Extra-judicial service on the part of judges: constitutional impediments in Australia and South Africa

The South African Special Investigating Units and Special Tribunals Act (SIU Act) empowered the President to establish Special Investigating Units with wide powers to investigate allegations of corruption - in South African Association of Personal Injury Lawyers v Heath, the Court found that the functions conferred on a judge by the SIU Act did compromise the separation of the courts from other arms of government - blurred the line between the courts and other branches of government, undermining the independence of the judiciary - the Constitutional Court of South Africa was influenced by some recent Australian cases in which the High Court had tested the permissibility of extra-judicial service on the part of federal judges by investigating its compatibility with judicial office - how the incompatibility principle is used in Australia - whether the interests served by the separation of the courts from other arms of government are really served by the incompatibility test.