ABSTRACT
The judicial arena has its own rules. Courts are strategic actors whose behaviour is constrained by the sui generis nature of the judicial field and the rules that govern their setting up and actions. National Higher Courts (NHCs) did not only seem to interact with political or legal variables, but their behaviour seemed to a large extent influenced also by phenomena occurring in the judicial field. On the one hand, the design of the institution with regard both to judicial independence and courts powers of review imposed constraints on courts behaviour and was particularly useful in explaining statements of Kompetenz-Kompetenz. On the other hand, the interaction between decisions played an important role in judicial behaviour: courts former decisions explained variation in subsequent ones, statements of Kompetenz-Kompetenz seemed to condition courts decisions on the merits and some NHCs decisions were imitated by other institutions in processes of cross-fertilization.
