The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Judicial Behaviour
Oxford University Press (2024)

Lee Epstein, Washington University in St. Louis
Gunnar Grendstad, University of Bergen
Urška Šadl, European University Institute
Keren Weinshall, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Editors’ Introduction is here
Online Edition is here

Abstract

These are momentous times for the comparative analysis of judicial behaviour. Once the sole province of US political scientists, a new generation of scholars has increasingly been drawing on history, economics, law, and psychology, illuminating how and why judges make their choices and the effect of those choices on society. As a first mover, the Oxford Handbook of Comparative Judicial Behaviour seeks to set the agenda for research and teaching about comparative judicial behaviour in the years to come. To that end, the Handbook brings together leading scholars in the field, who engage with its critical aspects in ten sections: the fundamentals, which identifies common themes and trends in the field; approaches to judging; data, methods, and technologies; staffing the courts; advocacy, litigation, and appellate review; opinions; relations within, between, and among courts; judicial independence; courts and society; and the frontiers of comparative judicial behaviour. The organization of the chapters is topical. Each chapter explores a salient topic, critically evaluates the state of research, and identifies opportunities for future work. Although the forty-two chapters share a common interest in explaining the causes and effects of judicial choices, their approaches to comparative research are wide, inclusive, and manifestly interdisciplinary, reflecting the diversity in scholarship on judicial behaviour worldwide.

Contents

Part I Fundamentals

  1. Introduction to the Study of Comparative Judicial Behaviour, by Lee Epstein, Gunnar Grendstad, Urška Šadl, Keren Weinshall

  2. Legal Traditions and Their Relation to Judicial Behaviour, by Nuno Garoupa

  3. Models of Constitutional Review, by Tom Ginsburg and Mila Versteeg

  4. The Global Expansion of Judicial Power, by Ran Hirschl

  5. Transcending the Domestic–International Divide Daniel Naurin and Erik Voeten

    Part II Approaches to Judging

  6. Legalism and Professional Norms, by Alexander Morell

  7. Attitudinal Judging: Partisanship and Ideology, by Rorie Solberg and Eric N. Waltenburg

  8. Backgrounds, Attributes, and Identities, by Santiago Basabe-Serrano and others

  9. Strategic Analysis, by Shai Dothan

  10. How Personal Motivations Affect Judges’ Decisions, by Lee Epstein and Jack Knight

  11. Research on Cognitive Shortcomings in Comparative Judicial Behaviour, by Eileen Braman

    Part III Data, Methods, and Technologies

  12. Observational Databases, by Benjamin G. Engst and Thomas Gschwend

  13. Experiments, by Christoph Engel

  14. Network Analysis for the Comparative Study of Judicial Behaviour, by Wolfgang Alschner

  15. Studying Judicial Behaviour with Text Analysis, by Michael A. Livermore and Bao Kham Chau

  16. Measuring Political Preferences, by Lee Epstein, Andrew D. Martin, and Kevin Quinn

    Part IV Staffing the Courts

  17. Selecting Judges, by Lydia Brashear Tiede

  18. Judicial Elections and Judicial Behaviour, by Michael J. Nelson and Michael Burnham

  19. Judicial Tenure and Retirements, by Aníbal Pérez-Liñán and Andrea Castagnola

  20. Law Clerks, by Anne Sanders

    Part V Advocacy, Litigation, and Appellate Review

  21. Lawyering in the Private Sector, by Ching-Fang Hsu and Yun-chien Chang

  22. Agendas, Decisions, and Autonomy: How Government Lawyers Shape Judicial Behaviour, by Tommaso Pavone

  23. Agenda Setting, by Diego Werneck Arguelhes and Ivar A. Hartmann

  24. The Form and Function of Oral Arguments in High Courts, by Jay N. Krehbiel

    Part VI Opinions

  25. Dissents and Other Separate Opinions, by Katalin Kelemen

  26. Studying Judicial Citations and Citation Data, by Jens Frankenreiter

  27. Judge Language Choices, by Elliott Ash

    Part VII Relations Within, Between, and Among Courts

  28. Leadership in Courts, by Henrik Litleré Bentsen and Jon Kåre Skiple

  29. Panel Effects on Courts Around the World, by C. L. Ostberg and Matthew E. Wetstein

  30. Referrals, by Benjamin Bricker and others

  31. Judge Networks, by Björn Dressel

  32. Hierarchies of Justice, by Ori Aronson

    Part VIII Judicial Independence

  33. Threats to Judicial Independence, by Alex Schwartz

  34. Developing Judicial Independence, by Brad Epperly

  35. Conceptualizing and Measuring Judicial Independence, by Frans van Dijk

    Part IX Courts and Society

  36. Public Opinion and Legitimacy, by Russell Smyth

  37. Courts and Transitional Justice, by Elin Skaar

  38. Compliance with Judicial Decisions, by Courtney Hillebrecht

  39. Courts as Agents of Change, by Gerald N. Rosenberg

    Part X On the Frontiers of Comparative Judicial Behaviour

  40. The Conceptual Challenge to Measuring Ideology, by Kevin L. Cope

  41. Research Communities and the Collective Investment in Data Infrastructure, by Jeffrey K. Staton

  42. Artificial Intelligence and Judging, by Anthony Niblett


keywords: comparative judicial behavior, constitutional courts, judicial decision-making, attitudinal model, legalism, rational choice theory, judicial independence, court-government relations, identity approaches, cognitive biases in judging, international judges, appointing judges, dissent, aritificial intelligence and judging, compliance with court decisions, law clerks

<b>Full Citation:</b><br>

Lee Epstein, Gunnar Grendstad, Urška Šadl, and Keren Weinshall, eds. <i>The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Judicial Behaviour</i>. Oxford University Press, 2024.<br>

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