Journal article
Domestic legal traditions and states’ human rights practices
Journal of Peace Research, Vol.50(2), pp.189-202
03/2013
DOI: 10.1177/0022343312466561
Abstract
Empirical analyses of domestic legal traditions in the social science literature demonstrate that common law states have better economic freedoms, stronger investor protection, more developed capital markets, and better property rights protection than states with civil law, Islamic law, or mixed legal traditions. This article expands upon the literature by examining the relationship between domestic legal traditions and human rights practices. The primary hypothesis is that common law states have better human rights practices on average than civil law, Islamic law, or mixed law states because the procedural features of common law such as the adversarial trial system, the reliance on oral argumentation, and stare decisis result in greater judicial independence and protection of individual rights in these legal systems. We also examine how the quality of a state’s legal system influences repression focusing on colonial legacy, judicial independence, and the rule of law. A global cross-national analysis of state-years from 1976 to 2006 shows that states with common law traditions engage in better human rights practices than states with other legal systems. This result holds when controlling for the quality of the legal system and standard explanations for states’ human rights practices (economic growth, regime type, population size, military regime, and war involvement).
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Domestic legal traditions and states’ human rights practices
- Creators
- Sara McLaughlin Mitchell - Department of Political Science, University of IowaJonathan J Ring - Department of Political Science, University of IowaMary K Spellman - Spellman Law, PC, West Des Moines, Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of Peace Research, Vol.50(2), pp.189-202
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications; London, England
- DOI
- 10.1177/0022343312466561
- ISSN
- 0022-3433
- eISSN
- 1460-3578
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 03/2013
- Academic Unit
- Political Science; Public Policy Center (Archive); Center for Social Science Innovation
- Record Identifier
- 9983920522802771
Metrics
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