Document Type
Essay
Publication Title
Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy
Publication Date
1988
Volume
11
First Page
407
Abstract
(Excerpt)
This essay examines and analyzes the role of administrative considerations in the judicial decisionmaking process. The central issue is the extent to which administrative factors, such as concerns for efficiency, minimization of complexity, ease of proof, consistency of holdings, and predictability of future decisions, may be properly taken into account by courts in rendering decisions and weighed against rights granted under substantive law. Put another way, the question presented is: To what extent may a court invoke administrative considerations to reach a result different from what otherwise would be the just solution? The analysis will proceed in two steps. First, it will review the contrasting philosophical points of view with respect to the relevance of administrative considerations as set forth in Immanuel Kant's Four Cases contained in The Metaphysical Elements of Justice, and in the works of Professor Ronald Dworkin. The second step will be a comparative approach, contrasting application of judicial precedent and Kantian principles to four contemporary legal doctrines: (1) res judicata; (2) prospective overruling; (3) the direct purchaser rule of Illinois Brick; and (4) the so-called complexity exception to the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial in civil cases.