Introduction to the Study of Comparative Judicial Behaviour

Comparative judicial behaviour seeks to illuminate the choices judges make and the consequences of their choices for society. This chapter begins with a brief discussion of each key term in this definition: choices, consequences, and comparisons. It then considers the major theoretical approaches to judicial choices: legalism, attitudinal model, rational choice accounts, identity accounts, and ‘thinking-fast’ judging. The chapter concludes with an overview of the book’s content and goals. As readers will discover, despite their common interest in explaining the causes and effects of judicial choices, scholars ask substantively different questions, subscribe to manifold theories, apply multiple methodologies, and pursue varied targets of inquiry. The scholars’ motivations are also diverse, from describing features of judging to offering measures of crucial concepts to making causal inferences to developing implications for law and public policy. Overall, this Handbook unites scholars from many corners of the world and disciplinary pockets to offer up-to date expert roadmaps of the topics falling under the field’s domain, from approaches to judging to staffing the courts to relations among courts and society.