Judicial Accountability: Possibility or Refusal (A Comparative Study of 2023 Civil Liability of Judges in Iran, France, and the United States)

Compensating for material and moral damages to the affected individual and restoring them requires a solution known as civil liability. Civil liability is a legal relationship that entails one person's obligation to compensate for damages caused to another. Immunity and, consequently, impunity may lead to individuals tolerating the violation of each other's rights, resulting in harm. Judges, like other individuals, are prone to errors, and it is not unthinkable that they may negligently or even maliciously, misuse their discretionary power, causing harm to the rights of the parties involved. The error of a judge is of double importance as it may jeopardize the lives, property, and reputation of individuals. Therefore, it is essential to take measures to compensate for the damages inflicted on individuals. Legislators, in consideration of the principle of equality before the law and to enhance democracy, have brought judicial liability into focus, gradually moving from absolute immunity towards civil liability, as the responsibility of judges was previously overlooked in the pursuit of the principle of absolute immunity. In this research, after clarifying the concept of civil liability and its foundations, we delve into a comparative study of judicial civil liability in Iran, France, and the United States.