Interpretation and the Judicial Law-Making: A Review Essay on Jan Wintr's 'The Methods and Principles of Legal Interpretation'
Abstract
The paper is a review essay for the second edition of the book "Methods and Principles of Legal Interpretation" by Jan Wintr, where the topics contained in the reviewed book are developed in an essay form. After summarizing the basic parameters of contemporary continental theories of interpretation of law, the author evaluates the reviewed book as an excellent summary of this paradigm.
However, he dwells on the tendency of Jan Wintr to consider as an interpretation of the law also a situation where there is no type of syllogism (or sometimes it cannot even exist) between specific factual circumstances and the law (respectively the spirit of the law). He proposes an alternative according to which where there is no syllogism between the spirit of the law and a specific case, the task of the court is to create a standard for this type of case.
At the end of the review essay, the author briefly considers the preconditions for the exercise of judicial power as a second and supporting article of legal norm-setting.