Case Law as a Storehouse of Knowledge

Project period: 2024-2025

In general, the ruling of a court is of interest owing to the decision-making function that it plays. For legal scholarship as well, court rulings are largely the place where legal questions are clarified and decided, as is done by applying, concretizing, shaping and justifying legislative rules. The aim of this project is, however, to analyse another function of court jurisprudence, one that has not yet been systematically examined: the storage of certain forms of knowledge through court decisions. This perspective is inspired by narratological legal research, an inquiry which is interested in how and towards what end legal texts tell stories. This is because decisions not only document results but also describe facts, register views, and expand on arguments. And they are often like keyholes: they offer a glimpse into intimate and private matters, provide information about individuals’ innermost motives, articulate otherwise guarded views, allow conclusions to be drawn about practices, reveal conflicts, and preserve contexts. Case law is not only a source of knowledge about what law is but also a source of knowledge about facts, arguments and views. In this way, documents of epistemic value are created. Such secondary functions of case law and their value are being examined and systematized as encountered in selected judgments on inheritance practices and educational practices.