Book Review - Michal Bobek, "Comparative Reasoning in European Supreme Courts", Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 310

Giorgio Repetto

Abstract


What has been variously called “judicial dialogue,” “judicial cross-fertilization,” or “constitutional conversations” has received overwhelming attention from scholars over the past twenty years, and has ended up becoming a research topic whose borders and methodological premises have been deemed to be largely blurring. Whereas books and articles worldwide investigated almost every aspect and perspective of the phenomenon, taking into account even many peripheral constitutional jurisdictions and the underlying channels of judicial communication, a certain diffuse dissatisfaction as to its supposed identifying characteristics has progressively arisen. In particular, many doubts have been raised as to the capacity of this judicial exchange to convey an effective dialogue rather than many parallel “constitutional monologues,” in which the function of comparative reasoning is alternatively merely ornamental or confirmative of a decision relying upon other reasons: the rare exceptions are merely a restatement of the rule. This perception has been reinforced by the largely lacking methodology of this comparative reasoning, often likened to “cherry-picking” rather than to a forum for reflexive constitutional engagement. On a deeper level, these critical stances have called into question the more enthusiastic narratives about a “world community of judges,” and, in so doing, highlighted the difficulty of representing the phenomenon at stake as a sort of “counter-globalization” spreading human rights and the rule of law through comparative judicial reasoning in spite of massive economic precommitments imposed upon  political bodies by financial markets and institutions...

Full Text:

PDF (Italiano) PDF

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Department of Law - University of Perugia
Via Pascoli, 33 - 06123 Perugia (PG) -  Telephone 075.5852401 
Comparative Law Review is registered at the Courthouse of Monza (Italy) - Nr. 1988 - May, 10th 2010.
Editors - Prof. Giovanni Marini, Prof. Pier Giuseppe Monateri, Prof. Tommaso Edoardo Frosini, Prof. Salvatore Sica, Prof. Alessandro Somma, Prof. Giuseppe Franco Ferrari, Prof. Massimiliano Granieri.

Direttore responsabile:Alessandro Somma