Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-r7xzm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-19T08:48:13.619Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

PART II - THE CONTOURS OF JUDICIAL DECISION-MAKING

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 June 2019

Get access

Summary

The first part of this book discussed how constitutional courts may enhance the deliberative quality and legitimacy of democratic policy-making. This led to the formulation of a handful of judicial good practices, such as following a fixed argumentative framework, using relevant and persuasive citations to underpin judgments and communicating with the legislator through modulated rulings. However, deliberative performance is an intertwined and complex endeavour and may differ between courts and, importantly, between cases. Variety in a court's behaviour suggests how this court perceives its own role in democratic society. Therefore, it is enlightening to evaluate which forces play upon constitutional judging.

The second part of this book aims to build a bridge between the normative framework and the case law analysis. In particular, the factors which may influence the Belgian Constitutional Court's behaviour are explored. These contours of judicial decision-making must be recognised in order to fully comprehend the role of constitutional courts in a democratic society. These underlying contours, which form the theoretical background on which the empirical analysis is based, are set out in two chapters, titled ‘The institutional framework of the Belgian Constitutional Court’ (chapter 2) and ‘Variation of judicial behaviour within the institutional boundaries’ (chapter 3) respectively.

In chapter 2, the institutional setting of the BeCC is discussed. This framework, decided upon by the legislator, shapes the background against which the Court takes its decisions. The tools available to the Court do not only indicate the prospects of deliberation, but also affect the choices the Court (can) make(s). To provide necessary background information against which the empirical results should be understood, the establishment and further development of this institutional framework is situated within the Belgian political context. More specifically, the consociational nature of the Belgian polity is reflected in the Court's composition and its institutional tools. Special attention will be paid to the parliamentary preparatory documents, which show how the rules regarding the BeCC's decision-making process should be understood and applied.

Type
Chapter
Information
Judicial Review and Strategic Behaviour
An Empirical Case Law Analysis of the Belgian Constitutional Court
, pp. 59 - 62
Publisher: Intersentia
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×