Social Interactions and the Content of Legal Opinions

Abstract

We explore the forces that determine rulings and citations within a court. Our model predicts:(1) social interactions between a judicial panel i and the authors of a prior judgement j increase the probability that i reaches the same decision as j and that i cites j as a persuasive authority; and (2) a political litigant in case i increases the probability that i cites j. Data from the English Court of Appeal confirm that panels randomly assigned to work with the authors of a prior dismissal are more likely to dismiss their appeal and cite the prior dismissal as a persuasive authority than panels without such contact. These effects are stronger when the panel is more experienced and when all of the authors of the prior judgement face the prospect of promotion.