Formalism, positivism, and activism in Israeli laws

The article explores two philosophical approaches and how they are reflected in Israeli Supreme Court rulings. The first approach that I will explore addresses the rise or rather not necessarily the rise of legal formalism in Israeli law and its connection to legal positivism and legal activism. Ultimately, the issue has not yet been decided by our scholars as to whether the decline of formalism has indeed occurred according to Prof. Mautner (who bases his arguments on dominating legal issues from the broad spectrum), or not necessarily its rise according to Prof. Bendor (who focuses on public law). We can only discern the rise of judicial activism in Israeli law as evolving since the Bergman case until today, with the publication of the historical precedent regarding the annulment of the cause of reasonableness.