Specialized Justice Courts, Administrative Tribunals, and a Cross-National Theory of Specialization

by Legomsky, Stephen H.

• ISBN13: 9780198254294
• ISBN10: 0198254296
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1990-10-25
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

This is a well-argued explication of a set of general criteria for deciding whether specialized adjudication in specialized tribunals or courts is more appropriate than generalist adjudication in ordinary court. Legomsky tests his theory against the working of the Administrative division of the New Zealand High Court, and ends with an assessment of the difficulties in comparison due to the diversity of governmental systems in states with different constitutional arrangements. A significant contribution to an increasingly important topic in American law--the role of specialized adjudicative units--this volume will be a valuable work for students and scholars of public law, the legal system, comparative law, and socio-legal studies.

Table of Contents

Table of Cases	p. xi
Table of Statutes	p. xii
Introduction: Specialized Justice	p. 1
The Benefits and the Costs	p. 7
The Quality of the End-Product	p. 7
The Efficiency of the Process	p. 16
The Acceptability of the Package	p. 19
The Criteria	p. 20
The General Recipe	p. 20
The Specific Ingredients	p. 22
Mix of Late, Fact, and Discretion	p. 22
Technical Complexity	p. 24
Degree of Isolation	p. 26
Cobesiveness	p. 27
Degree of Repetition	p. 27
Degree of Controversy	p. 27
Clannishness	p. 28
Peculiar Importance of Consistency	p. 28
Dynamism	p. 29
Logistics: Volume, Time per Case, and Geographic Distribution	p. 30
Special Need for Prompt Resolution	p. 31
Unique Procedural Needs	p. 32
The Models	p. 33
The Variables	p. 33
The Argument for the Multiple-Speciality Unit	p. 38
The Multiple-Speciality Model in Operation: New Zealand's Administrative Division	p. 43
Background	p. 45
On Paper and in Practice	p. 51
Jurisdiction	p. 51
Personnel	p. 58
Procedure	p. 66
An Appraisal	p. 69
Suitability of Subject-Matter: Why Administrative Late?	p. 70
Quality of Decisions	p. 74
Impact of Low Volumes	p. 75
Appointment of Division Members	p. 79
Use of Division Members	p. 81
Conclusions on the Administrative Division	p. 82
The Inter-Nation Variables	p. 84
Government and Legal System	p. 84
Population, Geography, and Demographics	p. 91
Conclusion	p. 94
Appendix	p. 96
Bibliography	p. 119
Index	p. 125
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