Cultures of Deliberation in Constitutional Courts

Available in Russian

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Author: Gertrude Lübbe-Wolff

DOI: 10.21128/1812-7126-2017-5-15-29

Keywords: выработка судебного решения; коллегиальный (per curiam); обсуждение; раздельный (seriatim); совещание судей

Abstract

The article provides an overview of two models of judicial decision-making that differ in the kind of judges’ communication and collaboration. In the seriatim model, judges sequentially articulate their opinions about the decision in a conference. These opinions are not discussed any more. The reasons for the decision, if any, are a collection of individual opinions. In the per curiam model, on the contrary, the court tries to work out reasons that can be accepted by all or by as many as possible judges that consider the case. In both models, a ruling of a court is adopted by voting. The seriatim model had been established first and still influences the Common law tradition. Afterwards, the per curiam model evolved in the later Middle Ages in Europe; nowadays this model is preferred in the Civil law tradition. Meanwhile, both models have converged by the mutual exchange of several properties. The introduction of the mandatory publication of reasons for a judgement was the most important step in the development of the per curiam model, which increased the quality requirements for judgements as well as transformed them into an effective tool for law improvement. Due to this fact, the per curiam model better meets the needs of societies where law exhibits a certain degree of complexity. The per curiam model provides additional advantages for constitutional courts that have to resolve politically controversial cases in polarized societies.

About the author: Gertrude Lübbe-Wolff – Professor of public law, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany; judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (2002–2014).

Citation: Lübbe-Wolff G. (2017) O razlichnykh kul’turakh soveshchaniya sudey v konstitutsionnykh sudakh [Cultures of deliberation in constitutional courts]. Sravnitel’noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, no.5(120), pp.15–29. (In Russian).

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