Shaping of Future Judges: Tasks, Challenges and Strategies
Author | N.R. Madhava Menon |
Published date | 01 June 2013 |
DOI | 10.1177/2277401720130104 |
Date | 01 June 2013 |
Subject Matter | Article |
SHAPING OF FUTURE JUDGES:
TASKS, CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES
N.R. Madhava Menon*
Do judges need specific education and training in order to prepare
them for the task of judging? Till recently, it was widely assumed
that no such training was required. However, a change in this
thinking is evident from the establishment of multiple judicial
academies, including one at the national level, across the country.
What should be the focus and content of judicial education
imparted at these institutions? What value systems should these
institutions try to inculcate? And who should be responsible for
imparting judicial education? This article is addressed to these
questions. It argues that judicial education should draw upon three
sources to define the role of a judge, the social function of
adjudication, and the concept of justice that judges should apply,
viz., the structure and procedure of judicial systems introduced by
the British; the ideas of justice and judging inspired by the
traditions and culture of India's 2500 years of pluralist history;
and, constitutional values including the Directive Principles. In
particular the article emphasizes the need to constitutionalize and
contextualize the task of judging, by highlighting the importance of
constitutional values in the process of adjudication.
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................50
I. CONCEPTIONS OF JUDGES, JUDGING, AND JUSTICE ............................ 51
II. NATURE AND SCOPE OF JUDICIAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING ......... 54
III. JUDGING: ROLE OF CONSTITUTIONAL VALUES/PRINCIPLES AND
SOCIAL CONTEXT ....................................................................................57
IV. SOCIAL CONTEXT JUDGING: A CONSTITUTIONAL IMPERATIVE ..........58
V. THE JUDGE OF THE FUTURE AND THE FUTURE OF JUDICIAL
EDUCATION ..............................................................................................60
* Founder Director, National Judicial Academy, Bhopal; India Member, Advisory Board,
Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute, Halifax, Canada.
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