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The effects of lay participation in courts -- A cross-country analysis

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  • Voigt, Stefan

Abstract

Legal philosophers like Montesquieu, Hegel and Tocqueville have argued that lay participation in judicial decision-making would have benefits reaching far beyond the realm of the legal system narrowly understood. From an economic point of view, lay participation in judicial decision-making can be interpreted as a renunciation of an additional division of labor, which is expected to cause foregone benefits in terms of the costs as well as the quality of judicial decision-making. In order to be justified, these foregone benefits need to be overcompensated by other - actually realized - benefits of at least the same magnitude. This paper discusses pros and cons of lay participation, presents a new database and tests some of the theoretically derived hypotheses empirically. The effects of lay participation on the judicial system, a number of governance variables but also on economic performance indicators are rather modest. A proxy representing historic experiences with any kind of lay participation is the single most robust variable.

Suggested Citation

  • Voigt, Stefan, 2009. "The effects of lay participation in courts -- A cross-country analysis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 327-339, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:25:y:2009:i:3:p:327-339
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    Cited by:

    1. Stefan Voigt, 2017. "Tullock on the common law: a loose-cannon iconoclast in action?," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 35-47, March.
    2. Goerke, Laszlo & Neugart, Michael, 2015. "Lobbying and dismissal dispute resolution systems," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 50-62.
    3. Gabriele Paolini & Elena Kantorowicz‐Reznichenko & Stefan Voigt, 2025. "Plea Bargaining Procedures Worldwide: Drivers of Introduction and Use," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(1), pages 27-75, March.
    4. Berger, Helge & Neugart, Michael, 2011. "Labor courts, nomination bias, and unemployment in Germany," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 659-673.

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