Civilization requires that everyday activities in the society are carried in an orderly manner. For this ton be possible there must exist some rule which give guidance on how people should themselves around. The laws are basically meant to guide people and give direction to the law enforcers on what to do incase there is a breaking of law. A simple classification of the law results into three classes: civil law, common law and the religious law. The law is basically meant to maintain order irrespective of where it is applied. Despite this fact there some differences in the judicial system which have been recognized. This is expected of the laws as especially in the current world. The law needs to keep on changing frequently to cater for the ever increasing dynamism presented by the modern society. This paper seeks to examine the judiciary systems of Canada, UK and U.S. and compare them with that of South Africa.
The judiciary system of South Africa is a body of judges and magistrates who preside over the courts of South Africa. The judiciary system of South Africa is a branch of the government and only subjected to the constitution of South Africa. The structure of the judiciary system of South Africa is defined under the constitution particularly under chapter eight. The same chapter spells out the independence of the organs of the judiciary system and dictates that no quarter shall undermine the independence. The constitution of South Africa, under chapter two, spells out the terms that allow each person to have a hearing be fore a court of law (Mostert 109).
The South Africa judiciary system has the following structure in its court systems: the constitutional court, the supreme court of appeal, high courts, magistrates’ courts and other courts set up by Acts of Parliament. Technically the constitution court is the highest court in land though it should be noted that it only deals in issues related to the constitution. Since all the law in South Africa is subjected to the constitution then that makes the constitution court the highest in that land. The constitution court is headed by the chief justice of South Africa, his/her deputy. The next court in that line is the supreme court of appeal. The judges of this court are the president and his/her deputies, and some other judges. For the high courts they are presided over by the judge president, deputy judge presidents and some other judges. For the magistrate courts they are presided over by the regional and district magistrates (Mostert 110).
In the South Africa judiciary system the permanent judges in higher courts is the president of the nation after making some consultation with the Judicial Service commission and the leaders in the national assembly. Precisely the Judicial Service Commission takes the responsibility of advising the government on matters related to judiciary and how justice ought to be administered. The members to this commission are the minister of Justice, the chief Justice, two practicing advocates, two practicing attorneys, six members from the national assembly whereby three are from the opposition parties and fours members from the national council of provinces (Mostert 110).
In the South Africa only one single body takes the responsibility of instituting the criminal proceedings on behalf of the nation. The national prosecuting authority (NPA) is responsible for instituting the proceedings of the courts on behalf of the state. The head of the National Prosecuting Authority is the director of public prosecutions and is appointed by the president (Mostert 110).
