Judicial Discontents in Democracy: Interrogating the Contradictions

The French judge and political philosopher, Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, otherwise, simply known as Montesquieu, propounded the theory of separation of powers, currently implemented in many democracies across the world. Implicit in the terminology of separation of powers, is the desire for a seamless democracy or the type of democracy with minimal national bitterness. None of the three arms of government was ever envisaged to be a possible source of discontent in democracy. What then is to be done when one of these tripartite coequals (specifically the judiciary) becomes the source of discontent in an assumed democratic polity? This paper interrogates the embedded issues. KEYWORDS: judiciary, judicial discontents, democracy, democratic regimes, Nigeria&nbsp