Kaosium
Philosopher
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2010
- Messages
- 6,695
Your last paragraph is perhaps very relevant. As I've mentioned before, I imagine that most inhabitants of the US are well used to the strange (and extremely undemocratic) practice of the executive exerting influence over judicial processes. State Governors and Presidents routinely ride roughshod over judicial decisions by overturning, pardoning or commuting.
I have to point out that this is not the case in most other democratic countries. In the UK, for example, it is unheard of for anyone in the executive branch of government to have any influence whatsoever over the application of justice. There used to be one small anomaly in the case of the position of Lord Chancellor (not to be confused with Chancellor of the Exchequer, AKA Finance Minister), who is a member of the executive but who had some minor judicial authority until this authority was properly removed in the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005.
But no member of the British executive branch of government has any influence whatsoever in the application of justice. Neither David Cameron nor anyone else in political power can put any pressure on judges or courts - they have absolute independence enshrined in law. The same situation exists in Italy.
I've not looked in for a while, but I betcha there's bunnies and kittens just dancing with glee right now, thus I don't want to provide them with any more entertainment. However I suspect the democratic system that works admirably in Britain would be disastrous in the United States, and may well be in Italy as well. I think the corruption of the judiciary and legal system evident in this case and reflected in the ECHR suggests that it would be better off with some checks and balances introduced into its system.
The modern United Kingdom came to be with a legacy of a thousand years as England which slowly added three neighbors every couple or few centuries. The legal system and government grew out of the culture, as opposed to just invented willy-nilly like the US and Italy. Thus the UK does fine with a ceremonial executive, a legislature unchecked by any possible legacy, and a gentleman's agreement constitution. Imagine the American party you dislike most coming to power in one of those heady landslide elections under those rules...
Italy is kind of like between the US and Yugoslavia as I see it, just which one it's closer to remains to be seen.