Incompetent, Prejudiced and Lawless: A Gestalt‐psychological Perspective on Fact Finding in Law as Learning

The paper investigates if different approaches to avoid biased decision making in common law and civilian jurisdictions are attributable to contingent cultural or historical influences, or if they can be explained as a universal search for cognitively optimal trial procedures. More specifically, it analyses current proposals of jury reform (US) and reform of civil procudure (UK) from the perspective of cognitive science and comparative law.