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Ian McDougall explores whether we can measure judicial independence by tracking state wins & losses in court
- Explains the four-pillar framework used by the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation to scrutinise judicial independence.
- Looks at the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index factor of ‘Constraints on government powers’.
- Considers what percentages of government wins and losses in court can reveal, and how to read the statistics with appropriate caution.
- Looks at data from the UK, USA and India.
When a government goes to court, whether defending a regulatory decision, prosecuting a criminal, or contesting a citizen’s claim, and loses, what does that mean? A single defeat is obviously unremarkable. A single point of reference usually tells us very little. But a consistent pattern of victories or defeats may be something else entirely. Used carefully, such may offer one of the few quantitative windows into a question that is often answered only in the abstract, namely how well is a country actually respecting the rule of law?
