Hierarchical Interactions and Compliance in Comparative Courts

Abstract

Given their place within the judicial hierarchy, judges on lower courts face a complex array of challenges including heavy caseloads, mandatory dockets, and the threat of Supreme Court reversal. Despite the extensive scholarship on the American courts, little is known about judicial interactions in comparative contexts. We articulate and evaluate a framework for lower court adherence to Supreme Court precedents by leveraging a cross-national design in three countries-Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States-with similar systems but meaningful institutional variability. We find that the mechanisms promulgating adherence to Supreme Court precedents do not substantially vary across design or institutional context. Instead, our results demonstrate that legal factors exert a consistent, homogeneous effect on lower court compliance across judicial systems. Our work offers new and important implications for studies on law and courts and comparative institutions, more broadly.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Publication Date

6-1-2023

Publication Title

Political Research Quarterly

Department

Politics

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1177/10659129231183915

Keywords

Decision making, Supreme Court, Ideology, Politics, Canada, Model

Language

English

Format

text

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