The Fading Utility of the Australian Legalist Story: Using Social Background Theory to Explain Outcomes on the High Court
29 Pages Posted: 24 Jan 2010
Date Written: March 30, 2009
Abstract
Despite the claims of many current and former Justices, clear patterns can be seen in the ideological direction of case outcomes on the High Court of Australia. Using data from the High Courts Judicial Database (Haynie et al. 2007), this paper analyzes the voting patterns of the High Court between 1965 and 2003. Binary logistic regression analyses provide evidence to support the utility of the social background characteristics in explaining judicial behavior on the High Court of Australia. This model is especially strong in explaining outcomes in particular subsets of the Court’s work, particularly those dealing with criminal defendants and centralization of government power.
Keywords: judicial decision making
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