Influential judges

In common law systems (such as England), judges give individual judgments justifying their decisions, so it is easy to identify who has been influential in changing the law. By contrast, continental European courts give a single, collective judgment. But it is still possible to identify a few examples of major influential judges in these systems.

Judges can play a negative role. For example, in the Netherlands, Eyssel was a judge of the supreme court and major decisions (1905 & 1910) resisting the expansion of fault liability and he also wrote an article (1911) criticising proposed legislation to expand the scope of what would be treated as ‘unlawful conduct’, giving rise to liability. After he ceased to be president of the court in 1912, its case-law changed. In 1919, the decision in Lindenbaum v Cohen, decided that conduct could be unlawful not only when prohibited by statute, but also when it fell short of contrary norms of proper social behaviour.

Judges can play a positive role.