Values in the Supreme Court

Values in the Supreme Court

Rachel J Cahill-O'Callaghan

20% Discount – Price: £48

Order online at www.hartpublishing.co.uk – use the code HE6 at the checkout to get 20% off your order!

This book examines the significance of values in Supreme Court decision making. Drawing on theories and techniques from psychology, it focuses on the content analysis of judgments and uses a novel methodology to reveal the values that underpin decision making. The book centres on cases which divide judicial opinion: Dworkin’s hard cases 'in which the result is not clearly dictated by statute or precedent’. In hard cases, there is real uncertainty about the legal rules that should be applied, and factors beyond traditional legal sources may influence the decision-making process. It is in these uncertain cases – where legal developments can rest on a single judicial decision – that values are revealed in the judgments. The findings in this book have significant implications for developments in law, judicial decision making and the appointment of the judiciary.

Rachel Cahill-O'Callaghan is Senior Lecturer in Law at Cardiff University.

Feb 2020 | 9781509921850 | 232pp | Hbk | RSP: £60