Journal of the Charles University Law Faculty
Karel Černín
Author’s affiliation:
The Supreme Administrative Court
Legal Principles in Judicial Argumentation: Topics for Empirical Research
Jurisprudence 4/2019 Section: Articles Page: 1–14
Keywords: principle, argumentation, judicature, empirical research
Abstract: The article outlines possible directions for empirical research the subject of which could be argumentation based on legal principles in court decisions. Firstly, I introduce current expert opinions which are rather contradictory. Then, I formulate questions to be answered through empirical methods, i.e. how relevant are legal principles in court argumentation, what are they used for from the methodological point of view, whether the courts identify the sources of the legal principles they refer to, and whether they recourse to argumentation of principle only in difficult cases where traditional interpretation methods fail. This article will be followed by another one named “The principles of good administration and the Supreme Administrative Court: outcomes of empirical research” in which I am going to present the outcomes of my thesis.
