Leading article: Judges' Accessibility as a Virtue

Quick and easy access to the judge is based on the philosophy of "transparency" and the function of "accountability". It is a duty with deep roots in the history, jurisprudence, and organizational culture of Iranian and Islamic law and judiciary that a judge be accessible. Sadly, this well-intentioned task seems to have been forgotten, on the one hand, beneath the layers of results arising from Corona's previous limitations, and on the other hand, among the ambiguous needs of the digital space. Unexpectedly, the organizational procedures and guidelines are intended to destroy this historical value, jurisprudence, and organizational culture completely and replace them with the exact opposite, which is a clear vice. As shown in historical examples, the Great Prophet and Amir al-Mu'minin, peace be upon him, both in their practical behavior advocated easy, rapid, and unimpeded access to judges, and those dignitaries themselves demonstrated similar behavior. We also have a term called "Hajib al-Qazi" in the jurisprudential tradition. According to Islamic jurisprudence, this phenomenon, which is similar to the guardians and gatekeepers of modern courts, is subject to three types of judgment: recommended, abominable, and definitely forbidden. In light of the fact that, according to frequent jurisprudential texts, judges are recommended not to have doormen, guards, or doorkeepers. (Toosi- vol. 8, p. 87) and the presence of a doorman and barrier is abominable for the judge (Najafi - vol. 40, pp. 79-80), nevertheless, when the presence of a doorman prevents access to the judge by the clients and they may be harmed, it is clearly forbidden. (Ibn al-Allameh- vol. 4, p. 310) and a situation such as this is not permitted by jurisprudential tradition. However, in the organizational culture, it has always been seen as a virtue and praiseworthy to have open doors to the court and to have free, easy, quick, and straightforward access to the judge, and there are numerous stories and examples of honorable judges who became legends and have remained in the hearts and minds of the organizational culture. In what direction is this organizational culture heading? What examples of this do we hear? At times, the argument of widespread Corona disease justified the lack of access to the judge and the creation of barriers and guards. In the present day, under the pretext of electronic exchange of information, this lack of access has been accelerated, so that it is no longer considered possible to have free access to the judge. Daily reports from friends and colleagues contain unbelievable statements, which we mention as a lesson in history, to illustrate how a virtue that seems indisputable over time can become the exact opposite. Among these reports are the following: 1- During most office hours, some branches of the Court of Appeals and branches of the Supreme Court lock the doors of the rooms without specifying a time to respond directly to clients. 2- Managers and office staff do not permit clients to enter the courtroom, and if they fail to comply with this task, they are reprimanded by their direct supervisors. 3- It has been reported recently that trial courts deny parties access to the courtroom, even when they appear at the scheduled time. Instead, they give the minutes of the meeting to the office so that the parties may write and sign their contents in the waiting room or in the office and return without seeing a judicial officer and without receiving any oral feedback. 4- There is no question that some judges demonstrate self-sacrifice and people-oriented ethics, and it is worthwhile to acknowledge their efforts. In spite of the rule of statist organizational culture, they remain committed to their professional integrity and defend it to the fullest extent of their ability because they are guardians of professional virtues. As well, we report on the disappearance of a virtue rooted in the history, jurisprudence, tradition, and judicial organization of Iran and Islam, and we recall these forgotten virtues and proclaim with a loud voice that there is a vice instead of a virtue! Are we able to be heard? Is anyone concerned about the potential loss of the virtues of Iran's judicial system? In order to ensure that one day our concerns will be heard, we register them here. By the grace of God Almighty [1]. Emeritus Professor of Tehran University, Tehran, Iran [2] Head of the Iranian Law and Legal Research Institute and former judge of the Supreme Court