Abstract
The paper analyzes one of the main influences on the results of legal interpretation - epistemic authority. An account of authority is given along with a distinction between two basic types of authority, followed by a brief explanation of practical authority. Epistemic authority and derivative epistemic authority in particular are explained, in order to propose the conditions under which the influence of epistemic authority on judicial interpretation is justified. The general conclusion of the paper is the following: A court or judge Y is rationally justified to defer to the ascription of meaning (interpretation) p to a legal text q of person X, if court or judge Y has good reasons to believe that X has more knowledge, skills, experience or training in ascribing meaning to (interpreting) q.
Highlights
Legal interpretation – the ascription of meaning to legal texts – is subject to many influences
What follows is that the utterances of an epistemic authority are content dependent reasons for action, or, more rigorously formulated: “X has epistemic authority for Y if and only if, as a result of X’s stating that Y ought to do act A, Y has a reason to believe that the balance of reasons dictates that Y ought to do A.”
Having in mind the analysis of epistemic authority, we can identify some of its basic features
Summary
Legal interpretation – the ascription of meaning to legal texts – is subject to many influences. The main trait of the authority of the formal sources of law is that they give their subjects so-called protected reasons for action; they purport to guide the action of subjects by excluding all the other reasons that the subject might have (not) to act in a certain way. This is not the main source of influences on legal interpretation. Legal scholarship and judicial practice have traditionally exercised significant influence on legal interpretation of judges Today, they are supplemented by judicial dialogue between national and international courts. In order to explain these two types of authoritative influences on legal interpretation I will (a) give an exposition of authority and distinguish between its two basic types, (b) give a brief explanation of practical authority, (c) explain epistemic authority, and I will (d) propose the conditions under which the influence of epistemic authority on judicial interpretation is justified
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