More than politics: Ability and ideology in the British Appellate Committee

Publication Year
2016

Type

Journal Article
Abstract
We argue that a model of judicial behavior that accounts for differences in justices' ability and ideology provides a fruitful alternative for the empirical analysis of judicial decision-making around the world, and illustrate this by focusing on the case of the United Kingdom. We show that the model explains the decisions of the Lords of Appeal remarkably well, and improves the fit of a purely ideological model. We use our estimates to tackle previously unaddressed questions about the relative role of justices' preferences and ability in the Appellate Committee. (JEL C11, C13, D71, K40.)
Journal
Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization
Volume
32
Pages
61–93
ISSN Number
14657341