In the next decades, most of the land held by Free Judges was acquired by noble families.

But freeing Mr. Stevens would first require freeing judges.

Unlike the Free Judges, the nobility in Kłodzko held their property only as a royal fief.

Unpublished decisions have also been criticized as an abdication of responsibility, in that it frees judges from the responsibility of preparing publication-worthy opinions in every case.

He suggested freeing judges to have total discretion when setting tariffs for killers, sparking an instant backlash amid fears it would lead to murderers spending less time behind bars.

Proponents of this system laud it as placing the judiciary above politics and freeing judges of the need to raise vast campaign funds currently necessary in statewide political races.)

In many court systems today, responsibility for court operations is delegated almost entirely to professional court managers, freeing judges and their legal clerks to devote their time to the work of interpreting and applying the law.

While the ISU has claimed this secrecy frees judges from pressure from their federations, critics have pointed out that instead of preventing judges from cheating, secrecy only prevents the public and media from being able to identify cheating.

If upheld on appeal, the federal ruling would continue a national trend toward freeing judges from restraints on their speech and politicking that started when the United States Supreme Court struck down parts of a similar code of conduct in Minnesota last year, experts on judicial ethics said.