The Administrative Authority of Chief Judicial Oficers in Australiat Kathy Mack and Sharyn Roach Anleu*' I Introduction Many aspects of judicial independence support the core judicial function of 'independent, impartial . adjudication'.' This paper particularly considers the concept of internal judicial independence, which requires that a judicial officer's adjudicative functions must be free from control by other judicial officers, including the presiding or most senior judicial ~fficer.~Just as the independence of judges would be undermined by executive influence on judicial decision-making, improper direction from the presiding judicial officer -or any other judicial officer -would also This research was initially funded by a University-Industry Research Collaborative Grant in 2001 with Flinders University and the Australian Association of Magistrates (AAM) as the partners with additional financial support from the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration. It is currently funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Project Grant (LP210306) with AAM and all Chief Magistrates and their courts as industry partners with support from Flinders University as the host institution. Thanks to Deirdre Amos, Sandra Brooks, Ruth Harris, Julie Henderson, Wendy Hoad, Mary McKenna, Rose Polkinghorne, Frances Willis, and Dan Woods for research and administrative assistance. The Magistrates Research Project website is located at ihttp: / /ehlt.flinders.edu.au/law/magistrates/>Email:
[email protected]. Earlier versions of this paper were given at the Annual Conference of the International Society for Reform of Criminal Law, The Hague, August 2003 and at the Australian Law * and Society Conference, Newcastle, December 2003. Professor, School of Law, Flinders University. ** Professor, Department of Sociology, Flinders University.