Vanished Mediators On the Residual Status of Judges in Max Weber's ' Sociology of Law'

The centrality of judges in Max Weber's theory of legal rationalization and their residual status in his 'Sociology of Law' are discussed. The vital role he assigns to judges is exposed by privileging his frequently overlooked discussion of the anti-formal tendencies in modern law. Their minimized standing in his comparative examination of the Continental and the English administrations of justice is explained by foregrounding the influence exerted on him by the ideals of Pandectist jurisprudence, as revealed in his Critique of Stammler, and by the politico-legal context in which he wrote, as evinced in his assessment of the Free Law Movement.