“Justice is too important a matter to be left to the judges, or even to the lawyers; the … people must think about, discuss and contribute to the future planning of their courts.”
1. Correlation between efficacy of judicial system and progress The World Justice Project (WJP) compiles the Rule of Law Index on the basis of eight factors: institutional checks on government powers, absence of corruption, openness of government, enforcement of fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice system and criminal justice system. Such elements play central role in enforcing and preserving the rule of law—the centre point of the Rule of Law Index.
According to the Rule of Law Index 2020, the group of Scandinavian countries and New Zealand were considered to be the least corrupt countries in the world. Singapore also stands out among the top countries on account of absence of corruption. From the point of view of openness of government, the score of Estonia and UK was exceptionally high. Singapore occupied the top position in the sphere of regulatory enforcement. The civil justice system of Netherlands was highly appreciated by WJP for being accessible, affordable and devoid of discrimination. Germany and Singapore closely followed Netherlands. The Rule of Law Index placed Finland at the top of the list in the criminal justice system, and it was closely followed by Norway. The measures may vary to some extent in view of diversity of social and legal systems based on different ideologies.
The key insight of the report was: “The countries with the highest income score higher on the overall index.” Since a judicial system plays key role in developing steady socio-political system, it may be seen that the performance of a judicial system has positive correlation with the economic development. Judges may play key role in the development of their economies and socio-economic culture. A fortiori of the proposition is that socio-economic backwardness of a state reflects on the inefficacy of its judicial system
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This essay draws on How Constitutions Flourish or Fail by Mian Ashiq Hussain — 516 pages on why nations rise and fall, and how they can be rebuilt to flourish.
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