Constitutional Court Emblem
This is to my mind the high
water mark for judicial conduct not only for judges, but for all magistrates,
chairmen of tribunals [domestic or international] and practising lawyers, be
they practising advocates or attorneys specifically in the R.S.A.
You can download the PDF
format of the entire document – google “the Bangalore principles of judicial
conduct 2002” and you will find it. It is interesting to note that our own late
Chief Justice Pius Langa who passed away on 24 July 2013 at Johannesburg was present
at the first meeting held in Vienna April 2000 [he was then Deputy Vice-President
of the Constitutional Court] and he was present in his capacity as Chief
Justice at the second meeting held in Bangalore February 2001 where these
principles were discussed and accepted as a Draft code of Judicial Conduct. His vision was not reserved for South
Africa alone. He also had a vision of judges’ conduct globally. It was, however accepted during November 2002 at the Hague and has now the status of a duly authenticated international code of judicial conduct.
When you read these principles
it becomes exceptionally clear that judges are human and therefore subject to
normal human frailties such as bias, intolerance and partiality. This goes to
the core of the administration of justice. It underscores my view that the administration
of justice is not mechanical neither is it chemical. It is applied with various
degrees of success by people like you and me who happened to be practising law.
Medical practitioners practise medicine subject to their own human quirks and
personalities – and so do lawyers or any professional man/woman.
I intend to publish short
discussions of these principles on my blog. I invite you to participate.
