The Judiciary

In the law, the judiciary is the system of courts which administer justice in the name of the sovereign or state, a

mechanism for the resolution of disputes. The term is also used to refer collectively to the judges, magistrates and other adjudicators who 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 judiciary is the branch of government primarily responsible for interpreting the law’. It construes the laws enacted by the legislature.

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

In common law jurisdiction, courts interpret law, including constitutions, statutes, and regulations. In civil law jurisdictions, courts interpret the law, but are, at least in theory, prohibited from creating law. In socialist law, the primary responsibility for interpreting the law belongs to the legislature.

Established court systems are found in all advanced political systems. Usually there are two judicial hierarchies, one dealing with civil and the other with criminal cases, each with a large number of local courts, a lesser number at the level of the province or the region, and one or more courts at the national level. This is the pattern of judicial organization in Britain, for example. In some countries-for example, in France- the distinction is not between courts dealing with criminal cases and other courts dealing with civil cases but rather between those that handle all civil and criminal cases and those that deal with administrative cases. Reflecting the federal organization of its government, the United States has two court 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 two types. The first type deals with petty offences and may include a traffic court, a municipal court, a small-claims court. The second type, sometimes called trial courts, are courts of first instance in which most cases of major importance are begun. In all systems there are national supreme courts that hear appeals and exercise original jurisdiction in cases of the greatest importance.

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