Publication |
2014.
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Summary/Abstract |
This volume is both prequel and sequel. In 2008, Dædalus published an issue entitled "On Judicial Independence," exploring from a variety of perspectives the de½nition of that term, as well as ageold
and newly emergent threats to the ability of judges to do their work without undue constraint. Six years later, we both carry that story forward and shift the analytical frame to consider courts them selves: their past and ongoing evolution, and the work that a democracy can reasonably expect them to do. To write about courts is to write about political theory, about lawyering, about ½scal priorities, and about social welfare, as well as about courts' dependence on and independence from the body politic. The subject evokes a great variety of conversations, from the highly theoretical to the nitty gritty of service delivery for human needs in all their man - ifestations. Discussions of courts, at least in the United States, bring lawyers rapidly into view, along with criminal defendants, civil litigants, administrative agencies, budgets, public ½nancing, and popular opinion.
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