법관윤리에서 외관(Appearance)의 중요성: 미국을 중심으로

The authority of the judiciary ultimately derives from public confidence in the judicial process. Yet, the public have no recourse but to build confidence in the judicial process through the words and deeds of the judge sitting in the proceeding since it is difficult for them to fully comprehend the judicial process and set an apt scale to evaluate the qualification of the judge. Accordingly, the public image of the judge becomes a key factor in establishing the confidence in the judiciary. In this respect, it is indisputable that a judge should not only satisfy independence, integrity and impartiality but also satisfy such appearance. In the United States, under the premise that the appearance of justice cannot be divorced from justice itself, judges are required to avoid conducts that would undermine independence, integrity and impartiality of the judiciary with significance of appearance. Thus, a judge shall exhibit and promote high standards of judicial conduct in order to reinforce public confidence. Korea has also made continuous efforts to secure public confidence in the judiciary establishing the Canons of Judicial Ethics, setting related rules, and publishing advisory opinions. In so doing, the awareness of judges about judicial ethics has been raised significantly. It is nonetheless true that overall awareness of the importance of appearance created by the judge is still relatively low compared to that of the United States. Furthermore, the issues of judicial ethics such as abuse of judicial authority have continuously been observed through the media in recent years. In these circumstances, the examination of the Model Code of Judicial Conduct of the United States especially focusing on the importance of appearance itself would be helpful to strengthen the enforcement of the Canons of Judicial Ethics and other related rules in Korea.