Studying judges: the role of the Chief Justice, and other institutional actors

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.1713

Keywords:

head of jurisdiction, chief justices, attorney-general, socio-legal research, judicial organisations

Abstract

The empirical study of judicial officers and the functioning of courts intersects with a number of judicial institutional values. Researchers will often, but not always, have legal qualifications, and most researchers of judicial officers will share a commitment to maintaining the institutional values of the Court but also have their own commitments to academic integrity and independence to maintain. In this article, we argue that the role of the Chief Justice, with its unique institutional leadership in relation to protecting and promoting judicial values, plays a number of different roles in relation to the study of judges more generally. We identify the roles of gatekeeper, provider of research, responder to research, and commissioner of research. We also identify other institutional actors that share institutional responsibility for these roles in some instances, including the the Attorney-General’s Department, the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration (AIJA) and the Australian Judicial Officers Association (AJAO). Ultimately, we argue that the status, responsibility to the court, relational position, and access to information makes it inevitable and desirable that the Chief Justice perform this role, but that researchers should engage sensitively with the Chief Justice so as to protect values that might arise in tension.

 

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Author Biographies

Gabrielle Appleby, University of New South Wales

Professor Gabrielle Appleby is the Director of the Judiciary Project at the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law at the University of New South Wales (Sydney). Postal address: c/- UNSW Law, Kensington Campus, Sydney, NSW 2052 Australia. Email: g.appleby@unsw.edu.au

Heather Roberts, Australian National University (ANU) Law School

Associate Professor Heather Roberts is the Director of the ANU Law Visiting Judges Program and ARC DECRA fellow at the Australian National University Law School. Postal address: c/- ANU Law School Australian National University, 5 Fellows Road, Canberra, ACT, 2601 Australia. Email: Heather.Roberts@anu.edu.au

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Published

10-10-2023 — Updated on 20-12-2023

How to Cite

Appleby, G. and Roberts, H. (2023) “Studying judges: the role of the Chief Justice, and other institutional actors”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 13(S1), pp. S80-S101. doi: 10.35295/osls.iisl.1713.