Judges and Judicial ethics

Topic: Is corrupt judiciary the new reality of modern India?
The judges are honourable men and women. They have an unwritten code of conduct. They have professional ethics that may be called judicial ethics. The judicial ethics is a few notches higher than the ethics of other professions. A high standard of personal morality is maintained by a judge who lives up to the decorum maintained by the committed judiciary. His behaviour, public as well as private, his personal and professional conduct are expected to be above board.

Too high and too difficult to observe, one may think. Not exactly. One has to have the will to live like a judge. A judge judges others when their legal cases come before him. In turn, he is also judged by those he comes in contact with. Does an individual drop out of the society when he is elevated to the bench as a judge? No, certainly not. No man is an island. A judge is also a social being. A man is gregarious by nature. A judge is also a man, and now, a woman too. A judge cannot cut himself off the normal human relationship in the family, in the social set up and in the country he lives in. His judgements influence the individuals he has judged. He is influenced by the human trends in the society as he watches the TV, listens to the radio and reads newspapers. How can a judge not be influenced, though indirectly, by the social factors listed heretofore. And yet when he delivers a judgement on the case listed before him, he goes by the facts on record, the law of the land and does not allow extra-judicial factors or personal relationship influence him.

Balancing so many things and acting impartially is not an easy job. But a good judge does it. Can a judge socialise? He may. He should, otherwise he would be a frog in the well. The legal fraternity of judges have inter- action among themselves. In addition, the lawyers in lower courts as well as in higher courts interact socially with the judges and judicial magistrates. In non-descript towns they are members of the same club and play bridge or badminton together. Does this social circuit influence judicial decisions? Yes and No. It all depends on the individuals and not on bridge or badminton. Should this club activity of the bench and the bar under one roof be stopped? There is no law of the land that prohibits it unless it leads to a professional misconduct by one or both the parties.
Brig Chitranjan Sawant (Retd)
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