ABSTRACT
The benefits of judicial independence are lost when there is bias within the judiciary itself, whether from hostility towards the new democracy and the role of the judiciary within it, ideological beliefs or partisan affiliations. In many countries where constitutions guarantee the rule of law, the separation of powers, judicial independence, equality before the law and other fundamental rights, as well as the accountability of public officials to the law, experience in practice varying levels of political interference in the judicial process. Reforms designed to enhance the protection given to judicial independence often fall foul of the political machinations which threatened that independence in the first place. Reforms aimed at judicial behaviour have tried to improve the capacity of the judiciary to provide an environment in which fair adjudication is open to all equally. Consequently, judicial independence is increasingly perceived as having to be 'balanced' by judicial accountability.
