10 Therefore one can conceptually distinguish between three meanings of "legitimacy", namely (1) the public trust in the institutions, (2) the attitude of voluntary submission to the judicial system, and (3) the act of voluntarily complying with judicial rulings (P.J. van Koppen, Verankering van rechtspraak, over de wisselwerking tussen burger, politie, justitie en rechter, Deventer 2003, p. 15). I am referring in this context to the first meaning of public trust in the judicial institutions.

No abstract

No abstract

Taking the Urgenda case on climate change liability as an example, this article researches the more general question into the legitimacy of risk regulation by civil courts. Which principles determine the legitimacy of a civil court’s participation, especially in the domain of societal risk regulation? The central claim is that these principles concern (amongst many other things) the position of the court, the tools of the court, and the attitude of the court. In other words, they have their source in constitutional law, civil (procedural) law, and professional ethics respectively. This claim is substantiated by an analysis of these principles, their interpretation, and the way they contribute to a normative/theoretical framework for the assessment of the legitimacy of judicial rulings.

General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.-Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research-You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain-You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright, please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.