judgecraft

Second, the focus of training should be on practical skills, or judgecraft, not the substantive law.

This is all part of the art of judgecraft that may be performed during case management.

At the risk of stating the obvious, judgecraft is a skill that really can only be acquired by acting in a judicial capacity.

They ordinarily approach their duties with the utmost seriousness and, we must hope, are exercising their very highest faculties of judgecraft and constitutional commitment in this case.

Into this arena comes judgecraft - that ability to deal with all types of case and all types of litigant with fairness, humanity ad courtesy in such a way that they leave court feeling that they have received justice.

Sheriff Duff added: "I would say the induction programme is often more about the judgecraft skills they will need to show that they are less familiar with - such as issues of case management, controlling a court, responding to problems that can emerge in court.

Notwithstanding this enormous pool of experience, it is still necessary for the Judicial Studies Board to include in its Induction Courses fairly extensive training in elements of judgecraft and to follow this up in Continuation Seminars throughout the rest of the judge’s professional life.