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Network Analysis and the Use of Precedent in the Case Law of the CJEU - A Reply to Derlen and Lindholm

Document Type

Article

Language

English (en)

Publication Date

2019

Publication Title

German Law Journal

Abstract

During the last decades, social network analysis has been established as a key technique in a number of disciplines in social science. Its main promise is that it provides tools for researchers to take into account the social context of individual entities or actors. Legal scholars, by contrast, have only recently started to make use of these tools. Nowadays, one particularly prominent application is the use of network analysis to analyze the citation networks of different national and international courts. The contribution by Derlén and Lindholm published in this issue of the German Law Journal forms part of this trend. It is the latest in a series of papers studying citations in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Unlike the authors' previous contributions, the paper specifically addresses the use of precedent by the CJEU and assesses the merits of criticism in the literature arguing that the citation practice of the CJEU lacks an acceptable method. The paper provides novel insights into the use of precedent by the CJEU and thus makes an interesting contribution to the emerging scholarship investigating the decision-making of the CJEU by means of quantitative analysis. At the same time, the design of the research raises severe doubts about whether the authors succeed in providing a conclusive response to the critics of the CJEU's citation practice.

Keywords

Social Network Analysis, Court Citation Networks, Case Law Citation Networks, Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)

Publication Citation

Jens Frankenreiter, Network Analysis and the Use of Precedent in the Case Law of the CJEU - A Reply to Derlen and Lindholm , 18 German L.J. 687 (2017)

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