The proper functioning of the judicial system is essential to good governance and a major topic of debate today. Good governance affects national stability, individual security, human rights, and social and economic progress. The recent increase in global trade has led to a greater understanding of the problems that beset legal systems, particularly in the developing world. The movement for judicial reform has gained momentum with serious efforts to reform and strengthen judicial systems. This unique and timely volume presents the collective reform experience of some of the region's most skilled judges, court administrators, legal scholars and researchers. The contributors have critically focussed on practical reform issues, rather than theory. They identify strengths and weaknesses of reform programmes in their countries–Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vanuatu–and provide a wealth of insights relevant across the region. The contributors explore many issues, including gender justice, reduction of delays in case disposal, access to justice by marginalized groups, judicial integrity and accountability, judicial education and skills development, prioritizing 'home grown' reform, domestic resource constraints, and management of foreign donors. All of them agree that the judiciary itself must play a proactive role if judicial reform is to be achieved, and the goal of economic growth integrated with that of justice for all. This remarkable collection will be of interest to judges, activist lawyers, judicial training academies, students, and scholars of comparative law, administration of justice, political science, gender studies, and development studies, as well as policymakers in the field of judicial reform.
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