Relying on the Courts: about collegiate collaboration in courts as a counterbalance to professional hierarchy and as a necessary precondition for efficiently delivering, timely and consistent justice in Ukraine, Greece and the Netherlands

Abstract

A judicial organization ensures that the work that is done – administering justice – is reliable. Citizens must be able to rely on the courts. Justice must be accessible, on time, and fair. In addition, it must be predictable and effective. And, moreover, the organisation of justice must be effective. It may cost a little, but it is predominantly taxpayers' money. There are two organizational principles that contribute to realizing those aims: hierarchy and cohesion. I assume that hierarchy and cohesion in organization must be in balance for the organization to function effectively. All kinds of horizontal and vertical interactions are needed, partly in relation to the societal environment of an organization, for it to flourish. This also applies to judicial organisations. One assumption is that professional judges are substantively inspired – and enjoy doing their job, and another is that people trust each other enough to work together. I illustrate this by the phenomenon of procedural guidelines as a result from judicial cooperation and a comparison of the situation of the judicial organizations of Ukraine, Greece and the Netherlands. I conclude that, when it comes to rule of law reviews of national judiciaries, much more attention should be paid to hierarchy and internal cohesion – cooperation along horizontal lines. Without such horizontal cooperation, judges cannot be adequately autonomous, impartial, and independent, because too much hierarchy enables the exertion of pressures also for other reasons than quality of court work.