Estonian top court chief: parliament unwilling to develop independent judicial power

Photo: Mihkel Maripuu / Postimees

 Chief justice of Estonia's Supreme Court Märt Rask finds that movement towards a uniform court system has considerably slowed down and the judiciary's readiness to take responsibility for the prescribed functioning of the administration of justice is modest whereas politicians are unwilling to develop an independent and autonomous judicial power.

The way Rask sees it, there does not appear to exist among judges a critical mass no longer ready to accept that their work is organized by the Justice Ministry applying the methods and principles of the executive branch. "Through the oversight of court leaders, courts are increasingly becoming accountable, not to judicial power as a whole, not to the full body of judges for example, but to the executive branch. He who does not himself organize his life risks others organizing his life for him," Rask said in his address to the full body of judges on Friday.

In the top court chief 's judgement progress towards a uniform court system, which could be viewed as the third constitutional branch of power and which would be first of all characterized by extensive use of the right of self-regulation, has slowed down if not halted altogether. "The latest developments have proved that the pendulum is swinging towards strengthening the role of the executive branch in the administration of courts. The previous minister of justice told the chief justice that administration of justice belongs in his purview. It was not a slip of the tongue but a clear political conviction," Rask said.

The law on courts was included in the Justice Ministry's work plans for 2014, it should be deliberated in parliament in 2015 and step into effect in 2016, Rask observed. "We know that parliamentary elections will take place in March 2015, which suggests that the present governing coalition does not intend to address questions of the development of the court system at the legislative level," he said.

The chief justice recalled that participants in a judicial reform roundtable convened by the minister last June could see for themselves that parties of the ruling coalition had not been able to reach agreement on the development of the judicial system.

"We have repeatedly heard individual leading politicians, chairman of the Constitutional Committee among them, voicing the opinion that it is necessary to move forward with reforming the court system, but that's as far as it goes because the Riigikogu too lacks a critical mass of decision-makers in whose opinion the judicial system should be separate from the executive power. I'd venture an even more far-reaching conclusion - there are in the present composition of parliament no political forces prepared to recognize the judicial system as the third branch of power and accept its right of self-regulation," the chief justice said.

The judiciary's conservatism on the one hand and the government's and parliament's unwillingness to develop an independent and autonomous judicial power on the other produce a result that allows the executive branch to play an increasingly dominating role in the development of the court system, Rask stated.

In his address the chief justice also touched on a court lawyer pilot project which he said deserves support insofar as its aim is to relieve judges of technical work.