37

In this article, we look at the role that ethics plays in the construction of a judge’s legitimacy, which is his ability to be authoritative and to make their decisions acceptable. We argue that this legitimacy is acquired through the reflexivity inherent in ethics when faced with a difficult case or in response to the expectations to which the judicial institution is subject in a democracy. We also put forward the hypothesis that the judge’s role is changing, given the complex and variable relationship between ethics and law. We identify four moments of rapprochement between ethics and law, or four phases in the ethicisation of law. Ultimately, we emphasise that ethics and law deserve to be approached in a complementary way, as they remain the true foundations of democracies and the legitimacy of institutions of justice1.