Judges Against Justice: On Judges When the Rule of Law is Under Attack

297 Pages·2015·2.11 MB·English

by  Hans Petter Graver (auth.)

Hans Petter Graver
Judges
Against
Justice
On Judges When the Rule of Law is
Under Attack
Judges Against Justice
ThiSisaFMBlankPage
Hans Petter Graver
Judges Against Justice
On Judges When the Rule of Law is
Under Attack
HansPetterGraver
FacultyofLaw
UniversityofOslo
Oslo,Norway
The author of this book has received financial support from the Norwegian Non-fiction
LiteratureFundandtheE.ONStipendienfond.
ISBN978-3-662-44292-0 ISBN978-3-662-44293-7(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-662-44293-7
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Acknowledgements
This book was conceived and researched during a sabbatical I spent in 2012–
2013 at the Institut fu¨r deutsches und europa¨isches Gesellschafts- und
Wirtschaftsrecht at the Faculty of Law at the University of Heidelberg. I thank
my long-time friend and colleague professor Peter-Christian Mu¨ller-Graff for
inviting me and taking me under his wings. I also thank my other colleagues at
thelawfacultyinHeidelbergforawonderfultime.
MyyearinHeidelbergwasfinanciallysupportedbytheE.ONStipendienfonds
andNorwegianNon-fictionLiteratureFund.
IwouldliketothankJørnJacobsen,KristenRundle,andErlingKielland,whoall
readversionsofmymanuscriptandcontributedvaluablecomments.Alsothanksto
colleagues in Bergen, Heidelberg, Helsinki, Mannheim, Oslo, and Vienna for
commentsanddiscussionstomypresentationsofthemesfromthebook.
The book draws on sources in several different languages. Unless otherwise
indictedthetranslationsintoEnglisharebytheauthor.
Oslo,Norway
June2014
v
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Contents
1 TheJudicialRoleandtheRuleofLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
OverviewoftheBook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
PartI TheWarofLaw
2 StateRepressionandtheRuleofLaw. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 15
RuleofLawandWickedRulers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
TheIdealoftheRuleofLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
DeparturesfromtheIdeal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
TransitionfromRuleofLawtoTyranny. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
OppressioninLegalForms:IsItReallyLaw?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
InsideandOutsideofLaw. .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. 31
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3 RepressionoftheJudiciary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
TheNeedforLegitimacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
JudicialIndependence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
PurgeoftheJudiciaryandCourtPacking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
LimitstoJurisdictionandSpecialCourts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
PersuasionandConditioningofLegalMinds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4 JudicialAcceptanceofOppression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
AcceptanceoftheLegalityofAuthoritarianRegimes. . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
AcceptanceofOppressiveAimsandPolicies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
NaziAnti-semitism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
ExtensionBeyondRace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
SouthAfricanCourtsandApartheid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
AgreementwithOppressiveMeasuresinLiberalSocieties. . . . . . . . . 74
vii
viii Contents
ProtectionofVitalStateInterests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Eugenics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
DisproportionatePunishment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
TheCourtsandLegalRepression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
5 TheOpposition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
“TheFlameofLawNeverQuiteExtinguished”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
IssuesofLegality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
RestrictiveInterpretation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
OppositionintheTwilightofAuthoritarianism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
ResistanceandLegalMethod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
PartII HoldingJudgesResponsibleforInjustice
6 TheArgumentforCriminalLiability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
MethodologicalConsiderations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
TheCounterarguments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
JudgesasCulprits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
7 TheConditionofIllegalityUnderInternationalLaw. . . . . . . . . . . 125
TheLegalBasisfortheAlliedWarCrimesTribunals. . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
TheUSMilitaryTribunalJusticeCase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
TheAcquittalofNaziJudges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
8 TheConditionofIllegalityandFailedUsurpations. . . . .. . . . . . .. 135
JudgesandRevolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
JudgesUnderForeignOccupation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
9 TheConditionofIllegalityinTransitionalSettings. . . . . . . . . . . . 143
TheGermanPost-NazismRestoration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
TheJudgesoftheGDR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
10 JudgesinSpecialCourts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
AuthoritarianRegimesandSpecialCourts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
TheUSMilitaryTribunalandSpecialCourts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
TheViewonSpecialCourtsinPost-NaziGermany. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
ShouldTakingOfficeinaSpecialCourtBeCriminal?. . . . . . . . . . . . 156
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Contents ix
11 JustificationofJudicialOppression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
CriminalIntent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
TheEilifsenCase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
IgnoranceofLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Duress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
12 ASpecialImmunityforJudges?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
ObligationsandOrders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
ImmunityandtheRoleoftheJudge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
JudicialIndependenceandImmunity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
DivisionofPower. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
13 HoldingJudgesResponsible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
AFixedCoreofJustice.. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. 189
WhyAreNotJudgesPunished?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
TheHurdleofRetroactivity. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 193
DoestheResponsibilityGoFarEnough?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
PartIII TheMoralSideofJudging
14 ThePositivismThesis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
TheReasonsforJudicialComplicity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
RadbruchandtheDiscussiononNaziGermany. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
15 WhatPositivism?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
UndefinedPositivism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
PositivismasSeparationofLawandMorality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
PositivismasFormalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
AlternativestoPositivism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
16 AlternativeApproachestoLegalInterpretation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
ThePlainFactApproachtoLegalInterpretation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 227
TheDissonanceTheoryofRobertM.Cover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
17 BeyondLegalTheoryasExplanation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
DoLegalTheoriesInfluenceJudicialAction?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
PsychologicalFactors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
InstitutionalFactors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
EntrapmentandErasureofMoralIdentity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251