Are the courts able to defend social rights against the will of the majority powers in times of economic crisis? The legal literature affirms the role of the Judiciary as the guardian of the Constitution and consequently, guarantor of these rights against Government‘s choices. In contrast, empirical studies show that, in analyzing the preferences of...
Your income is too high, your income is too low: Discretion at work in labour migration law and policy in Macau and the Netherlands
The tension between EU harmonisation of economic migration law and Member States‘ concern over their sovereignty has downplayed or neglected EU legal obligations by Member State legislators. The law-makers‘ design of a system granting either no or very wide discretion to the street-level bureaucrats, as is the case in the Netherlands, creates an atmosphere of...
A Critical Analysis of the Use of Diplomatic Assurances in the Cases of Expulsion to Torture
Security concerns of states in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the global war on terror have brought the use of diplomatic assurances into the spotlight more than ever. Diplomatic assurances in the cases of expulsion to torture, or simply promises not to torture, have raised substantial questions regarding the legality of this practice...