This introductory chapter seeks to address the widespread concern that judges should have some knowledge of the community they live in so that justice is administered ‘in the name of the people’. In considering ways to develop public confi dence in the judiciary, we challenge the assumption that the composition of the highest courts is the core instrument to achieve a fair refl ection of the community in the judiciary. Public confi dence in the courts is gained by procedures in various forms and shapes relating to the institutional structure of the judiciary. There may be the use of lay participants, or there may be substantial lay participation in selecting individual judges. Besides, it is arguable that the popular acceptability of judicial decisions is, or can be, enhanced by the style of judgments and reasoning. Ultimately, however, views differ on whether lay participants can be used to gain the respect of the community. It may be that recruitment among professional lawyers remains the best way forward, provided (1) that they need not necessarily be drawn solely from the ranks of legal practitioners but may (in some courts) include academics or other professionals (2) that the composition of the judiciary does not refl ect a perceived wider social exclusion of some minority groups, and (3) that there is judicial training in social problems with which many judges may be personally unfamiliar.