Comparing Judicial Selection Systems in Common Law Democracies: Creating a Framework for Comparison

Abstract

How does our current system of selecting judges compare to judicial selection systems in other countries? This research provides a framework for categorizing and analyzing the systems of judicial selection in countries similar to the United States. This framework accommodates and organizes a number of different institutional actors and arrangements. Additionally, this paper addresses a variety of other relevant characteristics of judicial selection systems, including professional qualifications and mandatory retirement ages. In all, countries seeking to fill judicial positions similar to that of a US Supreme Court justice have decided to do this in many different ways. This paper identifies the key players and variables common to these systems, providing researchers with a common vocabulary that allows for equivalence of measures among disparate systems.

Keywords: judicial selection