Commitment and Cooperation on High Courts

This book explains how the answers to the following institutional questions largely determine the influence of political preferences of individual judges and the degree of cooperation among judges at a given point in time. Who decides; how are judicial appointments made? How does an appeal reach the court; what processes occur? Who is before the court; how do the characteristics of the litigants and third parties affect judicial decision-making? How does the court decide the appeal; what institutional norms and strategic behaviors do the judges follow in obtaining their preferred outcome? The authors apply these four fundamental institutional questions to empirical work on the Supreme Courts of the US, UK, Canada, India, and the High Court of Australia. The ultimate purpose of this book is to promote a deeper understanding of how institutional differences affect judicial decision-making, using empirical studies of supreme courts in countries with similar basic structures but with sufficient differences to enable meaningful comparison.