The judiciary and the executive
was free from the influence of the executive. As well as not being independent, the court is often accused of not being politically active enough, and of often making decisions that preserve the status- quo. Although it is seen as the ‘ last opportunity for a just resolution of any injustice encountered during the previous stages of the litigation process ’ , 13 it is very rare for a regular citizen to see justice in the constitutional court due the fact that very small number of cases actually reach it. Thus, the difference between the justice and judicial systems of these two countries is quite clear: while t he UK judiciary’s main characteristic is its independence, Russian courts are accused of being influenced by the government. The two cases set out above, and the contrast between the judiciaries of the UK and Russia, make it easy to conclude that, although in a perfect scenario the judiciary would be one of the main barriers preventing the government from descending into lawless tyranny, their success in doing so greatly depends on the political and legal environments in the country. In the case of the prorogation of the UK Parliament, Gina Miller, a regular citizen, saw the injustice in what the government was doing and started a legal case against the executive. The case went to the Supreme Court and the justices decided that prorogation was unlawful. In the Russian case, the judiciary had no choice but to rule that the constitutional changes which would grant Putin even more powers were lawful. This emphasizes the clear polarity between the two countries and their judicial systems. In the UK, a democratic country, the judiciary is independent, the justices have guarantees that making a decision against the government would not mean losing their position, while in Russia, a country notorious for discriminating against anyone who disagrees or speaks out against Putin, the judiciary is under the thumb of the government. These differences affect the ability of the judiciary to successfully perform the function of keeping the government within the limits of law. Furthermore, after examining these two c ases, we can conclude that the majority of the world’s population is correct in striving to democratically establish the rule of law and independent judiciaries in order to prevent governments from exceeding their powers and violating Human Rights.
13 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_Kingdom.
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