Jurisprudence Commons^™

In both common-law and civil-law jurisdictions, judges have developed distinctive customs and techniques to explain and justify their decisions. They may proceed orally from the bench or through the writing and the publishing of judicial opinions or other accompanying documents, ranging from parties’ briefs, to amici curiae, to press releases, and so forth. The two judicial cultures have established their own restrictions on the range of reasons that are appropriate for judges to mention. The purpose of this paper is to ask whether judges aim at truth when they are engaged in these explanatory and justificatory activities. And if they …