The least accountable branch

Abstract

The three books under review are fine examples of these trends. The first, Independence, Accountability, and the Judiciary edited by Guy Canivet, Mads Andenas, and Duncan Fairgrieve,10 is a bilingual collection of essays which addresses various facets of judicial independence and accountability. Most essays focus on the French and British judiciaries, but the volume also includes chapters on Canada, Germany, South Africa, and Spain.11 The second book, Transitional Justice, Judicial Accountability and the Rule of Law by Hakeem Yusuf,12 deals with (the lack of) holding Nigerian judges to account during the era of Nigerian transition from military rule to democracy. Finally, Daniela Piana in Judicial Accountabilities in New Europe: From Rule of Law to Quality of Justice13 looks at judicial accountabilities14 in five post-communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania) from the point of view of a political scientist.