Country Foundations

Right to a fair and public trial

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 10. In the US Constitution: 6th Amendment.

Constitutions declaring it
59 / 158
US declares it
100%
US practices it
82%

Does declaring it change anything?

Distribution of practiced scores, split by whether the constitution declares the right. If the two distributions look alike, the words on the page are not doing much work on their own.

Constitutions that declare it (59)
0100
Constitutions that are silent (27)
0100

Mean practiced score: 63% where declared, versus 60% where silent.

What the text actually says

Passages tagged with this topic, from the Constitute Project.

United States
Amendment VI

Amendment VI In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Amendment VI

Amendment VI In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

South Africa
34. Access to courts

34. Access to courts Everyone has the right to have any dispute that can be resolved by the application of law decided in a fair public hearing before a court or, where appropriate, another independent and impartial tribunal or forum.

Every accused person has a right to a fair trial, which includes the right- to be informed of the charge with sufficient detail to answer it; to have adequate time and facilities to prepare a defence; to a public trial before an ordinary court; to have their trial begin and conclude without unreasonable delay; to be present when being tried; to choose, and be represented by, a legal practitioner, and to be informed of this right promptly; to have a legal practitioner assigned to the accused person by the state and at state expense, if substantial injustice would otherwise result, and to be informed of this right promptly; to be presumed innocent, to remain silent, and not to testify during t…

Country by country

CountryDeclaredPracticed
Albania100%69%
Armenia100%68%
Bangladesh100%41%
Barbados100%70%
Bolivia100%58%
Botswana100%68%
Canada100%79%
Cuba100%30%
Cyprus100%77%
Dominican Republic100%55%
Ecuador100%57%
Eritrea100%29%
Eswatini100%46%
Fiji100%67%
Ghana100%69%
Guinea100%40%
Guyana100%61%
Hungary100%57%
Iceland100%83%
Jamaica100%66%
Japan100%90%
Kenya100%63%
Kosovo100%64%
Lesotho100%71%
Liberia100%57%
Malawi100%69%
Maldives100%71%
Malta100%71%
Mauritius100%58%
Mexico100%45%
Montenegro100%67%
Morocco100%61%
Namibia100%71%
Nigeria100%58%
Norway100%78%
Papua New Guinea100%55%
Philippines100%52%
Poland100%61%
Romania100%60%
Seychelles100%91%
Sierra Leone100%66%
Slovenia100%75%
Solomon Islands100%65%
South Africa100%65%
Sudan100%38%
Suriname100%75%
Switzerland100%91%
The Gambia100%69%
Türkiye100%38%
Uganda100%60%
United States of America100%82%
Zambia100%60%
Zimbabwe100%48%
Brazil83%67%
Cape Verde83%65%
Central African Republic83%39%
Colombia83%61%
Croatia83%63%
Portugal83%72%
Angola67%54%