A judge acts in an unethical manner if he violates his obligations of impartiality, and thus, his conduct will be considered misconduct. Actions that will amount to misconduct might involve accepting bribes or gifts, or using their power for friends or relatives.
As a result, each courtroom should have a code of judicial conduct that establishes the standard and norms of ethical behaviour to be expected in that court. The code should be used to have guidance to help judges understand how to act fairly.
To do that, there have been established six different principles and their main aim is to affirm standards for the ethical conduct of judges.
Indeed, these principles are made to help judges to follow the right judicial conduct and to assist members of the Executive and Legislature to have a better understanding of the judiciary.
The six principles are the following:
1) Judicial independence is essential to the rule of law and a guarantee of vital importance to have a fair trial. Indeed, a judge should exercise his judicial independence in both, its individual and institutional aspects. Sometimes people believe that judges enjoy this independence.
However, this is simply not the case as it is the core of our system of democracy and it has been put into practice to safeguard the freedom and rights of citizens. The judiciary in the United Kingdom has been independent since the 18th century. Additionally, all the judges have sworn the judicial oath which claims that they will exercise the law without fear or favour.
2) Impartiality is necessary to work properly at the judicial office. It is used for both the decision and the procession by which the decision is made. A judge will strive to ensure that his or her conduct is completely impartial, in or out of the courtroom.
Indeed, a judge should avoid extra-judicial activity which might affect his decisions. For instance, if a judge or the judge family has a financial interest in the outcome case the judge will have to disqualify. Moreover, if a judge is friends with one of the parties, he or she should be disqualified as it would be extremely hard to be impartial.
3) As well as impartiality, integrity is vital to work properly at the judicial office. Indeed, judges are supposed to exercise the citizens’ rights. It is worth noting that the principles of equality and fairness have always been deeply important to the role and conduct of the judiciary. However, this principle should also be respected by judges outside the courtroom.
4) Propriety is crucial to the activities of the judge. A judge should avert impropriety and the appearance of it in all his activities.
5) Another important principle is ensuring equality of treatment for everyone as the law is the same for every individual.
6) Last but not least, it is indispensable to have competence and diligence to work at the judicial office. Hence, as Lord Bingham of Cornhill attested in 1993 in the ‘The society of public teacher of the law, entitled judicial ethics’: “It is a judge’s professional duty to do what he reasonably can to equip himself to discharge his judicial duties with a high degree of competence.”
To conclude, judicial ethics is of vital importance as fairness and equality are at the very core of our democratic system.
Indeed, if there was no judicial ethic our system would not be fair and equal for everybody. As a consequence, a judge needs to be completely impartial and have the integrity to perform in the best way possible. The above mentioned six principles were put in place to safeguard citizens’ right and freedom.
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