Studies and stuff

Jury trials = Mob justice

Jury trials are the norm in the Anglo-Saxon world. A jury of your peers. This sounds very nice for a group person. A herd person. For charming and manipulative liars. For sociopaths, and in the modern age, for people who have the media on their side. But is it the most likely system to guarantee justice?

Juries are groups of ordinary people. Not trained professionals in law or assessing evidence, nor people trained in any way to be impartial. They are groups. Groups of ordinary people. Yet their assessment of a person, their collective intuition or sentiment is made decisive in determining guilt or innocence.

Judicial activism and Constitutional Courts

In The Ideal Constitution (in the section Philosophy under About) , we described constitutional principles that would ensure a proper separation of powers and specifically an independent judiciary. This is especially important if the judiciary engages in the constitutional review of law.

We support and defend constitutional review as an important part of constitutional democracy. Decision by judges regarding the constitutionality of laws have not been without controversy however and backlash to judicial decisions has worsened the last couple of years. But what is the alternative?

Crazy Cassation

Should the highest court of the nation not be allowed to intervene in that situation at least? If experienced judges on appeal courts agree regarding matters of fact, intervention by the court of final appeal can help to clear up ambiguity.

Actual Catholic social teachings Part II

While Pope Saint Pius X and Pope Benedict XV simply continued and according to some even moderate Pope Leo XIII’s stance in favour of moderate/conservative Capitalism, Pope Pius XI expanded on and even altered the emphasis of Catholic social teachings in 1931 with Quadragesimo Anno. The encyclical, which came in the midst of the Great Depression is extremely fascinating today both for the various ideologies it condemned, the economic options it left open and for the historical impact it had.

Directly elected prime minister: Why the **** not?!

Why aren’t there any countries with a directly elected prime minister? Israel tried it (incompetently) but beyond that it is only talked about (the Netherlands, Hungary, Japan) but most republics have a directly elected president, and yet most constitutional (symbolic) monarchies, still have the prime minister’s authority rest with a majority in the lower house. …

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