Time Standards as a Court Management Tool: The Experience in American State and Local Trial Courts

Abstract

As a public institution, the courts must be accountable for their use of a nation’s resources. The institutional independence of the judiciary from political influences and the decisional independence of individual judges in specific cases are intended not for the personal benefit of judges, but for the benefit of the society as a whole and of all those who come before the courts. Indeed, the very legitimacy of government as a whole can be powerfully reinforced by the effective operation of an independent judiciary.