Judiciary development after the breakdown of communism in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
Judiciary development after the breakdown of communism in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Summary/Abstract: After the breakdown of communism in Central and Eastern Europe one of the transition tasks was the adjustment of judiciaries to new democratic conditions. The aim of this comparative case-study is to explain different paths taken by the Czech Republic and Slovakia in establishing the institutions of judiciary independence and to discuss the relationship between these developments and the actual performance of judiciaries. To this end it investigates the existence of socialist legacies in judges’ behavior and seeks to provide an overview of legislative changes regarding appointment, removal, career progress and disciplining of judges. The results indicate that Slovakia created the Judicial Council in order to prove itself as a trustworthy candidate for the integration in the European Union after its semi democratic experience in the 1990s, while in the Czech Republic the development has been more gradual with the central role played by the Ministry of Justice.

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