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The Transmission of Legal Precedent: A Study of State Supreme Courts

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  • Caldeira, Gregory A.

Abstract

In the course of making and justifying decisions, judges on state supreme courts often rely on precedents from other jurisdictions. These judicial references across boundaries constitute at least one means of communication and, in turn, demonstrate a complex web of deference and derogation between and among various courts. I attempt to uncover patterns of citation between the several state supreme courts and to evaluate alternative explanations for these patterns, including distance between courts; similarity of political culture; the prestige, professionalism, legal capital, and caseload of the cited court; the social diversity of the environment; differentials between courts on a number of dimensions; and presence in the same legal reporting region. More globally, I ask: Does the intensity of communications between a pair of courts result from the characteristics of the cited court or from differences and similarities between courts or jurisdictions? The results indicate the importance of legal reporting districts, distance between the courts, cultural linkages between the jurisdictions and, especially, characteristics of the cited court.

Suggested Citation

  • Caldeira, Gregory A., 1985. "The Transmission of Legal Precedent: A Study of State Supreme Courts," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(1), pages 178-194, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:79:y:1985:i:01:p:178-194_22
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    Cited by:

    1. Justin Stoler & Alessandria San Roman, 2016. "Where is precedent set? An exploratory geovisualization of State Supreme Court cases," Journal of Maps, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 334-343, March.
    2. Jean-Robert Tyran & Rupert Sausgruber, 2005. "The diffusion of policy innovations -an experimental investigation," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 423-442, October.
    3. Bradi Heaberlin & Simon DeDeo, 2016. "The Evolution of Wikipedia’s Norm Network," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-21, April.
    4. Chen Benjamin Minhao & Li Zhiyu, 2018. "The Foundations of Judicial Diffusion in China: Evidence from an Experiment," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(3), pages 1-27, November.

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