The determinants of the judicial independence: Evidence from the Italian Constitutional Court (1956-2002)

This paper tests the explanatory power of alternative theories on the determinants of judicial independence using annual and decision-based data on the Italian Constitutional Court. The estimates show that structural measures of judicial independence, such as the share of constitutional judges elected by the ranks of professional judiciary and the age of justices, are positively correlated with an independent behavior of the Court. Contrary to previous studies on a similar sample, we find that the Court matches a greater cohesion of the other government branches with more independent behavior, improving the effectiveness of the system of checks and balances.