Judges are faced with a wide and growing variety of issues, the contentiousness of which exceeds the borders of the legal domain. As a result of changes occurring in decision-making processes at the national, regional and global level, matters invoking political controversy, technical complexity and external relations are increasingly brought to court and framed in legal terms. Courts may thereby be transformed into surrogate fora when political processes fail to strike a satisfactory balance between competing interests, epistemologies and levels of government. How are judicial bodies reacting to such challenges to long-established conceptual and institutional boundaries? Bringing together perspectives of constitutional, European and international law, and with a particular focus on the judiciary of the European Union (EU), the panel addresses the changing role of courts in democratic society and their relation to actors beyond the traditional boundaries of law and jurisdiction.