Power of the state in charge of the administration of justice
The Judicial Power is one of the three powers of the State, which and in accordance with the current legal system, is responsible for administer justice in society through just the application of legal norms in conflicts that arise.
Exercised by judges, the decisions of this power can only be revoked by those judicial bodies that hold a higher level. This means that the Judicial Branch has the ability to impose its decisions on the other two Powers present in democracies, the Executive and the Legislative. In cases where the latter two promote or carry out actions that contravene laws, they may be sanctioned by the Judicial Power.
Exercise of the judicial power
Meanwhile, the judiciary is embodied by various jurisdictional or judicial bodies, such as courts, tribunals, which exercise jurisdictional power and enjoy impartiality and autonomy, in ideal cases, of course, because unfortunately it is a reality that this autonomy is not always real, even though there is a division of powers that we were talking about at the behest of the systems. democratic.
The need for independence to exercise its role in accordance with
Especially in underdeveloped countries, the justice or Judiciary is closely linked to the Executive Power, because the appointments of the positions of judges and prosecutors usually come from this power, and then, many times, especially when the executive is authoritarian, it tends to run over that power. independence when shown against them, for example in those cases in which the government, its officials or someone close to them is involved in a compromised legal case.
One of the obligations of the Judicial Branch is to control work and the excesses that the Executive Branch may incur, whereas if the latter does not allow the former to work in freedom, it will be very difficult to guarantee the administration of justice in that state, unfortunately. .
We get tired of seeing this situation every day in the mass media around the world. Judges, prosecutors, courts that in cases sensitive to the government of the day rule in favor of it or, for now, issue rulings that raise suspicions about its true independence.
Then, the independence of the Judicial Power from the rest of the powers of the state, especially the Executive, can be glimpsed through the rulings that it issues, and when these are contradictory or absolutely partial, it will allow us to know for sure the scarce level of independence. of powers that exist in that country.
In totalitarian regimes or dictatorships, the Judiciary is addicted to power and will never act independently from the rest of the powers. In countries that are truly democracies, of course this does not happen and justice works accordingly, punishing the guilty even if they are part of the power.
The vision of the Illuminist Montesquieu
If the classical theory proposed by one of the most prominent French intellectuals of the Enlightenment, such as Montesquieu, is followed, the division of powers guarantees the freedom of the citizen.. In the ideal state, according to Montesquieu, an independent judiciary turns out to be a effective brake for the executive power and that should aspire. From the aforementioned separation of the powers of the state arises what is called as Rule of law, within which the public powers are subject to the law equally. Thus, within this framework, the Judicial Power must be independent in order to be able to submit to the rest of the powers, especially the executive, when it violates the legal system in any way.
In addition, the Judiciary will play an arbitration role when the other two powers, the legislative and the executive, occasionally confront each other, something that is quite common these days. The three powers of the state are fundamental, while that of justice needs constant protection because it depends on it that the democratic system does not stop working and that it works as it should.
In structural terms, the organization of the Judicial Power will vary from nation to nation as well as the methodology used for appointments. The most common is the existence of various levels of courts being the decisions of the lower courts plausible of appeal by the higher courts, and the existence of a Supreme Court or Supreme Court that will have the last word in any conflict that comes to its instance.
