Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

8-2025

Abstract

In Haris Ibrahim [2023] 2 MLJ 296, the Federal Court of Malaysia discussed the legal limits to executive authorities’ powers to investigate judges on suspicion of crime. The case is a rare contribution to the jurisprudence on judges’ criminal liability at common law, as well as a case study in the challenges of reconciling judicial independence with other principles of the constitutional framework and other actors’ roles therein. The Court held that the implied constitutional principle of judicial independence requires that executive authorities follow a “set of protocols” (which the Court formulated) when investigating sitting judges. This was not wrong in principle, but the Court’s understanding of the separation of powers did not give sufficient weight to other constitutional principles which require that the executive, too, be able to do its job without being unduly hindered – particularly when that job itself serves to safeguard constitutional values such as judicial accountability.

Discipline

Judges | Legal Studies

Research Areas

Asian and Comparative Legal Systems; Public Law

Areas of Excellence

Growth in Asia

Publication

Singapore Journal of Legal Studies

First Page

1

Last Page

11

ISSN

0218-2173

Publisher

National University of Singapore

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