Introduction: Not Enough Judges

Authors

  • Avrom Sherr University of London - School of Advanced Study

Abstract

This is an Introduction, and Comment on the series presented here as "Not Enough Judges", arising out of a workshop in Oñati in 2016. The workshop intended to expose and begin to understand the general claims regarding the scarcity of judges and its consequences which appeared as an important issue in a number of jurisdictions. The concerns are that citizens and organizations may be denied access to justice; parties may suffer delays of justice; prosecutors may decline to prosecute more cases (Crystal S. Yang, Justice Vacated? The Impact of Judicial Vacancies on Prosecutorial Behavior); judges may become overworked etc. (Keren Weinshall-Margel et al., Case Weights for the Assessment of Judicial Workloads in Israel). This collection brings together the papers of the workshop which investigated whether there is substance to these claims and whether it is possible to assess the severity of the problem. The intention of the workshop was to seek out the sources of the problem; establish its social price; and propose solutions.

Esta introducción se adjunta a un comentario presentado en forma de artículo en el seminario Too Few Judges? Dicho artículo cuestionaba la afirmación de que los jueces son esenciales para la justicia, y que, por tanto, carecer de suficientes jueces disminuye la accesibilidad y el acceso a la justicia. El comentario cuestiona el coste y el valor del derecho judicial, si acaso los jueces hacen el trabajo que suponemos que hacen, cumplen con su obligación de garantizar la justicia, son siempre independientes y justos, y si son siempre capaces de llegar a conclusiones justas. Este cuestionamiento no pretende criticar a ningún juez, sino más bien considerar la naturaleza y limitaciones de la función decisoria de los jueces. Está enteramente aceptado que algunos elementos de la función judicial son esenciales para el progreso del derecho, la defensa del individuo frente al Estado, y la certeza del derecho y las relaciones humanas.

DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3067284

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How to Cite

Sherr, A. (2017) “Introduction: Not Enough Judges”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 7(4), pp. 601–615. Available at: https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/938 (Accessed: 19 April 2024).