Matters examined
The Inspectorate examines four matters and no others.
Article 214(1): the Inspectorate examines the conduct of judges, the operation of the courts, the working of the assignment system, and compliance with the declarations of Article 204(4).
The conduct of judges
Judges decide within the periods fixed by law, state reasons, and treat every person under Article 38. Article 204(2) requires a judge to withdraw from a case in which their impartiality may reasonably be doubted. Article 204(3) states the incompatibilities of the office.
A failure of any of those is conduct. What a judge concluded in a case is not, and Article 214(6) keeps it outside the Inspectorate altogether.
The operation of the courts
Periods within which cases are decided, listing practice, the register of reassignments, and access under Article 197(3), which gives every person a court within reasonable distance of their residence and requires sittings in communes without a court.
A leadership post is confined to the administration of a court. The acts of administration of the holders of leadership posts are published under Article 205(4) and are examined here.
The assignment system
Cases are assigned by lot, by a public procedure operating without human intervention upon the order of receipt. Article 201(3) permits reassignment after allocation only for recusal, disqualification, illness, absence or the closure of a division, by a written and published order stating the ground, made by a panel of three judges and recorded in the register.
The Inspectorate examines every order of reassignment against those grounds. Article 201(6) voids an assignment made contrary to the article, and the case is drawn afresh.
The declarations
Judges declare publicly, on appointment and annually, their contributions under Article 70, the associations to which they belong, their property under Article 74, and every interest capable of affecting the office. The declarations are published and are verified by the Inspectorate.
Powers
The Inspectorate examines the registers, the records and the systems of the courts, and it takes the testimony of any person holding a public or delegated function. Article 213(3) makes the files of appointment, of promotion and of discipline public, with the redactions Article 51 requires, and those files are available to the Inspectorate in full.