These are momentous times for the comparative analysis of judicial behaviour. Once the sole province of U.S. scholars—and mostly political scientists at that—now, researchers throughout the world, drawing on history, economics, law, and psychology, are illuminating how and why judges make the choices they do and what effect those choices have on society.

Bringing together leading scholars in the field, The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Judicial Behaviour consists of ten sections, each devoted to important subfields: fundamentals—providing overviews designed to identify common trends in courts worldwide; approaches to judging; data, methods, and technologies; staffing the courts; advocacy, litigation, and appellate review; opinions; relations within, between, and among courts; judicial independence; court and society; and frontiers of comparative judicial behaviour—dedicated to expanding on opportunities for advancement.

Rather than focusing on particular courts, countries, or regions, the organization of the individual chapters is topical. Each chapter explores an important topic-critically evaluating the state of that topic and identifying opportunities for future work. While the forty-two chapters share a common interest in explaining the causes and effects of judicial choices, the range of approaches to comparative research is wide, inclusive, and interdisciplinary, from contrasts and similarities to sophisticated research agendas reflecting the emerging field of judicial behaviour around the world.

Lee Epstein, University Professor of Law & Political Science, Hilliard Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Southern California,Urška Šadl, ,Gunnar Grendstad, UIB,Keren Weinshall, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Lee Epstein is University Professor of Law & Political Science and the Hilliard Distinguished Professor of Law at University of Southern California, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Hebrew University and at Washington University in St. Louis.

Gunnar Grendstad is Professor of Political Science at Department of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen and principal investigator of Doranoh, a relational database of judicial behaviour on the Norwegian Supreme Court.

Urška %Sadl is part-time Professor of Law at the European University Institute. She is principal investigator of Judging Under the Influence: A Critical Assessment of the Role of Legal Actors on the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice.

Keren Weinshall is Professor of Law and the Edward S. Silver Chair in Civil Procedure at Hebrew University. Weinshall served as Founding Director of the Israeli Courts Research Division and represented Israel at the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice in the Council of Europe.

1 - Fundamentals1. Introduction to the Study of Comparative Judicial Behaviour, Lee Epstein, Gunnar Grendstad, Urška %Sadl, and Keren Weinshall2. Legal Traditions and Their Relation to Judicial Behavior, Nuno Garoupa3. Models of Constitutional Review, Tom Ginsburg and Mila Versteeg4. The Global Expansion of Judicial Power, Ran Hirschl5. Transcending the Domestic-International Divide, Daniel Naurin and Erik Voeten2 -Approaches to Judging6. Legalism and Professional Norms, Alexander Morell7. Attitudinal Judging: Partisanship and Ideology, Rorie Spill and Eric Waltenburg8. Backgrounds, Attributes, and Identities, Santiago Basabe-Serrano, Lee Epstein, and Keren Weinshall9. Strategic Analysis, Shai Dothan10. How Personal Motivations Affect Judges' Decisions, Lee Epstein and Jack Knight11. Research on Cognitive Shortcomings in Comparative Judicial Behavior, Eileen Braman3 - Data, Methods, and Technologies12. Observational Databases, Benjamin Engst and Thomas Gschwend13. Experiments, Christoph Engel14. Network Analysis for the Comparative Study of Judicial Behavior, Wolfgang Alschner15. Studying Judicial Behavior with Text Analysis, Michael Livermore16. Measuring Political Preferences, Lee Epstein, Andrew D. Martin, and Kevin Quinn4 - Staffing the Courts17. Selecting Judges, Lydia Brashear Tiede18. Judicial Elections and Judicial Behavior, Michael Nelson and Michael Burnham19. Judicial Tenure and Retirements, Aníbal Pérez-Liñán and Andrea Castagnola20. Law Clerks, Anne Sanders5 - Advocacy, Litigation, and Appellate Review21. Lawyering in the Private Sector, Yun-chien Chang and Ching-Fang Hsu22. Agendas, Decisions, and Autonomy: How Government Lawyers Shape Judicial Behavior, Tommaso Pavone23. Agenda Setting, Ivar Hartmann and Diego Werneck24. The Form and Function of Oral Arguments in High Courts, Jay Krehbiel6 - Opinions25. Dissents and Other Separate Opinions, Katalin Kelemen26. Studying Judicial Citations and Citation Data, Jens Frankenreiter27. Language Choices, Elliot Ash7 - Relations Within, Between, and Among Courts28. Leadership in Courts, Henrik Litleré Bentsen and Jon Kåre Skiple29. Panel Effects on Courts Around the World, Cynthia L. Ostberg and Matthew E. Wetstein30. Referrals, Benjamin Bricker, Matthew J. Gabel, and Clifford J. Carrubba31. Judge Networks, Björn Dressel32. Hierarchies of Justice, Ori Aronson8 - Judicial Independence33. Threats to Judicial Independence, Alex Schwartz34. Developing Judicial Independence, Brad Epperly35. Conceptualizing and Measuring Judicial Independence, Frans van Dijk9 - Courts and Society36. Public Opinion and Legitimacy, Russell Smyth37. Courts and Transitional Justice, Elin Skaar38. Compliance with Judicial Decisions, Courtney Hillbrecht39. Courts as Agents of Change, Gerald Rosenberg10 - On the Frontiers of Comparative Judicial Behavior40. The Conceptual Challenge to Measuring Ideology Challenges, Kevin Cope41. Research Communities and the Collective Investment in Data Infrastructure, Jeff Staton42. Artificial Intelligence and Judging, Anthony Niblett