On the Third Power: Taking Independence of the Judiciary Seriously

The article deals with the problem of the independence of the judiciary from a historical point of view (subordination of the judicature to the royal will in the 17th century in England, examples of the two rival-judges, Francis Bacon and Edward Coke). Then it focuses on the historical background and guarantees of an independent judiciary in former Czechoslovakia, and in contemporary Slovakia. It concerns the judicial reform ready to be introduced in the Slovak legal order by 2021 with the aim to renew the credibility of the judiciary (courts and prosecution offices). Proposed legal measures are presented (security examinations, new property declarations, crime of perversion of justice committed by judges). New constitutional amendments have to do with the election of the candidates for judges of the Constitutional Court in the National Council, and the establishment of a Supreme Administrative Court.