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According to the academic, the role of the judge is surrounded by a dispute arising from two opposing traditions: the American tradition, shaped by the anthropological realism of its Founding Fathers and committed to a strong judiciary as guardian of the Constitution<\/strong> against possible legislative tyranny by parliamentary majorities; and the French revolutionary tradition, which, distrusting judges because of their association with the Ancien R\u00e9gime, reduced the magistrate to a mere \u201cmouth of the law\u201d, in the words of Montesquieu<\/strong>\u2014an automaton that mechanically applies the general will without interpretative discretion. Faced with this dilemma, Berzosa advocates a liberal balance inspired by Benjamin Constant<\/strong>, who warned that rigid legalism could lead to a new form of despotism. Laws, by their abstract and general nature, cannot encompass the full complexity of human reality, and a prudent margin of judicial interpretation is therefore essential to ensure equity and protect individual freedoms against abuses by the executive or legislature.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Dr. Daniel Berzosa<\/p><\/div>\n
This view, the expert explains, is connected to the humanist scepticism of Michel de Montaigne<\/strong>, a critic of overregulation, and is brought up to date by thinkers such as John Rawls<\/strong>, who regarded judges as a paradigmatic example of public reason founded on shared constitutional values, and Ronald Dworkin<\/strong>, through his metaphor of Judge Hercules<\/strong>, which conceives law as a coherent system of rules and higher moral principles. Berzosa concludes that, in times of populism and polarisation, an independent magistrate\u2014removed both from Jacobin automatism and partisan political activism\u2014is not a democratic anomaly, but the final line of defence for the rule of law and Western civilisation. Reaffirming the judge\u2019s role and legitimate scope for interpretation is equivalent to safeguarding individual freedom against the concealed tyranny of temporary majorities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Berzosa is a member of the United States Society of Diplomacy and Political Science<\/strong>, coordinator of the International Observatory on the Regulation of Public-Sector Entities<\/strong> at the University of Santiago de Compostela<\/strong>, a member of the organising committees of the World Law Congress<\/strong> events held in Cartagena de Indias in 2021 and Madrid in 2019, and the author of books and scientific articles published in prestigious journals. He is also a recognised commentator on legal affairs and political science in Spain\u2019s leading media outlets.<\/p>\n
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