As Justice Kate O’Regan notes in the Introduction to this book: “Appointing independent, competent and trusted judges is central to ensuring the rule of law in a democracy. The last few decades have seen the establishment of judicial appointment committees in many Commonwealth countries that have diminished the power of the executive over the appointment of judges.” This book asks what lessons can be learnt from the experience of the Judicial Service Commission in South Africa and its counterparts elsewhere in the Commonwealth. It contains in-depth studies of how judges are appointed in the jurisdictions of Canada, England and Wales, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, and South Africa. It also presents the Cape Town Principles on the Role of Independent Commissions in the Selection and Appointment of Judges, which offer practical guidance both to law reformers seeking to establish new judicial appointment processes and to any existing commissions and committees wishing to review the methods by which they select judges.