THE COMMONWEALTH PRINCIPLES (LATIMER HOUSE) ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT: TWENTY YEARS ON

Abstract

2018 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Latimer House ‘process’ which commenced with the drafting of the Latimer House Guidelines for the Commonwealth on Good Practice Governing Relations between the Executive, Parliament and the Judiciary. Since then the Latimer House Guidelines have been transformed into the Commonwealth Principles (Latimer House) on the Relationship between the Three Branches of Government which have been endorsed by Commonwealth Heads of Government on several occasions. This article assesses the role of the Latimer House process over the last two decades against the background of the Commonwealth’s evolving commitments to good governance and the rule of law. In Part 1 explores the role of the Commonwealth in supporting good governance and the rule of law whilst Part 2 considers and evaluates the Latimer House process itself. Part 3 reviews the development of the Commonwealth Principles in practice whilst in Part 4 some specific implementation issues concerning the Judiciary are discussed. Part 5 considers the future development of the Commonwealth Principles whilst Part 6 provides a conclusion and overview.