Comparatively speaking, if we take the European continent into consideration, one can notice that there are basically three approaches to the administration of justice: the model a judicial council, the judicial-managerial model, and the model of management through the ministry responsible for judiciary. In this sense, 20th century marks significant changes in the way how European countries understand the relationship between politics and the judicial system, because originally the management of the judiciary was mainly the responsibility of the executive power, and especially of the competent ministry responsible for the judiciary. However, after the end of the Second World War, concerns about judicial independence, judicial accountability, and better judicial performance began to shape particular changes, and ministries of justice lost their monopoly on the administration of justice. In many countries special bodies with the authority to deal with the career of judges or administration of justice were hence created. In other words, in order to free the judiciary from political pressure, in the first place from executive power, (in other words: to establish the principle of independent judiciary), judicial councils began to emerge as a symbol and herald of new institutions of democratic regimes. Historically speaking, the country where the first judicial council was created was France, in the nineteenth century. Of course, since then numerous reforms in this country took place, but the "seed" did not remain solely on the French territory - it had already spread across Europe. In the 20th century, France was once again the forerunner in this sense, when the High Council of Magistracy was established (Conseil Superieur de la Magistrature) in 1946. A few years later, Italy became the first country to have the council of the same name (Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura) - created in order to completely set the entire judiciary free from political control. This type of council later served as a model for justice systems of other countries, with the aim to provide another set of constitutional guarantees for the establishment and preservation of judiciary’s independence. Later, Spain and Portugal formed the same councils after breaking up with respective authoritarian regimes. That was an important constitutional guarantee for the rule of law, i.e., measure for strengthening of judiciary. After these initial steps, one can only “state that there is a European trend of establishing judicial councils in countries that have traditionally relied on ministerial management of courts and budget”, and the number of such countries increased many times during only a few decades. Especially since 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall, Europe has witnessed a true expansion of judicial councils. In this monography, by using the normative, exegetical, and comparative method, important aspects of the functioning of judicial councils are placed under analysis: the one that relates to their composition method of selection of their members, as well as jurisdiction. Twenty European countries are taken into consideration, and special reference was given to Serbia and the Constitutional Amendments of 2022.
