Dissent aversion is the judicial phenomenon that implies that
judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
s do not like
dissenting opinion
A dissenting opinion (or dissent) is an opinion in a legal case in certain legal systems written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment.
Dissenting opinions are no ...
s in the jurisdictions where they are possible nor do they like to dissent themselves. A common example is as follows: On a panel of three judges, only one feels strongly about the decision. One of the two remaining may side with the first judge, leaving the third judge with the option of dissenting on an issue they do not feel strongly about or siding with the majority.
[Posner, Richard A ''How Judges Think'' Harvard University Press 2007 pg 32]
Judges dislike dissent for many reasons. Dissent aversion can come from these sources:
[
*It frays ]collegiality
Collegiality is the relationship between colleagues. A colleague is a fellow member of the same profession.
Colleagues are those explicitly united in a common purpose and respect each other's abilities to work toward that purpose. A colleague is ...
(judges have to work together in the future).
*It magnifies the majority opinion
In law, a majority opinion is a judicial opinion agreed to by more than half of the members of a court. A majority opinion sets forth the decision of the court and an explanation of the rationale behind the court's decision.
Not all cases have ...
.
*It is additional work.
*It detracts from the significance of their own majority opinions.
Dissent is more frequent in US federal courts of appeals where the number of judges is higher.[ According to some research, this is because the larger the court, the less frequently judges must work with each other and accordingly have less incentive to extend courtesy and favors.][Stefanie Lindquist ''"Bureaucratization and Balkanization: The Origins and Effects of Decision Making Norm in the Federal Appellate Courts"''.]
See also
*Publication bias
In published academic research, publication bias occurs when the outcome of an experiment or research study biases the decision to publish or otherwise distribute it. Publishing only results that show a significant finding disturbs the balance o ...
*Cognitive dissonance
In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information, and the mental toll of it. Relevant items of information include a person's actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environment. ...
*Selection bias
Selection bias is the bias introduced by the selection of individuals, groups, or data for analysis in such a way that proper randomization is not achieved, thereby failing to ensure that the sample obtained is representative of the population int ...
*Confirmation bias
Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring ...
Notes
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Law and economics