A Court of Specialists: Judicial Behavior on the UK Supreme Court
Chris Hanretty
Abstract
This book explains how judges on the UK Supreme Court behave. It looks at different stages in the court's decision-making process—from the initial selection of cases, to the choice of judges to sit on panels, to the final outcome. The main argument of the book is that judges' behavior is strongly affected by their specialism in different areas of law. Cases in tax law (or family law, or public law) are more likely to be heard by specialists in that area, and those specialists are more likely to write the court's decision—or disagree with the decision when there is dissent. Legal factors like s ... More
This book explains how judges on the UK Supreme Court behave. It looks at different stages in the court's decision-making process—from the initial selection of cases, to the choice of judges to sit on panels, to the final outcome. The main argument of the book is that judges' behavior is strongly affected by their specialism in different areas of law. Cases in tax law (or family law, or public law) are more likely to be heard by specialists in that area, and those specialists are more likely to write the court's decision—or disagree with the decision when there is dissent. Legal factors like specialization in areas of law explains more of the court's work than do political differences between judges.
Keywords:
judicial behavior,
UK Supreme Court,
legal specialization,
judicial dissent,
permission to appeal,
opinion writing
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2020 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780197509234 |
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: April 2020 |
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780197509234.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Chris Hanretty, author
Professor of Politics, Royal Holloway, University of London
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