Legal and Judicial Sector Assessment
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Publication
Alternative Mechanisms of Service Delivery : Legal and Regulatory Review, Volume 2. Appendices
(Washington, DC, 2009-11)This report reviews the Indonesian legal and regulatory framework that might support or obstruct the promotion of alternative mechanisms of service delivery (AMSD). AMSD, as it has been translated in Indonesian, is a term used especially in Canada to describe an array of strategies and tools that government can use to deliver services in "not the normal way'. 'Alternative' is used in the sense of 'alternative lifestyle" or 'not traditional'. The objectives of the project in relation to promoting AMSD within regional governments are: i) assistance to government in the rationalization of different institutional arrangements for the delivery of sub-national public services; and ii) aid in the development and implementation of new (contracting) methods for service delivery. The report aims to describe the current proximate legal and regulatory framework within which the eight strategies work. The report provides the basis for understanding where the strategies already have 'support' and where the framework needs improving or additions. -
Publication
Alternative Mechanisms of Service Delivery : Legal and Regulatory Review, Volume 1. Main Text
(Washington, DC, 2009-11)This report reviews the Indonesian legal and regulatory framework that might support or obstruct the promotion of alternative mechanisms of service delivery (AMSD). AMSD, as it has been translated in Indonesian, is a term used especially in Canada to describe an array of strategies and tools that government can use to deliver services in "not the normal way'. 'Alternative' is used in the sense of 'alternative lifestyle" or 'not traditional'. The objectives of the project in relation to promoting AMSD within regional governments are: i) assistance to government in the rationalization of different institutional arrangements for the delivery of sub-national public services; and ii) aid in the development and implementation of new (contracting) methods for service delivery. The report aims to describe the current proximate legal and regulatory framework within which the eight strategies work. The report provides the basis for understanding where the strategies already have 'support' and where the framework needs improving or additions. -
Publication
Uganda - Legal and Judicial Sector Study Report
(World Bank, 2009-07-01)This study examines and evaluates developments in the Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS) institutions, noting both the achievements and continuing challenges of reform under first phase Sector Investment Plan (SIP I) and SIP II. It pays particular attention to the SIP guidelines and objectives and to the outstanding challenges described in various reviews of the JLOS institutions, more specifically: (a) the commercial court; (b) the impact of the establishment of the centre for arbitration and dispute resolution on case backlogs; (c) the adequacy of legal education to meet the needs of the sector in view of recent reforms, and (d) the provision of legal aid services to the poor to increase their access to justice. The study also touches on the challenges identified by the JLOS Medium Term Evaluation (MTE), which warranted detailed study and which informed the development of SIP II. They include law reform, legal education, and access to justice for the poor and particularly in the conflicted areas of Uganda. -
Publication
Bulgaria - Resourcing the Judiciary for Performance and Accountability : A Judicial Public Expenditure and Institutional Review
(Washington, DC, 2008-06)This report examines why, given the increasing resources allocated to the judiciary, there seem to have been only modest improvements in judicial performance. It lifts the veil on the conflicting opinions on the reasons for slow progress on performance and efficiency by analyzing the institutional environment within which the judiciary functions and the key incentives propelling the policy stances and actions of major institutional actors. A supply-demand approach is then used to review the challenges behind improving judicial performance, focusing on resource allocation and management issues on the supply side and on case inflow on the demand side. This perspective enables consideration of both supply and demand issues impacting judicial performance and offers an opportunity to suggest actions and policy responses that could enable policy makers to manage demand more effectively while strengthening access to justice. Overall, therefore, improving judicial performance now requires a shift from increasing the overall level of resources to approaches that do not increase the burden on the central budget. The key challenge now confronting Bulgaria's judiciary is to build on the reforms so far by developing, financing and implementing a judiciary-wide modernization program to sustain the transformation and demonstrate impact through monitor able indicators of performance. The information and analysis in this report much of it familiar to the leadership of Bulgaria's judiciary, executive and legislature could facilitate a consensus between the three branches of power on the resources that the judiciary could realistically expect to receive, and on the results that it can be expected to achieve, given existing resource and capacity constraints. In this dialogue, an exclusive focus on judicial independence could risk diverting attention from concrete measures needed to ensure that the judiciary is adequately resourced and that mechanisms to ensure the efficient use of resources and improved performance are in place. Indeed, judicial independence is a fundamental principle guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of Bulgaria, and unconditionally respected with regard to the judiciary's adjudicative functions. However, sustained focus on the achievement of performance goals could have important potential long-term benefits for the judicial system, not only in terms of increased budgetary resources, but more importantly in terms of increased public trust and confidence. -
Publication
Bangladesh - Curbing Corruption and Strengthening Governance : A Note on Strengthening Anticorruption Initiatives
(Washington, DC, 2007-02)There is a growing consensus among development practitioners about the importance of governance to poverty reduction and economic growth, although there remains disagreement about the direction of causality. Poor governance manifests itself in increased corruption, poor service delivery, weak accountability and a crisis in citizens' confidence in the state. In Bangladesh, the governance challenges are interconnected and span a wide range of issues: weak public financial management, low revenue mobilization, an inefficient and weak procurement system, inadequate electoral laws including unregulated election financing that limits and distorts political competition, weak formal accountability systems including a dysfunctional Parliament and Judiciary, a lack of transparency in government decision making, and the permeation of partisan politics through all public institutions. A concerted effort to tackle these problems will require reforming formal institutions, laws, and processes but also developing strong mechanisms for accountability through civil society and the media, and sustaining the national consensus that has emerged that reforms must be implemented. The new Caretaker Government (CTG) has started this process in earnest and is to be commended for initiating actions in rebuilding core public institutions including the Anticorruption Commission (ACC). A multi-faceted approach is required to overcome Bangladesh's weaknesses and failures in governance, one which this note does not address in detail. The focus of this note is on strengthening anticorruption initiatives. -
Publication
Improving the Business Climate in Macedonia: A Legal and Judicial Enforcement Assessment
(Washington, DC, 2005-06-21)The objective of this Legal and Judicial Enforcement Assessment is to identify the main judicial, legal, legislative, and institutional constraints on the enforcement of contract, creditor, and property rights in Macedonia, and to integrate the Macedonian Government's Judicial Reform Strategy with ongoing donor work. This Assessment makes recommendations on how to overcome the major obstacles to reform and move the Government's focus towards effective implementation. Additionally, the Assessment examines the current and future donor activity in this area, and suggests where additional donor assistance may be needed. -
Publication
Making Justice Count : Measuring and Improving Judicial Performance in Brazil
(Washington, DC, 2004-12-30)The present report, and the source of its findings, summarizes the results of research conducted in Brazil in 2003-2004. It is the second of two World Bank sponsored studies on the Brazilian judicial system. Its findings, while provocative, were obviously limited in their generalization, and as the study concluded, raised as many questions as they answered. This second effort is intended to address some of these questions by taking a broader, if less detailed look at sector operations - here defining the sector (or system) not just as the courts, but as the multiple formal and informal institutions involved in the resolution of conflicts through the application and enforcement of the legal framework. -
Publication
Ethiopia : Legal and Judicial Sector Assessment
(Washington, DC, 2004)The judicial and legal sector of Ethiopia presents a variety of significant challenges. The legal system as it exists today combines elements of both civil and common law1 with traditional practices, resulting in multiple layers intermingling and superimposing distinct types of modern, traditional, and religious laws and processes. This report provides an overview of Ethiopia's current legal system focusing on four key issues: judiciary, access to justice, commercial justice, and sequencing of reform efforts. Other issues are commented upon briefly to provide context and elucidate interconnections between issues. The report focuses mainly on the formal legal system as established by the 1995 Constitution. -
Publication
Slovak Republic : Legal and Judicial Sector Assessment
(Washington, DC, 2003-06)The purpose of this legal and judicial sector assessment is to evaluate Slovak Republic's legal and judicial systems and institutions, and identify their strengths and weaknesses. The assessment serves as a flexible tool for application across countries and legal systems, applying a broad based, demand driven and bottom-up methodology. This report is divided into two parts. The first part, which concentrates on the Slovak Judicial Sector, identifies areas where court performance could be improved through better management. It begins with a description of the courts then turns to an analysis of the overall management of the court system and the courts' performance. The second part of the report concentrates on the Legal Services provided by attorneys and commercial lawyers. It analyzes the appropriateness of the framework in which legal services are supplied, including the self-regulation of the legal profession, to ensure adequate access to legal services for all users. The government's role in regulating the legal services markets to ensure that all citizens, including underprivileged groups, are afforded adequate access to legal services, is discussed. The report relies on a combination of data sources, including surveys, interviews, expert assessments, and statistics, all of which provide a basis for cross-reference. A major source of information was the findings of a World Bank-U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) survey that analyzed the level of corruption in Slovakia. Court statistics were used with care, owing to potential problems with their collection and organization. European Union (EU) standards and practices were used as benchmarks in analyzing the legal services market. -
Publication
Morocco : Legal and Judicial Sector Assessment
(Washington, DC, 2003-06)The overall legal framework in Morocco is not a priority area for reform. The law-making process, however, is weak, resulting in poorly drafted laws, and legal dissemination is inadequate. Legal education relies upon outdated curricula and is offered in competing languages, French and Arabic, the selection of which largely determines students' choices for future employment. The training of legal professionals is minimal and is poorly supervised. The general public has little access to legal information. Legal aid is embryonic and restricted to criminal matters. This assessment of the legal and judicial sector offers recommendations in the areas of case law dissemination, capacity building of the law-making institutions, development of a legal toolkit for judges, redesign of legal studies, training of legal professionals to improve quality, supervision of translators and experts, redirecting the activities of lawyers towards legal advice, expanding the notaries, redesigning court operations, expanding judicial participation on the High Council for the Judiciary and ensuring greater judicial independence, offering professionalized training to the judiciary, including language proficiency as a criteria for recruitment and promotion, obtaining judicial consent for judicial transfers, making public judicial resources, improving the transparency of the inspection process, drafting a code of legal ethics, training for non-judicial appointments, developing court management capacities, improving personnel management, acknowledgment of the profession of registrar, reviewing and enforcing the regulations concerning judicial experts, further decentralizing of the management of the judicial budgets and development of budget management capacity, improving court statistics, upgrading judicial infrastructure, court construction and renovation, overhauling the entire enforcement system, development of public information procedures, improving access of the public to legal information and advice, and enactment of the arbitration code.