able to act effectively and independently in discharging their functions. Other influences include the extent to which a culture of the rule of law pervades branches of the state and the wider public; the competence and independence of the wider legal profession; the provision of legal education and judicial training; efforts to ensure equality of opportunity and a pool of applicants for judicial office that broadly reflects the society; the resourcing of the justice system and settled understandings about the appropriate interaction between judges, elected politicians and the media; appropriate legal immunities for judges when performing their judicial functions; and, a balance between institutional autonomy and the protection of the independence of individual judges. A truly democratic spirit also has to inform the letter of the rules.