Moral Quality in Adjudication: On Judicial Virtues and Civic Friendship

Abstract

This article is premised on the idea that in order for the practice of adjudication to be legitimate it must possess moral quality, it must be a practice in which judges see to it that citizens who participate in a legal proceeding receive their due. If we indeed agree on this point, it makes sense to distinguish two ways of realizing moral quality. The first is an ‘outside in’ approach, which realizes moral quality primarily by means of external, explicit standards, such as rules, precedents, doctrine, and moral background principles of law. The second is an ‘inside-out’ approach. This approach understands moral quality above all through the person of the judge, the one who is responsible for giving citizens their due.