The Selection and Tenure of Judges

Abstract

The most conspicuous feature of the new government under the Federal Constitution was its division into three parts--the legislative, the executive and the judicial. Experience has vindicated that division, except, it may be, that some lack of efficiency has shown itself in the absence of more useful cooperation between the executive and the legislative branches. The wisdom of keeping the executive and the legislative branches apart from the judiciary has, however, been confirmed by the event, not only under the American Constitution, but in England and in all the states under her flag. In the United States, where judicial systems have different degrees of this quality, permitting comparison, the greater the independence of the courts the stronger their influence, and the more satisfactory their jurisdiction and administration of justice.