The Judiciary

In the law, the judiciary is the system of courts whichadminister justice in the name of the sovereign or state, amechanism for the resolution of disputes. The term is also used torefer collectively to the judges, magistrates and other adjudicatorswho form the core of a judiciary, as well as the support personnel

who keep the system running smoothly.

Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, ‘the judiciaryis the branch of government primarily responsible for interpretingthe law’. It construes the laws enacted by the legislature.

Like legislators and executives, judges are major participantsin the policy-making process. The process of judicial decisionmaking, or adjudication, is distinctive, however, for it is concernedwith specific cases in which an individual has come into conflictwith society by violating its norms or in which individuals havecome into conflict with one another.

In common law jurisdiction, courts interpret law, includingconstitutions, statutes, and regulations. In civil law jurisdictions,courts interpret the law, but are, at least in theory, prohibited fromcreating law. In socialist law, the primary responsibility forinterpreting the law belongs to the legislature.

Established court systems are found in all advanced politicalsystems. Usually there are two judicial hierarchies, one dealing withcivil and the other with criminal cases, each with a large number oflocal courts, a lesser number at the level of the province or theregion, and one or more courts at the national level. This is thepattern of judicial organization in Britain, for example. In somecountries-for example, in France- the distinction is not between

courts dealing with criminal cases and other courts dealing withcivil cases but rather between those that handle all civil and criminalcases and those that deal with administrative cases. Reflecting thefederal organization of its government, the United States has twocourt systems: one set of national courts and 50 sets of state courts.

By contrast, Germany, which is federal in government organization,possesses only a single integrated court system.

Local courts are found in all systems and are usually of twotypes. The first type deals with petty offences and may include atraffic court, a municipal court, a small-claims court. The secondtype, sometimes called trial courts, are courts of first instance inwhich most cases of major importance are begun.

In all systems there are national supreme courts that hearappeals and exercise original jurisdiction in cases of the greatestimportance.

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