Il problema dell'indipendenza e dell'imparzialità della magistratura

The essay focuses on the conceptual relationship between the principles of independence and impartiality of judges, with particular regard to the Italian constitutional experience. In Western judicial systems, independence and impartiality are strictly connected to other important requirements, such as the judge's professional quality, effectiveness and the speed of judicial proceedings, not less than to the accountability of the judge himself. By consequence, the author maintains that the judicial function must always accommodate many other different needs of the political system as a whole, preserving not only judge's impartiality, but also the "reputation" of judge's impartiality. Moreover, the legitimacy of our magistracy as a professional order requires necessarily a social consent, which cannot be sustained without the perception of the impartiality and responsibility of the judges. The one outcome of the uncontrolled growth of judge's independence regardless of the impartiality and responsibility of this class of officials is the privileged status of Italian magistracy, which amounts to a true anomaly in our Western judicial systems.