Explaining Judicial Populism in Hungary - a Legal Realist Approach

Abstract

In Hungary, some judges tend to decide cases in a way they think is popular among ordinary people. I call this phenomenon "judicial populism". First, by analysing three cases I argue that the plausible theoretical framework of explanation of populist tendencies in Hungarian adjudication is the American Legal Realism. Then I examine the characteristics and possible explanation of judicial populism and its relation with the political populism.