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Worlds Apart: Western and Central European Judicial Culture at the Onset of the European Enlargement

Worlds Apart: Western and Central European Judicial Culture at the Onset of the European Enlargement ZDENEK K0HN* Worlds Apart: Western and Central European Judicial Culture at the Onset of the European Enlargement In May 2004, ten new countries, all bu t two from Cen­ tra l and Easter n Europe, joined the EU. Suddenly, the Euro­ pean judiciary encompassed a panoply of courts which have jus t emerged from decades under communist rule. The prob­ lematic background of th e post-communist judiciary discour­ ages many legal experts. The soon to be European judges come from authoritarian and totalitarian traditions; they were trained under a centrally planned economy; and last but not least, many of the m received a legal education which might be considered rather problematic from the Western view. In this article, I would like to explore the legal culture and judicial methodology prevailing in post-Communist Eu­ rope. The first part deals with th e transformatio n during th e last century of continental law and its legal reasoning and judicial methodology. In contrast, the second part shows a very different development in nations of "really existing so- cialism,"as they were often called, with the emphasis on th e post-Stalinist decades. The decline of law and th e judiciary in communist societies also http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Journal of Comparative Law Oxford University Press

Worlds Apart: Western and Central European Judicial Culture at the Onset of the European Enlargement

American Journal of Comparative Law , Volume 52 (3) – Jul 1, 2004

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References (1)

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
© 2004 by The American Society of Comparative Law, Inc.
ISSN
0002-919X
eISSN
2326-9197
DOI
10.2307/4144478
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

ZDENEK K0HN* Worlds Apart: Western and Central European Judicial Culture at the Onset of the European Enlargement In May 2004, ten new countries, all bu t two from Cen­ tra l and Easter n Europe, joined the EU. Suddenly, the Euro­ pean judiciary encompassed a panoply of courts which have jus t emerged from decades under communist rule. The prob­ lematic background of th e post-communist judiciary discour­ ages many legal experts. The soon to be European judges come from authoritarian and totalitarian traditions; they were trained under a centrally planned economy; and last but not least, many of the m received a legal education which might be considered rather problematic from the Western view. In this article, I would like to explore the legal culture and judicial methodology prevailing in post-Communist Eu­ rope. The first part deals with th e transformatio n during th e last century of continental law and its legal reasoning and judicial methodology. In contrast, the second part shows a very different development in nations of "really existing so- cialism,"as they were often called, with the emphasis on th e post-Stalinist decades. The decline of law and th e judiciary in communist societies also

Journal

American Journal of Comparative LawOxford University Press

Published: Jul 1, 2004

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