Reform of the Justice in the Czech Republic - the way to the more effective and more credible judicial system
Abstract
Since the 1990s, the Czech Republic has been confronted with different attempts at the change of position and legitimacy of the judicial power. After the Velvet revolution, the Czech Republic had to address the problems and legacy of the previous totalitarian regime and answer the demands laid down by the European community in order to be able to present itself as a state build upon the principles of the rule of law with effective and independent judiciary.
The following paper focuses on the elements of the judicial reform in the Czech Republic, with particular attention being put on the change of judicial maps - dispersion of judges and courts according to the demographical division of the state. The case overload has been acknowledged as one of the crucial problems and challenges for the Czech judiciary.
The paper identifies necessary constitutional, legal and institutional changes and proposes the establishment of National (Supreme) Judicial Council as an autonomous authority which would be able to address the problems of case management and better communicate, manage and represent the needs of the judicial power towards other branches of power.