The book gives an account of the independence of judiciary in Namibia.

Explores judicial independence, integrity and impartiality in Asia-Pacific countries.

This book argues that independent courts can defend democracy by encouraging political elites to more prudently exercise their powers.

The book provides a compilation of papers on current condition of the management of the rule of law in Namibia.

In the United States, almost 90 percent of state judges have to run in popular elections to remain on the bench. In the past decade, this peculiarly American institution has produced vicious multi-million-dollar political election campaigns and high-profile allegations of judicial bias and misconduct. The People’s Courts traces the history of judicial elections and Americans’ quest for an independent judiciary—one that would ensure fairness for all before the law—from the colonial era to the present. In the aftermath of economic disaster, nineteenth-century reformers embraced popular elections as a way to make politically appointed judges less susceptible to partisan patronage and more independent of the legislative and executive branches of government. This effort to reinforce the separation of powers and limit government succeeded in many ways, but it created new threats to judicial independence and provoked further calls for reform. Merit selection emerged as the most promising means of reducing partisan and financial influence from judicial selection. It too, however, proved vulnerable to pressure from party politics and special interest groups. Yet, as Shugerman concludes, it still has more potential for protecting judicial independence than either political appointment or popular election. The People’s Courts shows how Americans have been deeply committed to judicial independence, but that commitment has also been manipulated by special interests. By understanding our history of judicial selection, we can better protect and preserve the independence of judges from political and partisan influence.

The author of this book, Prof. S.K. Amor, is Acting Director of the Justice Training Centre and lecturer at the University of Namibia. The writing of this book was inspired mainly by the fact that, despite Namibia's independence in 1990, Namibian legal practitioners, academics and students lecturing and studying law at the University of Namibia (UNAM) still do not have a truly Namibian reference book. Instead, they rely heavily on legal literature from South Africa and other countries. An Introduction to Namibian Law is an attempt to bridge this gap by introducing law academics, lecturers and students to the most important aspects of Namibian law. It explains the origin of the country's law and looks at the various influences over the years. The book contains material covered in various UNAM courses, such as Jurisprudence, Introduction to Cases, Comparative Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law, Interpretation of Statutes, and Civil and Criminal Procedure. It also contains various extracts in support of legal arguments, in which legal concepts are illustrated and thoroughly explained, as well as sample legal forms. Full accounts of certain cases are included to give students of Namibian law a depth of understanding of how Namibian law has been applied over the years.

Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice defines "international law" to include not only "custom" and "convention" between States but also "the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations" within their municipal legal systems. In 1953, Bin Cheng wrote his seminal book on general principles, identifying core legal principles common to various domestic legal systems across the globe. This monograph summarizes and analyzes the general principles of law and norms of international due process, with a particular focus on developments since Cheng's writing. The aim is to collect and distill these principles and norms in a single volume as a practical resource for international law jurists, advocates, and scholars. The information contained in this book holds considerable importance given the growth of inter-state intercourse resulting in the increased use of general principles over the past 60 years. General principles can serve as rules of decision, whether in interpreting a treaty or contract, determining causation, or ascertaining unjust enrichment. They also include a core set of procedural requirements that should be followed in any adjudicative system, such as the right to impartiality and the prohibition on fraud. Although the general principles are, by definition, basic and even rudimentary, they hold vital importance for the rule of law in international relations. They are meant not to define a rule of law, but rather the rule of law.

Rule of law and constitutionalist ideals are understood by many, if not most, as necessary to create a just political order. Defying the traditional division between normative and positive theoretical approaches, this book explores how political reality on the one hand, and constitutional ideals on the other, mutually inform and influence each other. Seventeen chapters from leading international scholars cover a diverse range of topics and case studies to test the hypothesis that the best normative theories, including those regarding the role of constitutions, constitutionalism and the rule of law, conceive of the ideal and the real as mutually regulating.

The main aim of this volume is to analyse common issues arising from increasing judicial power in the context of different political and legal systems, including those in North America, Africa, Europe, Australia, and Asia.