a lot of pressure from the public and the public start protests against them. In addition, this is in the unwritten law of the UK, that if a judge sees that he has some kind of interest in the case presented before him or there is a possibility that he might get biased while giving the verdict, he calls the parties and present them the situationand asks for the permission from noth the parties that whether they want him or her to listen the case or they want him to pass this case to some other judge (Heywood, 2015).
In addition, w can also find out the level of independence in the judiciary system of UK that there are many cases that have been made a part of the history as per their rulling that even technicalities cannot stop the judges from giving fair rulling (Heywood, 2015). Nothing can stop the judges not even the government or any other external pressure from taking a fair trail and giving a fair rullinh. Here are some expamles that better explain the independence of the judiciary system in the UK.
Horncastle and hearsay evidence: The troublesome issue of evidanc of “hearsay” was presented in the supreme court (Green, 2014). Hearsay evidance are the statements of the people who are becoming a witness in any cas ut are not present in the court. These evidances cannot be cross examined and are not under oath. According to the judge of the supreme court, it was not an issue because sometimes its hard to present the witness because of many reasons(Green, 2014). So they decided that the hearsay evidence is valid. The same case was presented before the ECHR, which gace the verdict that ”if a person is convicted on the basis of hearsay evidence, then their right for free trail has been violated”. The Bristish government refused the verdict as they thought this verdict will be a serious threat to the judicial system and the supreme court agreed to the government decision (Green, 2014).
The independence of the judiciary system is vital for the prosperity of a nation and to keep up the democracy. This independence means that all the judges working under the judiciary system should be free from personal bias and should be free from the influence of others. On these grounds, the judiciary system of UK has come under a lot of criticism and is meant to be biased.
The main criticism on the judiciary od the UK is, majority of the most senior judges in the Bristish judiciary system are middle aged predominantly white males who have taken all of their education in expensive private institutes (Fairclough, 2017). Whenever these judges have to make a verdict they always show biasedness and always give rullings against the minorities either homosexuals, disabled or ethnic. Secondly, the lack of females judges in the judiciary system rises too many questions on the independence of this system. In the famous case of Radmacher v Granatino 2010, a rulling of 8 to 1 was made and the Lady Hale clearly said that the other 8 judges didnot see the case in the way she did because all those 8 judges were gender biased. A big threat to the judiciary system (Green, 2014).
The British judiciary system although working in a very good condition seems biased and doesnot look like an independent judiciary system. According to the claims it seems that the judiciary system lacks independence. Some reforms are required for the improvement of ths system so that the claims that are proving the lack of independence should be overcomed.
Conclusion
Unlike most of the countries, constitution of The Great Britain is not codified and is not written in one piece. But still the judiciary system of UK is working in its best condition. Judiciary system of any country is considered to be independent if it is free from the from all kind of biasedness and is free from any type of external and internal pressure like political pressure, pressure from the media and many other factors. A judicial system is said to be free if it is making decisions that are independent form the other two basics elements of the government i.e., executive and legislature. It is a debateable topic that whether the British judiciary system is independent or not. But the studies have shown that there is need of some reforms in the judicial system of England. As right now, there is a lack of judges from the minority groups in the England. In addition, female representation in the judicial system of England is negligible which rises question on the independence of this system. Therefore, to improve this system there is a need to bring reforms in above mentioned areas.
References
Faúndez, J. ed., 2016. Good government and law: Legal and institutional reform in developing countries. Springer.
Green, C. (2014). Lord Neuberger on the Supreme Court: Five key cases from its first. [online] The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/lord-neuberger-on-the-supreme-court-five-key-cases-from-its-first-five-years-9789269.html [Accessed 12 Apr. 2018].
Heywood, A., 2015. Essentials of UK politics. Palgrave Macmillan.
Independence. (2018). Judiciary.gov.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2018, from https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/about-the-judiciary/the-judiciary-the-government-and-the-constitution/jud-acc-ind/independence/
Lynch, P., Fairclough, P. and Cooper, T., 2017. UK Government and Politics for AS/A-level. Philip Allan.
