Judicial Selection, Lay Participation, and Judicial Culture in the Czech Republic: A Study in a Central European (non)Transformation

Abstract

This chapter discusses judicial selection and lay participation in the Czech judicial system. Firstly, Sect. 2 begins by setting out the cultural vision of the judicial function in the Czech Republic, which defines and helps to explain the institutions and their context as addressed in the subsequent sections. Next, Sect. 3 outlines both the formal requirements for judicial appointments to, in particular, higher courts in the Czech Republic, as well as the actual institutional practice. Section 4 focuses not only on various forms of lay participation in the judicial decision-making processes, as they exist today, but also explains why the post-1989 Czech judiciary remains reserved with regard to lay participation in the judicial process. Finally, Sect. 5 concludes by connecting lay participation with judicial legitimacy, offering general propositions as to judicial transitions in Central Europe.