Judges in Utopia The Transformative Role of the Judiciary in European Private Law

Abstract

This article introduces four contributions to a special issue on ‘judicial law-making in European private law’, which seeks to reconstruct and understand (aspects of) the evolving transformative role of the judiciary in light of the interaction between the national and European level. The paradigmatic examples of climate change litigation and judicial dialogue in consumer mortgage cases show how courts are asked to address sensitive political questions in cases brought by private parties in civil proceedings. A ‘utopian’ (self-)understanding of the judicial task explains and justifies how and to what extent judges may address such societal problems through private law, and at the same time transform private law itself.

Modernisation of the constitutional and legal status of judges in Ukraine

“…This objective circumstance means that judges are independent and impartial mediators between civil society and the state. This determines the significance and role of judges in the state in the social aspect and outlines the boundaries of their social and professional status, as outlined by C. Mak et al (2020). It is worth noting that for a full understanding of the status of a judge and allocated duties, it is necessary to consider them also in the context of labour law.…”