AI and the Exercise of Judicial Authority ex machina

This monograph examines whether artificial intelligence can improve the efficiency of judicial proceedings and what role algorithmic systems might legitimately play in the exercise of judicial authority in a democratic state. Drawing on constitutional and international standards, comparative law and case law, Beata Stępień-Załucka explores the independence of courts, the independence and impartiality of judges, the right to a fair trial and access to justice.

The study analyses current LegalTech applications and AI-based tools used in judicial practice, their opportunities and limitations, and the legal conditions for possible autonomous judicial decision-making ex machina. With particular attention to Germany, Spain and Poland alongside European and other international developments, it considers how emerging technologies might be reconciled with constitutional safeguards and offers proposals for a future, more efficient judiciary.

1. Preliminary remarks — 7
2. Chapter 1. Constitutional and international bases for the exercise of judicial authority in a democratic state as a subject of comparative studies — 21
3. 1.1. General comments — 21
4. 1.2. The concepts of the judiciary, the administration of justice and their place in the political system of selected countries — 26
5. 1.3. Dialogue between national and European authorities in the field of judiciary as justification for comparative research — 48
6. 1.4. Summary — 65
7. Chapter 2. Contemporary attributes of courts and judges. The right to a fair trial as a prerequisite for the proper functioning of the judiciary in a democratic state — 67
8. 2.1. General comments — 67
9. 2.2. Contemporary attributes of courts as a guarantee for the realisation of the right to a fair trial — 71
10. 2.3. Contemporary attributes of judges as a guarantee for the realisation of the right to a fair trial — 88
11. 2.4. Exercise of the right to a fair trial by an individual — 107
12. 2.5. Summary — 112
13. Chapter 3. Efficiency of judicial proceedings. The right to access to justice as an essential condition for the proper functioning of the judiciary in a democratic state — 115
14. 3.1. General comments — 115
15. 3.2. Determinants of inefficiency in judicial proceedings — 119
16. 3.3. Negative consequences of inefficient judicial proceedings — 134
17. 3.4. Instruments to prevent inefficiencies in judicial proceedings — 144
18. 3.5. Summary — 155
19. Chapter 4. Possible areas for the use of artificial intelligence to improve efficiency of judicial proceedings in a democratic state — 157
20. 4.1. General comments — 157
21. 4.2. LegalTech tools to support the judiciary. Digitalisation and the move towards artificial judiciary in selected countries — 159
22. 4.3. Artificial intelligence in the judiciary based on selected examples known from the practice — 177
23. 4.4. Artificial intelligence and its potential for judicial decision-making. Towards efficiency in the judiciary — 201
24. 4.5. Summary — 210
25. Chapter 5. Judicial decision-making ex machina in the light of the contemporary attributes of courts and judges. On the course to an efficient future of judicial proceedings in a democratic state — 213
26. 5.1. General remarks — 213
27. 5.2. Algorithmic reality and the legal basis for its possible operation in the judiciary — 214
28. 5.3. AI judicial decision-making in the judiciary of the future according to the jurisprudence of constitutional courts — 224
29. 5.4. AI judicial decision-making ex machina and the right to a fair trial — 242
30. 5.5. Implementation of AI models making judicial decisions ex machina — 259
31. 5.6. Summary — 269
32. Conclusions — 271
33. Bibliography: literature — 277
34. Bibliography: case law — 329