Exploring the relation between the indegree centrality and
authority score of a decision and the reason for which it was
cited: A Case Study

k 2020

Exploring the relation between the indegree centrality and authority score of a decision and the reason for which it was cited: A Case Study

SMEJKALOVÁ, Terezie and Tereza NOVOTNÁ

Basic information

Original name

Exploring the relation between the indegree centrality and authority score of a decision and the reason for which it was cited: A Case Study

Authors

SMEJKALOVÁ, Terezie (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution) and Tereza NOVOTNÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution)

Edition

Cyberspace 2020, 2020

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Prezentace na konferencích

Field of Study

50500 5.5 Law

Country of publisher

Czech Republic

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14220/20:00124876

Organization unit

Faculty of Law

Keywords in English

case law; indegree centrality; authority score; citations

Změněno: 16/9/2022 14:34, JUDr. Bc. Terezie Smejkalová, Ph.D.

Abstract

V originále

Some of the recent network citation analyses that in continental legal settings have suggested that the most cited decisions (in terms of network citation analysis those with the highest indegree, or authority score) tend to be related to procedural issues, or issues of a more general nature, capable of being referred to in a more varied situations. While it may seem intuitive that decisions with the highest indegree centrality or authority score would settle issues of a more general nature, hence making them more widely applicable to various kinds of subsequent cases, we were wondering, whether this trend would be noticeable in less exposed decisions. To this end, we have conducted a case study within the boundaries of the Czech legal system. We have chosen five decisions containing a chosen keyword based on their indegree centrality in a corpus of Czech apex courts’ decisions. Subsequently, we have constructed eleven strings of decisions (connected to one another by a citation) leading to these five decisions, again paying attention to their indegree. We theorize that the decisions with higher indegree centrality as well as decisions with higher authority score will be cited in situations seeking a case-law argument for either procedural issue, or an issue of a more general nature, or an issue of principle, while the decisions with low indegree centrality or low authority score will be cited for their substantive law merit. This paper seeks to demonstrate how the network analysis in combination with a qualitative approach may serve as a useful approach in further exploring this hypothesis. We show that the actual citation environment in Czech legal setting might be more complex than this hypothesis suggests, but that this methodological approach may be further useful in exploring the normative nature of judicial decisions in non-precedential legal settings.

Links

MUNI/A/0952/2019, interní kód MU

Name: Judikatura, nebo precedens: Podobnost citovaných rozhodnutí při citacích judikatury

Investor: Masaryk University, Category A

Citovat

SMEJKALOVÁ, Terezie and Tereza NOVOTNÁ. Exploring the relation between the indegree centrality and authority score of a decision and the reason for which it was cited: A Case Study. In Cyberspace 2020. 2020.

@proceedings{1706616,
   author = {Smejkalová, Terezie and Novotná, Tereza},
   booktitle = {Cyberspace 2020},
   keywords = {case law; indegree centrality; authority score; citations},
   language = {eng},
   title = {Exploring the relation between the indegree centrality and authority score of a decision and the reason for which it was cited: A Case Study},
   year = {2020}
}

TY  - CONF
ID  - 1706616
AU  - Smejkalová, Terezie - Novotná, Tereza
PY  - 2020
TI  - Exploring the relation between the indegree centrality and authority score of a decision and the reason for which it was cited: A Case Study
KW  - case law
KW  - indegree centrality
KW  - authority score
KW  - citations
N2  - Some of the recent network citation analyses that in continental legal settings have suggested that the most cited decisions (in terms of network citation analysis those with the highest indegree, or authority score) tend to be related to procedural issues, or issues of a more general nature, capable of being referred to in a more varied situations. While it may seem intuitive that decisions with the highest indegree centrality or authority score would settle issues of a more general nature, hence making them more widely applicable to various kinds of subsequent cases, we were wondering, whether this trend would be noticeable in less exposed decisions. To this end, we have conducted a case study within the boundaries of the Czech legal system. We have chosen five decisions containing a chosen keyword based on their indegree centrality in a corpus of Czech apex courts’ decisions. Subsequently, we have constructed eleven strings of decisions (connected to one another by a citation) leading to these five decisions, again paying attention to their indegree. We theorize that the decisions with higher indegree centrality as well as decisions with higher authority score will be cited in situations seeking a case-law argument for either procedural issue, or an issue of a more general nature, or an issue of principle, while the decisions with low indegree centrality or low authority score will be cited for their substantive law merit. This paper seeks to demonstrate how the network analysis in combination with a qualitative approach may serve as a useful approach in further exploring this hypothesis. We show that the actual citation environment in Czech legal setting might be more complex than this hypothesis suggests, but that this methodological approach may be further useful in exploring the normative nature of judicial decisions in non-precedential legal settings.
ER  -

Detailed Information on Publication Record