This paper presents the results of a pioneering venture into opening up the black box of the EU judicial process and determining how the European Court of Justice and national courts work together. The project investigates the effects of certain independent variables legal system experience, issue transparency and compliance upon courts’ decisions to maneuver strategically within the referral p...

Scientists, in contrast, rarely speak of verdicts. To the scientist, virtually all conclusions are provisional and subject to revision as new data become available. Much of what is believed to be true turns out, after the collection of more information, to be only partially true, conditionally true, or sometimes outright false.1 It is, therefore, most prudent to withhold final judgment until al...

This Article proposes court pluralism as a new theory for analyzing the role of the justice system in addressing domestic violence. It argues that a systemic view of the justice system is essential to developing coherent reform strategies, and lays out the foundation for taking into account the unique functions of civil and criminal justice in domestic violence cases. In doing so, the Article c...

Doctrinal arguments and two examples illustrating the practice of Spanish courts highlight risk factors that can undermine effectiveness enforcement actions by States in matters involving high seas fishing. Firstly, absence from treaty law clearly defined conduct standards unequivocal criminal routes to provide a positive basis for exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction. Secondly, transcendence...

Family Drug Courts Family drug courts (FDCs) are specialized courts within the justice system, which handle cases of child abuse and neglect that involve substance use by the child’s parents or guardians (Brook et al. 2015; Chuang et al. 2012). FDCs are one method of addressing parental substance use disorders and parenting issues within the court and child welfare systems, using a collaborativ...

In many instances, appellate courts defer to lower courts and administrative agencies; the appellate court allows the other agent’s decision to stand even though the appellate court has strong reason to believe that decision incorrect. We provide a model in which such deference is rational. Our model is set in a two-dimensional case space. One dimension reflects "global" facts that are known to...

A Primer on the Civil-Law System councils of state. In Germany and countries that follow its model, special administrative courts have been created. In theory, ordinary court and administrative court jurisdiction is separate and exclusive, but disputes arise. In France, a special Tribunal of Conflicts decides which is the proper court for a disputed case. In Germany, the court in which the case...

 In addition, the courts also examine previous court decisions that applied and interpreted the Criminal Code in cases with similar facts and issues as the case at hand. This is called “case law” or “precedent.” Judgments from the Supreme Court of Canada are the most authoritative source of case law. They are binding in every other court in Canada (meaning, subsequent judgments must follow the...