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Individual Differences in Judicial Behavior: Personal Characteristics and Private Law Decision-Making

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Peter J. Van Koppen  and
Jan Ten Kate
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Abstract

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Previous research suggests that differences in judicial decisions stem from differences in personal characteristics of the decision-maker. Dutch private law proceedings permit a research approach in which the judicial decision-making task is simulated by presenting written decisional problems to judges. Judges (N=114) made decisions on the same nine cases and completed questionnaires on role conceptions and personality.

Findings suggest that judicial decisions are only moderately influenced by the personal characteristics of the judges. The judges, however, differed considerably in their decisions. Neither the influence of personal characteristics of the judges nor the characteristics of the cases can explain to a substantial extent the differences in the decisions. It was concluded that judicial decisions stem from an interaction of personal and case characteristics.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , 1984 , pp. 225 - 247
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 by The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

*

The authors wish to acknowledge the extremely helpful comments on earlier versions of this article by Willem K.B. Hofstee, Jan M. van Dunné, Wim B.G. Liebrand, June Starr, and Jim H. Olila. The manuscript benefited considerably from the substantive and editorial comments of Richard Lempert. This research was supported with a grant from the Dutch Department of Justice and by the hospitality of the Psychology Department of the University of Groningen.

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