Trust in European justice institutions is markedly lower in Southern and Eastern Europe, but legitimacy also requires that institutions meet substantive requirements to legitimise their power and structure.

Trust in legal systems, the courts, and police varies widely across Europe, especially in former communist countries such as Ukraine, Russia and Bulgaria. Jonathan Jackson and the FIDUCIA project team argue that current social survey statistics provide only a partial picture. While they do show how much people trust institutions across Europe, they do not address whether or not the institutions meet commonly agreed standards of ‘normative legitimacy’ that justify their existing structure and power in society. By combining European level survey data with institutional measures, a more complete picture of the true legitimacy of Europe’s courts, police and legal systems can be gained.