ETHICAL COMPASS OF JUDGING: MORAL AND ETHICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR JUDGES AND CANDIDATES FOR THE POSITION OF JUDGE IN THE CONTEXT OF COMPLIANCE WITH EUROPEAN STANDARDS

Abstract

The article focuses on the importance of the moral and ethical requirements for a judge and a candidate for the position of a judge in Ukraine to ensure the implementation of the basic principles of justice and restore confidence in the judicial system. To reach this goal, the author has chosen a systematic approach based on general scientific and special scientific methods, among which the most commonly used are: historical and legal, formal and legal, and systemic and structural. The author analyses the prerequisites that influenced the formation of the national strategy for reforming the judicial system in order to increase the level of public confidence in it. The author examines the compliance of the Code of Judicial Ethics with the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct and the transformation of Article 69 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges" in terms of moral and ethical requirements for a candidate for the position of a judge, with the simultaneous presentation of European experience in this regard. The author concludes that supplementing Article 69 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges" with an explanation of the term "integrity", which covers a number of moral and ethical requirements for candidates for the position of a judge, is in line with the experience of European countries and contributes to further ensuring that the corps of judges is staffed with specialists capable of maintaining the authority of the judiciary. The author concludes that the tendency to pay considerable attention to maintaining an appropriate level of judicial ethics in the context of strengthening public confidence in the judiciary will certainly have a positive result in the future, since the balance of trust in the courts and the judiciary on the part of citizens who have had their own recent experience of dealing with the courts is already positive, i.e. the number of those who trust the courts is higher than the number of those who do not. At the same time, the author emphasises that the image of an independent, impartial, incorruptible, ethical judge can change an individual's attitude to both Ukrainian justice and the judicial system as a whole, which in turn will change public opinion over time.