Judges, Courts and Judicial Decision-Making (LAWS0312)

This innovative module explores the crucial role judges and courts play in the modern state, and it provides students with a unique opportunity to understand what it is like to be a judge, how judges make decisions, what skills they require and what pressures and controversies they face. 

The foundation of the course is Judicial Studies: the empirical study of judicial decision-making, which incorporates law-related scholarship from other disciplines such as political science, psychology, economics and neuroscience.  The module looks at the foundations of the empirical understanding of how and why judges make decisions.  

It covers the judicial role; how judges are selected; what skills are required to be a good judge; how representative the judiciary is; how judges are trained and develop their careers; and the future of judging. It is an active participatory module, where students gain first-hand experience of judicial decision-making through a series of Hands-On Judicial Decision-Making Seminars including the opportunity to act as judges in different types of cases.  Leading judges share their knowledge with students through the course's Special Judicial Guest Seminars.   

Module Syllabus 

This module will be structured as follows: 

• How Can We Understand How Judges Make Decisions?
• Judicial Studies: The Cutting-Edge Empirical Study of Judges & Courts
• Judging in Different Courts and Jurisdictions
• The Public as Judges: Trial by Jury
• Judicial Appointments and Diversity
• Reason & Emotion in Judicial Sentencing
• The Human Side of Judging 

Recommended Materials 

• The Power of Judges, C. Thomas (ed) of C. Guarnieri and P. Pederzoli, OUP (2002) - http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198298359.do Available via UCL Library
• The Psychology of Judicial Decision-Making, D. Klein and G. Mitchell (eds), OUP   (2010) -  http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367584.0... 

Available via UCL Library 

• Lawrence Baum, Judges and Their Audiences: A Perspective on Judicial Behaviour, Chapter 1, Princeton University Press (2006) - http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s8323.pdf
• “Strength in diversity: Lady Justice Simler” Counsel Magazine (December 2022)
• https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/articles/strength-in-diversity-lady-justice-simler
• Cheryl Thomas, Are Juries Fair? Ministry of Justice Research Series 10 (2010) - https://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/research-and-analysis/moj-research/are-juries-fair-research.pdf 

Individual seminar reading lists and all other course materials will be provided via the online module page, available at the beginning of term once students have enrolled. 

Preliminary Reading 

Two module readings that can be downloaded are: 

Lawrence Baum, Judges and Their Audiences: A Perspective on Judicial Behaviour, Chapter 1, Princeton University Press (2006) - http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s8323.pdf 

Cheryl Thomas, Are Juries Fair? Ministry of Justice Research Series 10 (2010) - https://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/research-and-analysis/moj-research/are-juries-fair-research.pdf 

Key information