The Judiciary in Central and Eastern Europe ─ Mechanical Jurisprudence in Transformation?

With the quality of the judiciary in post-Communist Europe being the subject of widespread complaints with regards to competence, absurd decisions, and a high degree of formalism, Kuhn (Charles U. Law School, Czech Republic) argues that the post-Communist legal problems in the judiciary stem from a deep continuity in the methods of legal reasoning from the era of Stalinist Communism to the present. He defends this argument by examining continuities in judicial ideology, the conception of law, and the self-perceptions of judicial work; phenomena found at the deepest level of legal culture and therefore most resistant to change. While Poland and Hungary serve as points of reference and comparison, the focus of the discussion is on the legal culture of the former Czechoslovakia and its two successor states. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Zdenek Kuhn, Ph.D. (2001) in Law, Charles University; S.J.D. (2006) University of Michigan, is Associate Professor of Jurisprudence at Charles University and Judge of the Czech Supreme Administrative Court (2008). He has published extensively on legal interpretation and methodology.