Some insights into the concepts of judicial independence, accountability, control, and constraints

The idea that a constitutional mechanism is needed to ensure that judges who do not meet the high standards required for the exercise of their function should not continue to exercise their role is a common one. This work focuses on four different concepts, often referred to as support for this assumption: Judicial accountability, constraints, control, and independence. These notions are treated separately to clearly demonstrate both the theoretical influences and practical problems that each concept generates for the others. Indeed, the main objective of this paper is not to identify the best constitutional solution to the problem of judges’ responsibility but rather to indicate how a clear understanding of the concepts of judicial accountability, constraints, control, and independence could lead to a constitutionally informed choice regarding the work of judges and its consequences. In pursuing this goal, this research illustrates the critical role that these concepts, adequately conceived, play in the Western constitutional system, and hence the crucial role that politics must play in the work of courts and the judiciary if judges are to continue to serve as the guardians of our fundamental rights and liberties.