Maintaining the Rule of Law

745 Words2 Pages

The judicial court system aims to achieve justice by upholding the ‘rule of law’, in which everyone is ‘subject to the law and can rely on the law to set the bounds within which other people and governments can operate.’ However, the rule of law does not always work to prevent all injustice, and lawyers should be actively involved in developing and maintaining the rule of law to establish a civil society which can be the foundation of justice for all. This is achieved through the professional identity legal personnel establish, demonstrating the importance of professionalism and resilience in the pursuit of justice and prevention of arbitrary abuse of power. This is observed in the comparison of the different courts and their operation to uphold the rule of law.

Court Proceedings
The proceedings of all levels of court demonstrate the significance of professionalism of magistrates, judges and practitioners in their pursuit of justice. If legal personnel do not have a strong sense of professional identity, the court proceedings and legal system would be inefficient and dysfunctional from delays and incorrect decisions. In all the courts observed, upon the magistrate or judge’s entrance, all the people present in the court are to rise. In acknowledgement of respect for the law, the court and its judiciary, a bow towards the Coat of Arms behind the Judicial Officer is customary when entering and exiting the courtroom. These proceedings reflect the strong sense of professional identity the legal personnel have established through orderly conduct during trials, and how this identity necessity for the efficient pursuit of justice. Further, the judge in the Supreme Court and the magistrate in the Local Court were both addressed as ‘You...

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...hrough the proceedings in the court and the professional identity they establish which is essential in the efficient pursuit of justice.

Works Cited

Prue Vines, Law and Justice in Australia: Foundations of the Legal System, (Oxford University Press, 3rd Ed, Melbourne 2013), 3.
Prue Vines, Law and Justice in Australia: Foundations of the Legal System, (Oxford University Press, 3rd Ed, Melbourne 2013), 445.
Prue Vines, Law and Justice in Australia: Foundations of the Legal System, (Oxford University Press, 3rd Ed, Melbourne 2013), 428.
Dooren McBarnett, ‘Magistrates courts and the ideology of justice’ (1981) 8 British Journal of Law and Society 181; Conviction: Law, the State and the Construction of Justice, London, Macmillian.
Prue Vines, Law and Justice in Australia: Foundations of the Legal System, (Oxford University Press, 3rd Ed, Melbourne 2013), 303.

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