University of Łódź

District Court in Brzeziny

English abstract: In Western political tradition, judges are guardians of the rule of law. But they also may be subject to mistakes or corruption. A well-balanced system of government needs both means to guard judicial independence and means to control the judiciary, such as removal from office. Judges of senior courts (in the UK) and federal judges (in the USA) are secured in their independence by the ‘good behaviour’ clause, which makes removing them possible only if a specific action is taken by the legislature. In the UK it is an address of both Houses to the Monarch, in the USA – an impeachment. This article deals with historical roots of the ‘good behaviour’ clause and its current understanding. It stresses that in the process of the interpretation and through certain precedents, the scope of the legislature’s power to remove a judge was highly restricted. Such a restriction, however, was obtained rather due to a political culture of the analysed countries rather than the contents of the ‘good behaviour’ clause, which always carries with it the danger of political interference with the judiciary.

Key words: judiciary, removal from office, judges, UK, USA

Language: polish

Published: Number 1(46)/2026, pp. 60–76.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2026.1.60

Liczba pobrań: 53

This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.