ABSTRACT

The President of the Federal Court considered he had no alternative, but to respond in the course of launching a book he had written on law, justice and the judiciary. When therefore the Chief Justice in January 2001 made a speech to mark the opening of the legal year he referred to the year 2000 as an annus horribilis for the Zimbabwe judiciary and remarked upon the position of judges having to operate in a climate of fear for their personal safety. In the United States, as far back as 1936, the American Bar Association advocated that the judiciary should be given administrative control over the courts. The Constitutions of Commonwealth Caribbean jurisdictions all make such provisions as to suggest that, apart from the post of Chief Justice, judicial appointments are not made on political grounds. The call for judicial accountability is gaining momentum in many parts of the world.