Judicial Character in Hard Times

Edited by Tomasz Widłak, Associate Professor of Law, Department of Theory and Philosophy of State and Law, Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Gdańsk, Poland

‘Hard times is a scalar description that can cover a wide range of states of affairs, from the erosion of “rule of law” legal and institutional settings to new challenges for the judiciary, such as the supranational practice of judging or political and social polarisation. This book offers detailed and insightful analysis of specific judicial virtues (judicial courage, lawfulness, empathy, independence, deliberative skills, fidelity), useful to face many of those risky situations. The exploration of these and other virtues is pioneering, accurate and well contextualized and proves how judicial virtues are important resources for the practice of law.’

• Contents1 Of hard times, virtue jurisprudence and judicial virtues 1Tomasz WidłakPART I THE NEED FOR JUDICIAL VIRTUE2 The need for virtue in the judicial profession 23Natasza Szutta3 Virtue ethics and good judging 41Hans Petter GraverPART II VIRTUES FOR HARD TIMES4 Judicial virtue in hard times 59Lawrence B. Solum5 Judicial virtues of independence 85Tomasz Widłak6 A developmental approach to judicial empathy 105Mateusz Stępień7 The virtues of disagreement and the perils of judicial deliberation 126Amalia AmayaPART III VIRTUES IN CONTEXT: EUROPEAN ANDNATIONAL COURTS8 Thinking about ‘supranational good judging’ for theever-closer union among the peoples of Europe 149Tomasz Tadeusz Koncewicz and Marcin Michalak9 Internal legitimacy of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal 177Jerzy Zajadło and Adrian Zaorski10 Judging in the administrative courts 197Leszek Leszczyński