The term “Judicial Activism” was first coined in 1947 by Arthur Schlesinger Jr., an American historian and educator. Judicial activism, an approach to the exercise of judicial review, or a description of a particular judicial decision, in which a judge is generally considered more willing to decide constitutional. It has been seen in India since the Emergency days. Judicial activism in the Indian context is the result of legislative and executive inaction coupled with inefficiency. Such an approach is only used as a last straw, judicial activism is not supposed to be a routine activity but it is to be as a function, if not performed beyond a reasonable period of time by either the Legislature and Executive would affects the public at large.
They invoke their extraordinary powers to fulfil the glorious golden words of the Preamble of our Constitution.
What is Judicial Activism:
The term activism is used in both political rhetoric and academic research. In academic usage activism usually means only the willingness of a judge to strike down the action of another branch of government or to overturn a judicial precedent, with no implied judgment as to whether the activist decision is correct or not. Activist judges enforce their own views of constitutional requirements rather than deferring to the views of other government officials or earlier courts.
In political rhetoric activism is used as a disapproval. To describe judges as activist in this sense is to argue that they decide cases on the basis of their own policy preferences rather than a faithful interpretation of the law, thus abandoning the impartial judicial role and “legislating from the bench.” Decisions may be labeled activist either for striking down legislative or executive action or for allowing it to stand. Because judges may be called activist for either striking down government action or permitting it and because activism in political usage is always considered wrongful, this sense of activism is not the opposite of restraint. A judicial decision may also be called activist in a procedural sense if it resolves a legal issue unnecessary to the disposition of the case. Complaints about activism have arisen in most countries where courts exercise significant judicial review, particularly within common-law systems. In consequence, calling a decision activist serves primarily to indicate the speaker’s belief that those on the other side are not operating in good faith.
Judicial Activism Methods:
There are various methods of judicial activism that are followed in India. They are:
- Judicial Review: power of the judiciary to interpret the constitution and to declare any such law or order of the legislature and executive void, if it finds them in conflict with the Constitution.
- PIL: The person filing the petition must not have any personal interest in the litigation, this petition is accepted by the court only if there is an interest of large public involved; the aggrieved party does not file the petition.
- Constitutional interpretation.
- Access of international statute for ensuring constitutional rights.
- Supervisory power of the higher courts on the lower courts.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
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