Matthias Klatt: The use of foreign precedent

Reference to past decisions is a kind of standard argument in courts, and not just in common law jurisdictions. Nonetheless, things get trickier if a foreign court handed the past decision. Antonin Scalia, of the U.S. Supreme Court, said that the use of foreign precedent was antidemocratic and illegitimate. In his talk, Mathias Klatt seeks to: (1) show that the use of foreign precedent creates a dilemma for courts; (2) compare that dilemma with others with which we are most familiar, in argumentation, general and legal; and (3) discuss how the use of foreign precedent can be justified. In short, Klatt aims to show, among other things, why Scalia was wrong and, in doing that, provide a defense of foreign precedent as an unimpeachable kind of legal argument.