Lay participation in judicial decision-making in the Czech Republic in the form of lay judges has had a long tradition. This may be the reason why hardly anybody today asks questions about the meaning of its existence. Whenever case law or the government comment on the system of lay judges, they do so principally on matters of a technical or organizational nature. However, it is questionable how much the system is actually firmly entrenched in the legal order and people’s awareness, and whether the anticipated social consensus concerning its existence is not only a conjecture. The paper will point at selected case law regarding the institute of lay judges, it will focus on its interpretation in the sense of the traditionally declared reasons for the existence of lay participation in the judiciary, and it will point out the importance of questions over its meaning.