The Universal Auditorium in the Argentine Supreme Court ofJustice

Abstract

The aim of this study is to detect and describe the efficacy of the universal audience in the jurisprudence of the Argentine Supreme Court
of Justice. The universal audience has been understood as an imaginary set of reasonable people with whom the legal reasoner dialogues. With this aim, a descriptive study was conducted that detected specific linguistic markers in all the sentences generated by the
aforementioned Court between the years 1856 and 2021. A set of specific words related to the universal audition and associated to personal,
social and emotional factors was evaluated in three historical periods of the Court. The statistical analysis showed strengthening of the universal audience during the periods of institutional continuity and democratic restoration, and weakening during the period of discontinuity. The evidence supported the efficacy of the universal audience for legal and psychological theories which are also consistent with the standard theory of legal reasoning. The development of a psychology of legal reasoning that conforms to such a standard theory is promoted.