Judicial Personal Values and Decision-Making

This paper briefly describes the background of Justice Callinan’s view in the case of Cattanach v Melchior, subsequently exploring the existence and role of judicial personal values in sentencing from several legal theories, legal experiments, and specific case studies. The paper also illustrates the merits of judicial personal values and critiques some opposing views. Finally, it is concluded that expressing judicial personal values enhances persuasiveness and provides better guidance for the development of the law, which in turn fosters legal decision-making.

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