Acta Juridica Hungarica
Volume/Issue:
Volume 49: Issue 1
Judicial independence in transition: Revisiting the determinants of judicial activism in the constitutional courts of post-communist states
Author:
Jonathan Bond

Search for other papers by Jonathan Bond in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
Pages:
25–87
Online Publication Date:
22 Apr 2008
Publication Date:
01 Mar 2008
Article Category:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/ajur.49.2008.1.2
Keywords:
judicial independence; constitutional courts; post-communist states; transitional justice; comparative law
Restricted access

This study investigates the relationship between dimensions of judicial independence and judicial review in constitutional courts Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. In part a modified replication of prior works examining the issue, the study uses newly collected data from a panel of ten countries. It examines the relationship of judicial review with: (1) judicial independence (using both measures employed by the prior works, corrected versions of those measures, and measures original to this study); (2) political and social contextual factors; and (3) the receptiveness of post-communist countries to the importation of transplanted legal institutions. Improvements on the conceptualisation of judicial independence, inclusion of the dimensions of receptiveness, and a more appropriate panel of countries enable this study to present a more complete and accurate portrait of constitutional judicature in transition contexts. The results show that while corrections to prior measures of judicial independence improve the results at the margin, the entirely new measures of the concept represent a greater step forward. Several dimensions of judicial independence are positively related to judicial review, as are the measures of countries’ receptiveness to legal transplants. Other key factors positively related to judicial review in transition include legislative fragmentation at the time of each court decision, the scope of rights guarantees in a bill of rights, and popular trust in courts. Presidential power is negatively related to judicial review. The findings further indicate that aside from judicial independence, the prior works do present correct portrayals of most of the contextual influences they investigate.

  • Collapse
  • Expand
Cover Acta Juridica Hungarica
Acta Juridica Hungarica
Print ISSN:
1216-2574
Online ISSN:
1588-2616

Senior editors

Editor(s)-in-Chief: Éva Jakab

Co-Editor(s):
Viktor Lőrincz,
Fruzsina Orosz

Editor(s):
Samanatha Cheesman,
Zsuzsa Fejes,
Attila Kun,
Gábor Sulyok,
Márton Varju

Editorial Board

    1. Attila Badó
    1. Myátyás Bódig (Aberdeen)
    1. Zoltán Csehi
    1. Péter Cserne (Hull)
    1. Balázs Gellér
    1. András Jakab
    1. Miklós Király
    1. György Kiss
    1. Jan Kudrna (Praha)
    1. Herbert Küpper (Regensburg)
    1. Konrad Lachmayer (Durham)
    1. Andzrej Stanisław Mączyński (Kraków)
    1. Guido Pfeifer (Frankfurt am Main)
    1. Miklós Szabó
    1. Zoltán Szente
    1. G.J.J. Heerma van Voss (Leiden)
    1. Bernd Waas (Frankfurt am Main)
    1. Fryderyk Zoll (Osnabrück)

Advisory Board

    1. Péter Erdő
    1. Gábor Hamza
    1. Attila Harmathy
    1. László Kecskés
    1. Tibor Király
    1. László Korinek
    1. László Sólyom
    1. Lajos Vékás
    1. Imre Vörös

Acta Juridica Hungarica
P.O. Box 25
HU–1250 Budapest,Hungary
Phone: (36 1) 355 7384
Fax. (36 1) 375 7858
E-mail: acta.juridica@tk.mta.hu

  Indexing and Abstracting Services:

  • Information technology and the Law
  • International Bibliographies IBZ and IBR
  • Worldwide Political Science Abstractss
  • Translation Studies Abstracts
  • SCOPUS
  • Cabell's Directories
  • HeinOnline

 

Acta Juridica Hungarica
Language English
Size  
Year of
Foundation		 1959
Publication
Programme		 changed title
Volumes
per Year		  
Issues
per Year		  
Founder Magyar Tudományos Akadémia  
Founder's
Address		 H-1051 Budapest, Hungary, Széchenyi István tér 9.
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
Publisher's
Address		 H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Responsible
Publisher		 Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN 1216-2574 (Print)
ISSN 1588-2616 (Online)

Monthly Content Usage

Abstract Views Full Text Views PDF Downloads
Jul 2024 0 7 10
Aug 2024 0 19 7
Sep 2024 0 15 4
Oct 2024 0 62 0
Nov 2024 0 8 3
Dec 2024 0 8 6
Jan 2025 0 2 5