Judicial restraint in the pursuit of justice

This article examines the reasons in favour of judicial restraint in human-rights adjudication. It seeks to address the worry that a strategy of restraint may lead judges to refrain from protecting rights, or, at least, to refrain from protecting them to an optimal degree. Beyond this, it considers the way in which the concern to protect the reputation of the courts can give rise to judicial restraint. Finally, it explores the possibility that complete honesty may not be the best judicial policy when judges come to justify and explain their reasoning. Judges may have to be restrained about expressing their reasons for restraint.