In the past three decades, Taiwan has made a great stride in protecting human rights since democratization. This is all the more remarkable given the emergence of democratic backsliding around the globe and should be attributed not only to the government, including all three branches but also to civil society. This panel comprises four students...
Frozen Trials: Political Victims and Their Quest for Justice
Before Martial Law was lifted in 1987, the Legislative Yuan passed the National Security Act prohibiting civilian cases tried in court martial from appealing to ordinary courts. In 1991, the Constitutional Court affirmed this legislation in its notorious J.Y. Interpretation No. 272, indicating that this was a very exceptional case, since the imposition of martial...
Freedom of Expression in Taiwan
The Constitutional Court‘s reliance on American theories does not necessarily guarantee free speech at a higher protection level since the Court often appears insensitive to not only a future of innovative communication technology but also the country‘s authoritarian past. With regard to the freedom of the media, the majority failed to pay particular attention to...
Rights Advocacy through Simulation
As a fledgling civic institution in Taiwan, the Constitutional Court Simulation(CCS)has received much attention and interest from the Taiwan Constitutional Court as well as the general public in the recent years by tackling such salient issues as same-sex marriage, death penalty, and transitional justice. This essay analyzes, explains and assesses the workings of the CCS...
Towards an Analytical Framework of Constitutionalism in East Asia
Recent years have witnessed the reemergence of discussions on Confucian constitutionalism, communitarian constitutionalism, or Asian values. Despite the differences of these concepts, all reject Western liberal constitutionalism, emphasizing that Asian countries should prioritize social and economic rights over civil and political rights. Nevertheless, this dichotomy in fact does not hold in Taiwan and many other...