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Accountability to the Law: Examples, Historical Context, and Modern Relevance
Author: Professor Anya Sharma, J.D., Ph.D. Professor Sharma is a renowned legal scholar specializing in constitutional law and jurisprudence at Harvard Law School. Her extensive research focuses on the evolution of legal accountability mechanisms and their impact on societal justice. Her work includes several seminal publications on the rule of law and the accountability of powerful entities.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, a globally recognized academic publisher with a long history of publishing authoritative works on law, political science, and history. Their rigorous editorial process ensures the accuracy and scholarly integrity of their publications.
Editor: Professor David Miller, LL.M., a leading expert in comparative law and legal theory at Yale Law School, oversaw the editorial process. His expertise in legal systems across different jurisdictions adds significant credibility to the analysis presented.
Keywords: Accountability to the Law Examples, Rule of Law, Legal Accountability, Justice, Governance, Historical Context, Modern Relevance, Checks and Balances, Due Process, Transparency.
Abstract: This article provides a comprehensive analysis of "accountability to the law examples," tracing its evolution from ancient legal systems to contemporary challenges. We explore various mechanisms that ensure accountability, examining their effectiveness and limitations across different contexts. The analysis highlights the critical role of accountability to the law in maintaining a just and equitable society, while acknowledging ongoing debates and emerging trends in this vital area.
1. Historical Context: The Seeds of Accountability
The concept of accountability to the law is not a modern invention. Ancient civilizations, though lacking the sophisticated legal frameworks we have today, implemented rudimentary systems to ensure some level of accountability for wrongdoing. The Code of Hammurabi, dating back to 1754 BC, provides a striking early example. While harsh by modern standards, it established a system of codified laws and corresponding punishments, setting a precedent for the principle that actions have consequences under a defined legal framework. This represents a basic form of accountability to the law examples, emphasizing the importance of predictability and fairness in legal proceedings, even if the specifics were far from perfect.
Ancient Greece, with its nascent democracies, also saw the development of legal accountability, albeit often limited to the elite. The trial of Socrates, though a tragic event, highlights the growing awareness of the need for individuals, even influential ones, to be held answerable to established laws. The Roman Republic, with its intricate system of checks and balances, offered another sophisticated—though still imperfect—example of accountability to the law examples, demonstrating the ongoing struggle to balance power and prevent its abuse.
The evolution continued through the medieval period, with the development of common law and the gradual strengthening of institutions capable of enforcing legal accountability. The Magna Carta (1215) stands as a landmark achievement, limiting the power of the monarch and affirming certain rights for citizens, thereby contributing significantly to the development of accountability to the law examples.
2. Modern Mechanisms of Accountability to the Law
Modern legal systems have developed a range of mechanisms to ensure accountability to the law examples. These include:
Criminal Justice System: This system is perhaps the most visible manifestation of accountability to the law examples. It encompasses law enforcement, prosecution, courts, and corrections, all working together to investigate, prosecute, and punish individuals who violate criminal laws. The principle of innocent until proven guilty, due process rights, and the right to legal representation are crucial components ensuring fairness and preventing abuse of power within this system.
Civil Justice System: This system provides a framework for resolving disputes between individuals or entities through litigation. Accountability here is achieved through judgments that may require monetary compensation, injunctions, or other forms of redress for wrongs committed. Class-action lawsuits, for example, can hold powerful corporations accountable for widespread harm caused by their actions. This again forms a key example of accountability to the law examples.
Administrative Law and Regulatory Agencies: These agencies, tasked with overseeing specific sectors (e.g., environmental protection, finance), have the power to issue regulations, investigate violations, and impose penalties. This administrative accountability is crucial in areas where detailed regulation is necessary to protect public interest and ensure compliance with the law. Failure to comply with agency rulings can lead to significant consequences, reinforcing accountability to the law examples.
Impeachment and Removal Procedures: In many democracies, high-ranking officials, such as presidents or judges, can be removed from office through impeachment processes for serious misconduct. This mechanism reinforces the principle that even the most powerful individuals are subject to the rule of law. This is a critical example of accountability to the law examples, especially when addressing breaches of public trust.
Whistleblower Protection Laws: These laws are designed to encourage individuals within organizations to report illegal or unethical activities without fear of retaliation. By providing protection to whistleblowers, these laws strengthen accountability mechanisms and expose wrongdoing that might otherwise remain hidden. This demonstrates another key form of accountability to the law examples.
3. Challenges to Accountability to the Law
Despite the robust mechanisms in place, challenges to accountability to the law examples persist in various forms:
Corruption: Corruption within law enforcement, judiciary, or regulatory agencies can undermine the entire system of accountability. Bribery, favoritism, and lack of transparency can allow powerful individuals and entities to evade legal consequences.
Political Interference: Political influence on judicial decisions or investigations can compromise the impartiality of legal processes, preventing genuine accountability.
Lack of Resources: Insufficient funding and staffing for law enforcement, prosecution, and judicial systems can hamper effective investigation and prosecution of crimes, hindering accountability.
Inequalities in Access to Justice: Unequal access to legal representation and resources based on factors such as socioeconomic status or race can perpetuate systemic injustices and limit the effectiveness of legal accountability.
4. Contemporary Relevance: Accountability in the Digital Age
The digital age presents both new challenges and opportunities for accountability to the law examples. The rapid growth of online platforms and the spread of misinformation require new approaches to ensure accountability for harmful content, cybercrime, and data breaches. International cooperation and the development of new legal frameworks are crucial in addressing these evolving challenges. The need for transparency and data protection regulations highlights the continued importance of strong accountability mechanisms in this dynamic environment.
Conclusion:
Accountability to the law examples is a cornerstone of a just and equitable society. While significant progress has been made throughout history in developing robust mechanisms to ensure accountability, challenges remain. Addressing these challenges requires continuous effort to strengthen existing institutions, adapt to new technological advancements, and promote a culture of transparency and adherence to the rule of law. The ongoing evolution of accountability mechanisms reflects the enduring importance of ensuring that all individuals and entities, regardless of power or influence, are subject to the law and held responsible for their actions.
FAQs:
1. What is the difference between legal and moral accountability? Legal accountability refers to being held responsible under the law, while moral accountability involves being held responsible for one's actions based on ethical principles. They often overlap but are distinct concepts.
2. How can we improve accountability for corporations? Strengthening corporate governance, increasing transparency, and implementing stricter regulations are crucial steps towards enhancing corporate accountability.
3. What role does the media play in ensuring accountability? A free and independent press plays a vital role in holding power accountable by investigating and reporting on wrongdoing.
4. How can international law promote accountability for human rights violations? International courts and tribunals, along with international pressure and cooperation, are key to promoting accountability for human rights abuses.
5. What are the limitations of legal accountability? Legal systems are not perfect and can be subject to biases, corruption, and resource limitations. They may not always provide adequate redress for all wrongs.
6. How does accountability to the law relate to the concept of the rule of law? Accountability to the law is a fundamental component of the rule of law, ensuring that everyone is subject to and accountable under the law.
7. What is the role of civil society in ensuring accountability? Civil society organizations play a vital role in monitoring government actions, advocating for legal reforms, and holding power accountable.
8. How does technology impact accountability mechanisms? Technology can both improve (through data analysis and transparency tools) and hinder (through cybercrime and misinformation) accountability mechanisms.
9. What are some examples of successful accountability initiatives? The establishment of independent anti-corruption agencies, the prosecution of high-profile individuals for corruption, and the implementation of strong whistleblower protection laws are examples of successful accountability initiatives.
Related Articles:
1. "The Evolution of Legal Accountability: A Comparative Perspective": This article explores the development of legal accountability mechanisms across different legal systems, highlighting similarities and differences.
2. "Corporate Accountability and the Role of Shareholders": This article examines the role of shareholders in holding corporations accountable for their actions.
3. "The Effectiveness of International Criminal Tribunals": This article assesses the effectiveness of international courts in holding individuals accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
4. "Accountability and Transparency in Government": This article focuses on mechanisms for ensuring government accountability and transparency.
5. "Whistleblower Protection and the Pursuit of Justice": This article explores the importance of whistleblower protection laws in promoting accountability.
6. "The Challenges of Accountability in a Globalized World": This article examines the challenges of ensuring accountability in a world characterized by increasing interconnectedness.
7. "Accountability for Human Rights Violations in Armed Conflict": This article delves into the mechanisms for holding actors accountable for human rights abuses in conflict zones.
8. "The Role of the Media in Holding Power Accountable": This article analyzes the media's crucial role in investigative journalism and exposing corruption.
9. "Accountability and the Digital Revolution": This article explores how technology influences accountability mechanisms in the digital era, encompassing both benefits and risks.
| accountability to the law examples: Judges on Trial Shimon Shetreet, 1976 |
| accountability to the law examples: Perils of Judicial Self-Government in Transitional Societies David Kosař, 2016-04 This book investigates the mechanisms of judicial control to determine an efficient methodology for independence and accountability. Using over 800 case studies from the Czech and Slovak disciplinary courts, the author creates a theoretical framework that can be applied to future case studies and decrease the frequency of accountability perversions. |
| accountability to the law examples: Business and Human Rights Nadia Bernaz, 2016-10-04 Business corporations can and do violate human rights all over the world, and they are often not held to account. Emblematic cases and situations such as the state of the Niger Delta and the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory are examples of corporate human rights abuses which are not adequately prevented and remedied. Business and human rights as a field seeks to enhance the accountability of business – companies and businesspeople – in the human rights area, or, to phrase it differently, to bridge the accountability gap. Bridging the accountability gap is to be understood as both setting standards and holding corporations and businesspeople to account if violations occur. Adopting a legal perspective, this book presents the ways in which this dual undertaking has been and could be further carried out in the future, and evaluates the extent to which the various initiatives in the field bridge the corporate accountability gap. It looks at the historical background of the field of business and human rights, and examines salient periods, events and cases. The book then goes on to explore the relevance of international human rights law and international criminal law for global business. International soft law and policy initiatives which have blossomed in recent years are evaluated along with private modes of regulation. The book also examines how domestic law, especially the domestic law of multinational companies’ home countries, can be used to prevent and redress corporate related human rights violations. |
| accountability to the law examples: Seeking Accountability for the Unlawful Use of Force Leila Nadya Sadat, 2018-05-31 Analysis of how to prevent war and reinforce UN systems by imposing accountability on individuals and states for the unlawful use of force. |
| accountability to the law examples: Why Privacy Isn't Everything Anita L. Allen, 2003 Accountability protects public health and safety, facilitates law enforcement, and enhances national security, but it is much more than a bureaucratic concern for corporations, public administrators, and the criminal justice system. In Why Privacy Isn't Everything, Anita L. Allen provides a highly original treatment of neglected issues affecting the intimacies of everyday life, and freshly examines how a preeminent liberal society accommodates the competing demands of vital privacy and vital accountability for personal matters. Thus, 'None of your business ' is at times the wrong thing to say, as much of what appears to be self-regarding conduct has implications for others that should have some bearing on how a person chooses to act. The book addresses such questions as, What does it mean to be accountable for conduct? For what personal matters am I accountable, and to whom? Allen concludes that the sticky webs of accountability that encase ordinary life are flexible enough to accommodate egalitarian moral, legal and social practices that are highly consistent with contemporary feminist reconstructions of liberalism. |
| accountability to the law examples: Promoting Accountability Under International Law for Gross Human Rights Violations in Africa Charles Jalloh, Alhagi B. M. Marong, 2015 'Promoting Accountability under International Law for Gross Human Rights Violations in Africa' is pre-eminently a study on the work and contribution of the first international judicial mechanism, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), devoted exclusively to challenging impunity for serious international crimes committed in Africa. This volume is dedicated to the eminent international jurist Justice Hassan Bubacar Jallow, the Tribunal's longest serving Chief Prosecutor and the first prosecutor of the United Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals. The noted scholar and practitioner contributors discuss various aspects of the law, jurisprudence and practice of the Tribunal over its twenty year existence, while also drawing lessons for current and future international courts such as the International Criminal Court. Themes covered include the role of the international prosecutor; the prosecution of sexual and gender-based crimes; the relationship between national and international courts; the role of other international institutions in challenging impunity; and the role of African languages in international criminal trials. Given its wide ranging substantive coverage, this book will be invaluable to anyone interested in criminal justice, human rights and humanitarian law whether in Africa or other parts of the world.-- |
| accountability to the law examples: Accountability and the Law Piotr Mikuli, Grzegorz Kuca, 2021-08-12 This book discusses contemporary accountability and transparency mechanisms by presenting a selection of case studies. The authors deal with various problems connected to controlling public institutions and incumbents’ responsibility in state bodies. The work is divided into three parts. Part I: Law examines the institutional and objective approach. Part II: Fairness and Rights considers the subject approach, referring to a recipient of rights. Part III: Authority looks at the functional approach, referring to the executors of law. Providing insights into increasing understanding of various concepts, principles, and institutions characteristic of the modern state, the book makes a valuable contribution to the area of comparative constitutional change. It will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers, and policy-makers working in the areas of constitutional law and politics. |
| accountability to the law examples: The Second-Person Standpoint Stephen Darwall, 2009-09-30 Why should we avoid doing moral wrong? The inability of philosophy to answer this question in a compelling manner—along with the moral skepticism and ethical confusion that ensue—result, Stephen Darwall argues, from our failure to appreciate the essentially interpersonal character of moral obligation. After showing how attempts to vindicate morality have tended to change the subject—falling back on non-moral values or practical, first-person considerations—Darwall elaborates the interpersonal nature of moral obligations: their inherent link to our responsibilities to one another as members of the moral community. As Darwall defines it, the concept of moral obligation has an irreducibly second-person aspect; it presupposes our authority to make claims and demands on one another. And so too do many other central notions, including those of rights, the dignity of and respect for persons, and the very concept of person itself. The result is nothing less than a fundamental reorientation of moral theory that enables it at last to account for morality’s supreme authority—an account that Darwall carries from the realm of theory to the practical world of second-person attitudes, emotions, and actions. |
| accountability to the law examples: Problems and Process Rosalyn Higgins, 1995-08-24 This text offers an original and scholarly introduction to a number of key topics which lie at the heart of modern international law. Based upon the author's highly acclaimed Hague Academy lectures, the book introduces the student to a series of pressing problems which help reveal the complex relationship between legal norms and policy objectives which define contemporary international law. |
| accountability to the law examples: Reforming Juvenile Justice National Research Council, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Committee on Law and Justice, Committee on Assessing Juvenile Justice Reform, 2013-05-22 Adolescence is a distinct, yet transient, period of development between childhood and adulthood characterized by increased experimentation and risk-taking, a tendency to discount long-term consequences, and heightened sensitivity to peers and other social influences. A key function of adolescence is developing an integrated sense of self, including individualization, separation from parents, and personal identity. Experimentation and novelty-seeking behavior, such as alcohol and drug use, unsafe sex, and reckless driving, are thought to serve a number of adaptive functions despite their risks. Research indicates that for most youth, the period of risky experimentation does not extend beyond adolescence, ceasing as identity becomes settled with maturity. Much adolescent involvement in criminal activity is part of the normal developmental process of identity formation and most adolescents will mature out of these tendencies. Evidence of significant changes in brain structure and function during adolescence strongly suggests that these cognitive tendencies characteristic of adolescents are associated with biological immaturity of the brain and with an imbalance among developing brain systems. This imbalance model implies dual systems: one involved in cognitive and behavioral control and one involved in socio-emotional processes. Accordingly adolescents lack mature capacity for self-regulations because the brain system that influences pleasure-seeking and emotional reactivity develops more rapidly than the brain system that supports self-control. This knowledge of adolescent development has underscored important differences between adults and adolescents with direct bearing on the design and operation of the justice system, raising doubts about the core assumptions driving the criminalization of juvenile justice policy in the late decades of the 20th century. It was in this context that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) asked the National Research Council to convene a committee to conduct a study of juvenile justice reform. The goal of Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach was to review recent advances in behavioral and neuroscience research and draw out the implications of this knowledge for juvenile justice reform, to assess the new generation of reform activities occurring in the United States, and to assess the performance of OJJDP in carrying out its statutory mission as well as its potential role in supporting scientifically based reform efforts. |
| accountability to the law examples: Reclaiming Accountability Heidi Kitrosser, 2015-01-06 Americans tend to believe in government that is transparent and accountable. Those who govern us work for us, and therefore they must also answer to us. But how do we reconcile calls for greater accountability with the competing need for secrecy, especially in matters of national security? Those two imperatives are usually taken to be antithetical, but Heidi Kitrosser argues convincingly that this is not the case—and that our concern ought to lie not with secrecy, but with the sort of unchecked secrecy that can result from “presidentialism,” or constitutional arguments for broad executive control of information. In Reclaiming Accountability, Kitrosser traces presidentialism from its start as part of a decades-old legal movement through its appearance during the Bush and Obama administrations, demonstrating its effects on secrecy throughout. Taking readers through the key presidentialist arguments—including “supremacy” and “unitary executive theory”—she explains how these arguments misread the Constitution in a way that is profoundly at odds with democratic principles. Kitrosser’s own reading offers a powerful corrective, showing how the Constitution provides myriad tools, including the power of Congress and the courts to enforce checks on presidential power, through which we could reclaim government accountability. |
| accountability to the law examples: Judicial Accountabilities in New Europe Dr Daniela Piana, 2013-02-28 This volume focuses on a highly challenging aspect of all European democracies, namely the issue of combining guarantees of judicial independence and mechanisms of judicial accountability. It does so by filling the gap in European scholarship between the two policy sectors of enlargement and judicial cooperation and by taking full stock of an interdisciplinary literature, spanning from comparative politics, socio-legal studies and European studies. Judicial Accountabilities in New Europe presents an insightful account of the judicial reforms adopted by new member States to embed the principle of the rule of law in their democratic institutions, along with the guidelines of quality of justice promoted by European institutions in all member States. |
| accountability to the law examples: Government Accountability Judith Bannister, Gabrielle Appleby, Anna Olijnyk, Joanna Howe, 2014-11-21 Government Accountability offers an accessible introduction to administrative law in Australia by reference to its guiding principle, accountability. |
| accountability to the law examples: Handbook on Police Accountability, Oversight and Integrity United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2011 |
| accountability to the law examples: Ministers and Parliament Diana Woodhouse, 1994 In constitutional theory the convention of individual ministerial responsibility ensures the accountability of ministers to Parliament. In practice it is frequently used by government to limit rather than facilitate accountability. In this book Diana Woodhouse examines the divergence betweentheory and practice.She analyses the situations in which ministers resign, the effectivness of resignation as a means of accountability, and the abdication by ministers of responsibility. She also examines the powers and limitations of Select Committees, the effect of the new Next Steps Agencies on individualministerial responsibility, and draws comparisons with mechanisms of accountability adopted by other countries operating under the Westminster system of government.The inclusion of detailed case studies of the resignations, actual and threatened, of Lord Carrington, Leon Brittan, Edwina Currie, David Mellor, James Prior, and Kenneth Baker make this book especially pertinent to our understanding of the current political scene and to recent institutional changeswithin Parliament and government. By highlighting the present deficiencies and possible future failing in public accountability Dr Woodhouse's study provides an essential complement to recent debates about constitutional reform. |
| accountability to the law examples: Accountable Government in Africa Danwood Mzikenge Chirwa, Lia Nijzink, 2012 This book brings together a number of leading experts in the fields of public law, political science and democratization studies to identify ways of making African governments accountable and describe the extent to which these mechanisms work in practice. It presents new knowledge about legal and political developments in a number of African countries, relevant to the policy goal of developing and deepening democratic governance and accountable government on the continent. This book will be of interest to academics, students and practitioners in the fields of public law, public administration, political studies and African studies. |
| accountability to the law examples: Dramas at Westminster Marc Geddes, 2019-12-06 Based on unprecedented access to the UK Parliament, this book challenges how we understand and think about accountability between government and Parliament. Drawing on three months of research in Westminster, and over forty-five interviews, this book focuses on the everyday practices of Members of Parliament and officials to reveal how parliamentarians perform their scrutiny roles. Some MPs become specialists while others act as lone wolves; some are there to try to defend their party while others want to learn about policy. Amongst these different styles, chairs of committees have to try to reconcile these interpretations and either act as committee-orientated catalysts or attempt to impose order as leadership-orientated chieftains. All of this pushes and pulls scrutiny in competing directions, and tells us that accountability depends on individual beliefs, everyday practices and the negotiation of dilemmas. In this way, MPs and officials create a drama or spectacle of accountability and use their performance on the parliamentary stage to hold government to account. Dramas at Westminster: Select committees and the quest for accountability offers the most up-to-date and detailed research on committee practices in the House of Commons, following a range of reforms since 2010. |
| accountability to the law examples: Out-of-Control Criminal Justice Daniel P. Mears, 2017-09-28 This book shows how to reduce out-of-control criminal justice and create greater public safety, justice, and accountability at less cost. |
| accountability to the law examples: Rights, Resources and the Politics of Accountability Peter Newell, Joanna Wheeler, 2006-05 With examples drawn from a wide range of economic and industrial sectors, and from both South and North, this title presents a topical exploration of struggles for accountability in development projects. |
| accountability to the law examples: Accountability for Criminal Justice Philip C. Stenning, 1995-01-01 Accountability, the idea that people, governments, and business should be held publicly accountable, is a central preoccupation of our time. Criminal justice, already a system for achieving public accountability for illegal and antisocial activities, is no exception to this preoccupation, and accountability for criminal justice therefore takes on a special significance. Seventeen original essays, most commissioned for this volume, have been collected to summarize and assess what has been happening in the area of accountability for criminal justice in English-speaking democracies with common-law traditions during the last fifteen years. Looking at the issue from a variety of disciplines, the authors' intent is to explore accountability with respect to all phases of the criminal justice system, from policing to parole. |
| accountability to the law examples: Responsibility of International Organizations Maurizio Ragazzi, 2013-07-04 In December 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Law Commission's articles on the responsibility of international organizations, bringing to conclusion not only nearly ten years of reflection by the Commission, governments and organizations on this specific topic, but also decades of study of the wider subject of international responsibility, which had initially focused on State responsibility. Parallel to this reflection by the Commission, diplomats and public officials, the body of international case-law and literature on the many facets of the topic has steadily been growing. Responsibility of International Organizations: Essays in Memory of Sir Ian Brownlie contributes to the body of international literature by collecting a broad spectrum of different and sometimes differing perspectives from well-known experts in the field, ranging from the bench to the Commission, academia, and the world of in-house counsel. The book is also a memorial to the renowned Sir Ian Brownlie, himself a former Chairman of the International Law Commission who, as a leading scholar and practitioner, greatly contributed to the reflection on international responsibility, including the responsibility of international organizations. Edited by Maurizio Ragazzi, a former pupil of Sir Ian, the book is an ideal companion to International Responsibility Today, a collection of essays on international responsibility which the same editor presented in 2005 in memory of Oscar Schachter, and to which Sir Ian Brownlie had contributed. The essays collected in Responsibility of International Organizations: Essays in Memory of Sir Ian Brownlie, conveniently grouped by the editor under broad areas for the reader's benefit, will be relevant not only to all those interested in this specific subject but also, more generally, to all those engaged in the field of international law and the law of international organizations. |
| accountability to the law examples: Accountability Arrangements to Combat Corruption Sue Cavill, 2007 This review describes accountability arrangements to combat corruption in the infrastructure sector. The sustainability of the livelihoods of the poor in low- and middle-income countries is compromised by corruption in the delivery of infrastructure services. Such services include water supply, sanitation, drainage, the provision of access roads and paving, transport, solid waste management, street lighting and community buildings. For this reason, The Water, Engineering Development Centre, (WEDC) at Loughborough University in the UK is conducting research into anti-corruption initiatives in this area of infrastructure services delivery. This series of reports has been produced as part of a project entitled Accountability Arrangements to Combat Corruption, which was initially funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the British Government. The purpose of the work is to improve governance through the use of accountability arrangements to combat corruption in the delivery of infrastructure services. These findings, reviews, country case studies, case surveys and practical tools provide evidence of how anti-corruption initiatives in infrastructure delivery can contribute to the improvement of the lives of the urban poor. The main objective of the research is the analysis of corruption in infrastructure delivery. This includes a review of accountability initiatives in infrastructure delivery and the nature of the impact of greater accountability. |
| accountability to the law examples: The United Nations Rule of Law Indicators , 2011 Building and strengthening the 'rule of law' in developing nations, particularly countries in transition or emerging from a period of armed conflict, has become a central focus of the work of the United Nations. As a result, there is a growing demand throughout the United Nations system to better understand the delivery of justice in conflict and post-conflict situations and the impact of developments in this area. The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in cooperation with other United Nations departments, agencies, funds and programmes, have developed an instrument to monitor changes in the performance and fundamental characteristics of criminal justice institutions in conflict and post-conflict situations. The instrument consists of a set of indicators, the United Nations Rule of Law indicators. This guide describes how to implement this instrument and measure these indicators--P. v. |
| accountability to the law examples: Congressional Record United States. Congress, 1968 |
| accountability to the law examples: The Federalist Papers Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison, 2018-08-20 Classic Books Library presents this brand new edition of “The Federalist Papers”, a collection of separate essays and articles compiled in 1788 by Alexander Hamilton. Following the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, the governing doctrines and policies of the States lacked cohesion. “The Federalist”, as it was previously known, was constructed by American statesman Alexander Hamilton, and was intended to catalyse the ratification of the United States Constitution. Hamilton recruited fellow statesmen James Madison Jr., and John Jay to write papers for the compendium, and the three are known as some of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Alexander Hamilton (c. 1755–1804) was an American lawyer, journalist and highly influential government official. He also served as a Senior Officer in the Army between 1799-1800 and founded the Federalist Party, the system that governed the nation’s finances. His contributions to the Constitution and leadership made a significant and lasting impact on the early development of the nation of the United States. |
| accountability to the law examples: Transitional Justice for Child Soldiers K. Fisher, 2013-10-10 This book examines and offers suggestions for how post-conflict practices should conceptualize and address harms committed by child soldiers for successful social reconstruction in the aftermath of mass atrocity. It defends the use of accountability and considers the agency of youth participants in violent conflict as responsible moral entities. |
| accountability to the law examples: Civil Servants and Politics C. Neuhold, S. Vanhoonacker, Luc Verhey, 2013-03-25 This comparative study focuses on the changing relations between civil servants and politicians in the European Union in the last two decades. As well as national case studies this book also looks into politico-administrative relations in supranational institutions such as the European Commission and the European Parliament. |
| accountability to the law examples: Military Self-Interest in Accountability for Core International Crimes Morten Bergsmo, SONG Tianying, 2018-04-21 |
| accountability to the law examples: Testing, Teaching, and Learning National Research Council, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Board on Testing and Assessment, Committee on Title I Testing and Assessment, 1999-10-06 State education departments and school districts face an important challenge in implementing a new law that requires disadvantaged students to be held to the same standards as other students. The new requirements come from provisions of the 1994 reauthorization of Title I, the largest federal effort in precollegiate education, which provides aid to level the field for disadvantaged students. Testing, Teaching, and Learning is written to help states and school districts comply with the new law, offering guidance for designing and implementing assessment and accountability systems. This book examines standards-based education reform and reviews the research on student assessment, focusing on the needs of disadvantaged students covered by Title I. With examples of states and districts that have track records in new systems, the committee develops a practical decision framework for education officials. The book explores how best to design assessment and accountability systems that support high levels of student learning and to work toward continuous improvement. Testing, Teaching, and Learning will be an important tool for all involved in educating disadvantaged studentsâ€state and local administrators and classroom teachers. |
| accountability to the law examples: State Accountability Under International Law Lisa Yarwood, 2010-11-24 State Accountability under International Law sets forth a definition of State accountability as the antithesis of State impunity, and establishes a threshold against which the existence, or not, of State accountability can be determined. The book draws together the many academic theories relating to accountability that have arisen in various areas of international law including environmental law, human rights and trade law before going on to examine an emerging practice of State accountability. A variety of ad hoc attempts and informal mechanisms are assessed against the threshold of State accountability established with emphasis being given to practical examples ranging from the accountability of Germany and Japan after World War Two to the current attempts to prevent impunity by Sudan and Zimbabwe. The book also addresses the relationship between State accountability and the emerging practice of international humanitarian intervention to consider whether intervention could be used for the purpose of holding States accountable for a breach of jus cogens norms. |
| accountability to the law examples: The Law of Global Governance Eyal Benvenisti, 2014-06-11 Also available as an e-book The book argues that the decision-making processes within international organizations and other global governance bodies ought to be subjected to procedural and substantive legal constraints that are associated domestically with the requirements of the rule of law. The book explains why law — international, regional, domestic, formal or soft — should restrain global actors in the same way that judicial oversight is applied to domestic administrative agencies. It outlines the emerging web of global norms designed to protect the rights and interests of all affected individuals, to enable public deliberation, and to promote the legitimacy of the global bodies. These norms are being shaped by a growing convergence of expectations of global institutions to ensure public participation and representation, impartiality and independence of decision-makers, and accountability of decisions. The book explores these mechanisms as well as the political and social forces that are shaping their development by analysing the emerging judicial practice concerning a variety of institutions, ranging from the UN Security Council and other formal organizations to informal and private standard-setting bodies. |
| accountability to the law examples: Emerging Perspectives on Judgment and Decision Research Sandra L. Schneider, James Shanteau, 2003-06-16 Table of contents |
| accountability to the law examples: Women, Judging and the Judiciary Erika Rackley, 2013 Awarded the 2013 Birks Book Prize by the Society of Legal Scholars, Women, Judging and the Judiciary expertly examines debates about gender representation in the judiciary and the importance of judicial diversity. It offers a fresh look at the role of the (woman) judge and the process of judging and provides a new analysis of the assumptions which underpin and constrain debates about why we might want a more diverse judiciary, and how we might get one. Through a theoretical engagement with the concepts of diversity and difference in adjudication, Women, Judging and the Judiciary contends that prevailing images of the judge are enmeshed in notions of sameness and uniformity: images which are so familiar that their grip on our understandings of the judicial role are routinely overlooked. Failing to confront these instinctive images of the judge and of judging, however, comes at a price. They exclude those who do not fit this mould, setting them up as challengers to the judicial norm. Such has been the fate of the woman judge. But while this goes some way to explaining why, despite repeated efforts, our attempts to secure greater diversity in our judiciary have fallen short, it also points a way forward. For, by getting a clearer sense of what our judges really do and how they do it, we can see that women judges and judicial diversity more broadly do not threaten but rather enrich the judiciary and judicial decision-making. As such, the standard opponent to measures to increase judicial diversity - the necessity of appointment on merit - is in fact its greatest ally: a judiciary is stronger and the justice it dispenses better the greater the diversity of its members, so if we want the best judiciary we can get, we should want one which is fully diverse. Women, Judging and the Judiciary will be of interest to legal academics, lawyers and policy makers working in the fields of judicial diversity, gender and adjudication and, more broadly, to anyone interested in who our judges are and what they do. |
| accountability to the law examples: Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights United Nations. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2011 This publication contains the 'Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework', which were developed by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. The Special Representative annexed the Guiding Principles to his final report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/17/31), which also includes an introduction to the Guiding Principles and an overview of the process that led to their development. The Human Rights Council endorsed the Guiding Principles in its resolution 17/4 of 16 June 2011.--P. iv. |
| accountability to the law examples: The International Legal Order Ingrid Detter Delupis, 1994 This work is based on long-term research into State practice combined with the development of a theoretical foundation of such practice, which explains the behaviour of states as subject to clear legal restraints. It argues that state practice is not compatible with traditional concepts of international law and that a fresh approach is required. |
| accountability to the law examples: The Politics of Judicial Independence in the UK's Changing Constitution Graham Gee, Robert Hazell, Kate Malleson, Patrick O'Brien, 2015-03-12 Judicial independence is generally understood as requiring that judges must be insulated from political life. The central claim of this work is that far from standing apart from the political realm, judicial independence is a product of it. It is defined and protected through interactions between judges and politicians. In short, judicial independence is a political achievement. This is the main conclusion of a three-year research project on the major changes introduced by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, and the consequences for judicial independence and accountability. The authors interviewed over 150 judges, politicians, civil servants and practitioners to understand the day-to-day processes of negotiation and interaction between politicians and judges. They conclude that the greatest threat to judicial independence in future may lie not from politicians actively seeking to undermine the courts, but rather from their increasing disengagement from the justice system and the judiciary. |
| accountability to the law examples: Public Accountability Michael D. Dowdle, 2006-07-06 The most comprehensive survey to-date of how different organizations hold persons acting in the public interest to account. |
| accountability to the law examples: The Accountability of Armed Groups Under Human Rights Law Katharine Fortin, 2017 Today the majority of the armed conflicts around the world are fought between States and armed groups, rather than between States. This changed conflict landscape creates an imperative to clarify the obligations of armed groups under international law. While it is generally accepted that armed groups are bound by international humanitarian law, the question of whether they are also bound by human rights law is controversial. This book brings significant new understanding to the question of whether and when armed groups might be bound by human rights law. Its conclusions will benefit international law academics, legal practitioners and political scientists and anthropologists working on issues related to rebel governance and civil wars. This book addresses the debate on this topic by employing a theoretical, historical, and comparative analysis that spans international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and international human rights law. Embedding these different perspectives in public international law, this book brings several key points of clarification to the legal framework. Firstly, the book draws upon social science literature on armed conflict to present a new viewpoint on the role that human rights law plays vis-a-vis international humanitarian law in non-international armed conflicts. Secondly, the book sheds light on the circumstances in which armed groups acquire obligations under human rights law. It brings illumination to these topics by combining historical and comparative research on belligerency, insurgency, and international humanitarian law with a theoretical analysis of legal personality under international law. In the final part of the book, the author tests the four most utilised theories of how armed groups are bound by human rights law, examining whether armed groups can be bound by virtue of (i) treaty law (ii) control of territory (iii) international criminal law and (iv) customary international law. In the book's conclusions, the author presents final remarks that are designed to provide concrete guidance on how the issue of armed groups and human rights law can be dealt with more thoroughly in practice. |
| accountability to the law examples: Holding Power to Account R. Mulgan, 2003-01-01 This book provides a general overview of accountability, a key concept in modern democratic governance. Richard Mulgan draws on examples and analyses from the United States and the United Kingdom as well as other 'Westminster' countries. Major topics discussed include the contrast between accountability in the public and private sectors, the effects of public management reforms on accountability, accountability for collective actions, accountability in networks and the limits of accountability. |
| accountability to the law examples: Select Essays on Governance and Accountability Issues in Public Law Hennie Strydom, Joanna Botha, 2020-10-27 The essays in this book, authored by academics from the Faculties of Law at the University of Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela University respectively, emanate from a joint research project and conference arranged by the Faculties in 2018. The essays focus on public law issues impacting on governance and accountability in South African law and in international and regional law, but with a specific focus on problems afflicting the African continent. |
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Do You Understand What Accountability Really Means?
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