Judicial Decision-Making in a Globalised World: A Comparative Analysis of the Changing Practices of Western Highest Courts

ISBN-13: 9781849469876 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 296 str.

Elaine Mak

Opis

Why do judges study legal sources that originated outside their own national legal system, and how do they use arguments from these sources in deciding domestic cases? Based on interviews with judges, this book - which is now available in paperback - presents the inside story of how judges engage with international and comparative law in the highest courts of the US, Canada, the UK, France, and the Netherlands. A comparative analysis of the views and experiences of the judges clarifies how the decision-making of these Western courts has developed in light of the internationalization of law and the increased opportunities for transnational judicial communication. While the qualitative analysis reveals the motives that judges claim for using foreign law and the influence of 'globalist' and 'localist' approaches to judging, the book also offers suggestions of a convergence of practices between the courts that are the subject of this study. The empirical analysis is complemented by a constitutional-theoretical inquiry into the procedural and substantive factors of legal evolution, which enable or constrain the development and possible convergence of highest courts' practices. The two strands of the analysis are connected in a final contextual reflection on the future development of the role of Western highest courts. It is a unique and interesting study for all those interested in the process of judicial decision-making and the effects of globalization on the legal system. (Series: Hart Studies in Comparative Public Law) Subject: Comparative Law, Public Law, Constitutional Law, Legal Philosophy, Socio-Legal Studies]