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Constitutions, EU Law and Judicial Strategies in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2010

MARCIN MATCZAK ,
MATYAS BENCZE  and
ZDENEK KÜHN
MARCIN MATCZAK
Affiliation:
University of Warsaw, Faculty of Law, 00-927 Warsaw, email: [email protected]
MATYAS BENCZE
Affiliation:
University of Debrecen, Faculty of Law, 4028, Debrecen, Hungary, email: [email protected]
ZDENEK KÜHN
Affiliation:
Charles University116 36 Prague, email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Given far-reaching changes in the legal systems of East Central Europe since the mid-1990s, one might expect administrative court judges to have modified the way in which they decide cases, in particular by embracing less formalistic adjudication strategies. Relying on an original dataset of over one thousand business-related cases from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, this article shows that – despite some variation across countries and time – judges have largely failed to respond to the incentives contained in the new constitutional frameworks. They continue to adopt the most-locally-applicable-rule approach and are reluctant to apply general principles of law or to rely on Dworkinian ‘policies’ in deciding hard cases. The analysis links these weak institutional effects to the role of constitutional courts, case overload and educational legacies.

Keywords

judiciaryEast Central Europeformalismpost-communist countries
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 30 , Special Issue 1: Performing to Type? Institutional Performance in New EU Member States , April 2010 , pp. 81 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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