Informality and Courts: Comparative Perspectives

by Björn Dressel (Editor), Raul Sanchez-Urribarri (Editor), Alexander Stroh-Steckelberg (Editor)

Overview

This volume explores an understudied aspect of courts: The extent to which informal institutions and relational networks (e.g., professional, clientelist, family etc.) relations affect how courts are organised and operate. For instance, to what extent can ‘good personal relations’ outweigh professional merits in judicial appointment processes? Or in what ways do international or domestic judicial networks help protect courts against other branches of power? Our relational-institutional perspective allows us to better understand a variety of important processes for the comparative study of courts – including judicial appointments, judicial decision-making, judicial administration, institutional development, inter-branch relations, corruption, and court reform, among others. More importantly, an emphasis on informality sheds new light on the accountability role of courts in democratic regimes, at a time when democracy worldwide is at risk and authoritarian regimes are on the rise. Bringing together the thoughts of scholars with different levels of seniority and disciplinary expertise, this volume offers cross-national engagement with theory, providing systematic analyses of the configuration, operation, and roles of informal institutions and relations, and their importance in different socio-political contexts and legal systems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399535250
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	12/31/2024
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Björn Dressel is an Associate Professor at the Australian National University.

Raul Sanchez-Urribarri is Senior Lecturer in Crime, Justice and Legal Studies at La Trobe University, Australia

Alexander Stroh is Professor of Political Science at University of Bayreuth, Germany

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Notes on Contributors

Part I Theory, Concepts and Methods
1. Informality and Courts: Towards a Relational Perspective on Judicial Politics
Björn Dressel, Raul Sanchez Urribarri and Alexander Stroh

2. Paradoxical informalities? On the mutual logic of informal relationships and institutions
Daniel M. Brinks

3. Convergence of de jure and de facto judicial independence? The role of informal institutions
Andrea Pozas Loyo and Julio Rios Figueroa

4. The Ties that Bind: Perspectives on Judicial Loyalties
Raul Sanchez Urribarri

Part II Political Relations
5. Pliant Courts, Recalcitrant Chiefs and Judicial Clientelism in Authoritarian Regimes
Alexei Trochev

6. Informality and Judicial Decision-Making: The Role of Judge Networks in Southeast Asia
Björn Dressel

7. When Informal Ties with Political Leaders Protect Judges’ Fragile Independence: South Africa and Namibia after Apartheid
Peter Brett

8. Judicial Resistance: The Shield and The Sword of Informality
Katarína Šipulová

Part III Professional Relations
9. The Bar with the Bench: Informal Legal Networks and Judicial Behaviour in Pakistan
Yasser Kureshi

10. Education versus Experience? An Elite Legal Dynasty among Federal Judges in the United States
Abigail V. Hassett and Kirk A. Randazzo

11. Argentina’s ‘Judicial Family’: Mapping Family Connections in the Argentine Provincial Federal Judiciary
Andrea Castagnola and Ezequiel Gonzalez-Ocantos

12. Gender, Informality and Courts: Mapping Theoretical Approaches
David Kosař and Marína Urbániková

Part IV International Ties
13. Social Networks and Nonlegal Sanctions: Compliance with International Courts
Shai Dothan

14. Informality and Multi-level Judicial Appointment Processes in African Regional Courts
Alexander Stroh and Diana Kisakye

15. Disseminating Ideas and Influence Through Transnational Peer-Education
Maartje De Visser

16. Good Intentions, Questionable Advice: Explaining Reform Networks’ Disappointing Results
Linn Hammergren

Index

Editorial Reviews

Most jurisprudence has nothing to say about informal relationships in courts. If mentioned at all, they are often singled out as peculiar pathologies of corrupt or autocratic regimes (usually in the East or South). This remarkably rich collection upends such easy forms of ignorance and simplification. It shows such relationships to be pervasive, multi-form, variable both in degree and kind, and very often central to the ways things work, both inside and outside the formal institutions of the law. Its contributions are scholarly, diverse, illuminating and – very often – astonishing in their range, variety and insights.

Martin Krygier

Informality and Courts stands as a remarkable collaborative effort, uniting distinguished scholars of judicial systems from around the globe. This volume showcases diverse empirical insights, enriching our understanding of courts and their institutional complexities. A truly international and interdisciplinary work, it is an essential read for anyone seeking an innovative investigation of courts through a ground-breaking relational perspective.

Sida Liu