Law and the Culture of Israel

Law and the Culture of Israel is a breathtaking journey into the ideologies that have come to shape Israeli law. Mautner masterfully connects powerful ideological currents in Israeli society and the juridical philosophy of the Israeli Supreme Court, from the establishment of the state of Israel until the present. As Mautner makes clear at the outset, the book perceives Israeli law “as an important arena in which the struggle over the shaping of Jewish culture and identity ... is being waged” (p. 1). The bulk of the discussion (chapters 3–6) centers on the judicial activism of the Israeli Supreme Court, a court perceived to be among the most activist in the world. This activism has manifested itself in a number of spheres. First, it broadened the status of those with standing to file administrative petitions challenging governmental actions and Knesset legislation, allowing the inclusion of organizations and not only the individuals immediately affected or grieved. Second, it eliminated almost entirely the doctrine of justiciability, thereby enabling the court to extend its judicial review over matters of Knesset administrative decisions, defense and foreign affairs policies, and even political agreements. Third, it developed legal doctrines such as reasonableness and proportionality, enhancing the court's power of administrative and judicial review. This activism, Mautner says, has led to a fundamental change in the Israeli Supreme Court's self-perception, from a professional institution entrusted with the settling of disputes to a political institution that takes part in determining the values that govern Israeli society. Here Mautner connects to his seminal work on the decline of formalism and the rise of values in the Israeli Supreme Court's juridical work. According to him, the court's initial stance as a professional institution made it necessary to adopt a formalist approach. As Israeli society came of age and the rifts among the sectors that comprise it became evident, the court saw as its duty the advancement of certain values to guide society at large. It necessarily changed its self-perception and mode of reasoning to a value-oriented approach of robust activism. Mautner explains the sources of the court's activism by connecting it to the ideological clashes in Israeli society.

Chinese law · Common law · Ideology · Israeli law · Judicial review · Knesset · Municipal law · Neutrality · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Supreme court · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law