Court presidents: power through informality

David Kosař and Katarína Šipulová

Chapter 17 in Research Handbook on Judging and the Judiciary, 2025, pp 332-352 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter conceptualises the roles of court presidents and explains their complex interaction with other actors involved in judicial governance, such as politicians, individual judges, and other judicial self-governance bodies. It shows that court presidents can play a positive role (by effective governance of their courts, ensuring informational flows, providing an early warning system against political interference, and acting as bulwarks against democratic decay), but they may also use their powers to the detriment of judicial independence (by succumbing to corruption and clientelism, or exerting too much influence over decision-making). Our argument is two-fold. First, in order to understand the true role of court presidents in a given system, it is crucial to go beyond their formal powers, as court presidents are often embedded in various informal networks that make them more important actors than they seem on paper. Second, court presidents are strategic actors who respond to varied institutional conditions and political circumstances.

Keywords: Court presidents; Chief justices; Judicial independence; Judicial governance; Administration of courts; Judicial politics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781788978736
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