Investigations about a dissident magistrature

is another Judiciary possible?

Abstract

The article presents part of the results of a qualitative research that sought to understand, from the Theory of Active Minorities by Serge Moscovici, how critical judges in relation to the Judicial Power and the magistrature assess the possibility of innovation in legal practices. Fifteen interviews were conducted using the episodic semi-directed technique. An argumentative analysis of the speeches was carried out and later their interpretation was carried out based on the referential of depth hermeneutics. Three ways of relating dissident magistrates with innovative potential were identified: impotence, individual potency and collective potency. The affect of impotence was predominance, as well as the centrality of individual actions. This resulted in the partial confirmation of our working hypothesis that there would be movements within the magistrature that could be assimilated to active minorities, as defined by Moscovici.