Abstract

In compliance with art. 101 of the Constitution, ethics of the judiciary power should be commensurate with the principle of subjection to the law. This means that a judge who is faithful to the law is consistent with constitutional ethics. Ethics of the judiciary and fidelity to the law are synonymous. However, the judge may sometimes find himself in the condition of having to be unfaithful to the law in order to be faithful to the Constitution and to the European «Bill of Rights». In the Author’s view, the scientific attempt to reduce infidelity (hence judicial activism) relying on hermeneutical rules is useful, but insufficient. Ethics of the judiciary, understood as judicial self-restraint and judicial modesty, is indeed the result of systemic constraints that derive from the theory of the separation of powers, interpreted in the context of multilevel constitutionalism as separation and integration between national and supranational Courts