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Repression of the Judiciary

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Judges Against Justice

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Abstract

In countries of the western legal tradition, notions of the rule of law seem to play an important part in establishing legitimacy for the rulers. Therefore, in these countries, courts by their control over legality hold an important condition for the actual and normative legitimacy of the other organs of state. How they exercise this control is of crucial importance to the destiny of the rule of law when it is under attack and may also be of importance even to authoritarian rulers. When authoritarian groups take control over the state and destroy its legislative and executive organs, the courts are often allowed to continue their functions with a continuance both of the institutions and the personnel. This was the case even in the German occupation of the Western European nations during World War II, and it has also been the case in most coups d’état in postcolonial states. The fact that judges are allowed to continue therefore indicates something about the need of the regime to uphold pretence of judicial independence.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Kirchheimer (1961), p. 6.

  2. 2.

    Kirchheimer (1961), pp. 419–423.

  3. 3.

    Ginsburg and Moustafa (2008), p. 4.

  4. 4.

    Ginsburg and Moustafa (2008), p. 6.

  5. 5.

    Fraenkel (1941), p. 72.

  6. 6.

    Truth and Reconciliation Commission (1998), vol. 4 Chapter 4 Institutional Hearing: The Legal Community, p. 101.

  7. 7.

    Ellmann (1995), p. 426.

  8. 8.

    See Strenge (2002), p. 17.

  9. 9.

    See Fraser (2005), chapter 4.

  10. 10.

    Stoltzfus (1996).

  11. 11.

    Knopp (2004), p. 285. A film prepared for the Nazi leaders documenting the court of Roland Freisler can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_bwucQ7l3g (accessed 30.10.2013).

  12. 12.

    RGH Urteil vom 13.07.1938 73 RGSt. S. 31–36.

  13. 13.

    Osiel (1995), p. 484.

  14. 14.

    See Schleunes (2001) and pp. 254–256 below.

  15. 15.

    See Stoltzfus (1996), p. 245.

  16. 16.

    Loewenstein (1935–1936), pp. 779–813.

  17. 17.

    See Mahmud (1994), pp. 49–140, p. 103.

  18. 18.

    See UN Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary Adopted by the Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders held at Milan from 26 August to 6 September 1985 and endorsed by General Assembly resolutions 40/32 of 29 November 1985 and 40/146 of 13 December 1985.

  19. 19.

    See Aall (2014), p. 33.

  20. 20.

    See Linder (1987), p. 15.

  21. 21.

    Garbe (2000), p. 100.

  22. 22.

    Angermund (1990), pp. 87–92.

  23. 23.

    Angermund (1990), p. 93.

  24. 24.

    Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg 14 November 1945–1 October 1946, vol. 17, p. 487.

  25. 25.

    The Justice Case (1951), pp. 1011–1012.

  26. 26.

    The Justice Case (1951), pp. 1024–1025.

  27. 27.

    Angermund (1990), pp. 244–245.

  28. 28.

    Angermund (1990), pp. 253–265.

  29. 29.

    Angermund (1990), p. 248.

  30. 30.

    Angermund (1990), p. 248.

  31. 31.

    Loewenstein (1948), p. 444. See also Oppler (1947).

  32. 32.

    Rasehorn (2000), p. 130.

  33. 33.

    Schorn (1959), pp. 39–40.

  34. 34.

    See Angermund (1990), p. 245.

  35. 35.

    Weisberg (1996), p. 10.

  36. 36.

    See further pp. 95–96 below.

  37. 37.

    See Rode (1983), p. 353.

  38. 38.

    See Michielsen (2004), pp. 161–162.

  39. 39.

    Michielsen (2004), pp. 45–46.

  40. 40.

    Michielsen (2004), pp. 47–50 and 81–92.

  41. 41.

    Michielsen (2004), pp. 70–77.

  42. 42.

    Fraser (2009), pp. 47–51 and p. 211.

  43. 43.

    Dugard (1987), p. 494.

  44. 44.

    Osiel (1995), p. 510.

  45. 45.

    Osiel (1995), p. 537.

  46. 46.

    See Hilbink (2008), pp. 104 and 113.

  47. 47.

    Osiel (1995), pp. 510–511.

  48. 48.

    See Ginsburg and Moustafa (2008), p. 14.

  49. 49.

    The Justice Case (1951), p. 1020.

  50. 50.

    Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums of April 7, 1933, RGBI. I, 175.

  51. 51.

    See Angermund (1990), p. 54.

  52. 52.

    Angermund (1990), p. 102.

  53. 53.

    See Angermund (1990), p. 138.

  54. 54.

    See Dyzenhaus (1998), p. 154.

  55. 55.

    See further below p. 93–95.

  56. 56.

    Osiel (1995), p. 513 and P. 531.

  57. 57.

    Hilbink (2008), p. 102.

  58. 58.

    Hilbink (2008), p. 123.

  59. 59.

    See p. 95–96 below.

  60. 60.

    Angermund (1990), pp. 39–40.

  61. 61.

    Loewenstein (1935–1936), p. 810.

  62. 62.

    Barros (2008), p. 174.

  63. 63.

    Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation (1993), p. 141.

  64. 64.

    Osiel (1995), p. 518.

  65. 65.

    Snyder (1983–1984), p. 516.

  66. 66.

    Pereira (2005), Kindle edition, loc. 1072.

  67. 67.

    Pereira (2005), Kindle edition, loc. 1096.

  68. 68.

    Moustafa (2007), Kindle edition, location 546.

  69. 69.

    Osiel (1995), p. 500, footnote 64.

  70. 70.

    The special courts are described by the Tribunal in the Justice Case on pp. 999–1002.

  71. 71.

    Angermund (1990), pp. 138–139.

  72. 72.

    See Gready and Kgalema (2003), pp. 145–146.

  73. 73.

    Snyder (1983–1984), pp. 503–520.

  74. 74.

    Osiel (1995), p. 531.

  75. 75.

    Hilbink (2008), p. 107.

  76. 76.

    See Chap. 10 below.

  77. 77.

    Osiel (1995), p. 538.

  78. 78.

    Loewenstein (1935–1936), p. 782.

  79. 79.

    Angermund (1990), p. 61.

  80. 80.

    Angermund (1990), p. 93.

  81. 81.

    The judge letters are discussed in the Justice Trial, pp. 1017–1019.

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  1. Faculty of Law, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Hans Petter Graver

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Graver, H.P. (2015). Repression of the Judiciary. In: Judges Against Justice. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44293-7_3

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