ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a conceptual overview of legitimacy, contrasting political legitimacy, sociological legitimacy, legal legitimacy and moral legitimacy. In sketching how these multiple dimensions of judicial legitimacy interconnect and conflict with each other; the chapter explores the dialectical judicial responsibilities that emerge when these dimensions are seen as a composite. The relationship between legitimacy and judicial-political dynamics is revealed through observing how differing levels of legitimacy alter the dynamic between a court and political actors.
