The University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform is one of the most respected journals of legal scholarship, publishing articles by distinguished academics and practitioners. The Journal is committed to the development and dissemination of constructive and well-reasoned proposals for legal change.
Legal reform can take many forms. Some projects of change, such as codification, are purely technical and have no effect on society at large, while others, like judicial selection, directly affect a particular group’s ability to advance its interests. Many legal reforms, however, have unintended consequences in the broader society. For example, changing how the Court interprets the Constitution could have significant effects on social stability.
While there have been some breaks in the old orthodoxy of the “law and development movement”—the belief that Western lawyers can design laws and institutions for developing economies and new democracies—it remains a widespread assumption that a top-down approach is the best way to bring the benefits of law to all classes of society. This view neglects the underlying social and cultural factors that shape legal systems, and places too much emphasis on importing Western-style laws.
An example of the latter problem is Mexico’s controversial reform to replace its judges by electing them through a politicized electoral process. This reform threatens the stability of a crucial institution in the country and undermines its international commitments under the new USMCA, which mandates the preservation of independent courts free from political influence. It also compromises the impartiality of justice, as elected judges would be able to use their position as a platform for politics.