publications_unodc_commentary-e

Application3.1 A judge shall ensure that his or her conduct is abovereproach in the view of a reasonable observer.CommentaryHigh standards are required in both private and public life103. A judge must maintain high standards in private as well as public life. Thereason for this lies in the broad range of human experience and conduct upon whicha judge may be called upon to pronounce judgment. If the judge is to condemnpublicly what he or she practises privately, the judge will be seen as a hypocrite.This inevitably leads to a loss of public confidence in the judge, which may rub offon the judiciary more generally.Community standards should ordinarily be respected in private life104. A judge should not violate universally accepted community standards orengage in activities that clearly bring disrepute to the courts or the legal system. Inattempting to strike the right balance, the judge must consider whether - in the eyesof a reasonable, fair-minded and informed member of the community - the proposedconduct is likely to call into question his or her integrity or to diminish respect forhim or her as a judge. If that is the case, the proposed course of conduct should beavoided.There is no uniform community standard105. In view of cultural diversity and the constant evolution in moral values, thestandards applying to a judge’s private life cannot be laid down too precisely. 48 This48 This is particularly evident in respect of sexual activity. For example, in the Philippines, ajudge who flaunted an extra-marital relationship was found to have failed to embody judicialintegrity, warranting dismissal from the judiciary (Complaint against Judge FerdinandMarcos, Supreme Court of the Philippines, A.M. 97-2-53-RJC, 6 July 2001). In the UnitedStates, in Florida, a judge was reprimanded for engaging in sexual activities with a womanwho was not his wife, in a parked motor car (In re Inquiry Concerning a Judge, 336 So. 2d1175 (Fla. 1976), cited in Amerasinghe, Judicial Conduct, 53). In Connecticut, a judge wasdisciplined for having an affair with a married court stenographer (In re Flanagan, 240 Conn.157, 690 A. 2d 865 (1997), cited in Amerasinghe, Judicial Conduct, 53). In Cincinnati, amarried judge who was separated from his wife was disciplined for taking a girl friend (whomhe since married) on three foreign visits, although they did not ever occupy the same room80