In exercising judicial review in times of crises courts face a well-known dilemma: to defer or not to defer? Deference is prudent: The executive/legislature are better equipped to deal with emergencies swiftly and efficiently, as they possess the expertise, the wherewithal, and bear the responsibility for error. Exercising strict review may derail the governmental efforts...
From “Our Constitution“, “Our People“, to “Our Justices“: Constructing A Non-Citizen “People“
Prevailing constitutional theories assume that citizens are the primary subjects of constitutional rights and be guaranteed all the constitutional rights. They disagree only on of which rights the guarantee is extended to non-citizens. This Article reviews the text of the Taiwan Constitution and relevant constitutional theories to refute the assumption that the guarantee of constitutional...
From Government to governance; from judiciary to…?
In constitutional law, the focus on regulators is accountability, given their power to legislate, administer, and adjudicate. In politics, the focus is to establish and maintain public legitimacy, and they are in the political spotlight only if something goes wrong, e.g. financial crisis. This is tied to “institutional strength“, to have the greatest impact in...
How democratic is democracy? A question from the case of the popular consultations in Colombia.
The purpose of this paper is to analyse a new constitutional trend of democracy that is shaping the exploitation of natural resources in the Global South. As a result of recent Colombian Constitutional Court rulings and the appliance of constitutional participatory democracy mechanisms, local communities and authorities are able to hinder mining exploitation or oil...
Human Rights, Identity and the Common Good: Revisiting the Right to Development in the Uncertain Context of the Future of Work
Following the 2008 financial crisis, disillusionment with the establishment has grown. Populist politics has increasingly permeated and polarized political discourse, weakening citizenship and reducing the accountability of those in charge. Against this backdrop, the future of work has become increasingly uncertain with the increasing disruption caused by automation, artificial intelligence, and the ‘gig economy‘. The...
Implementing Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law: International Law and Institutions as Sources of Resilience
Although Beijing likes to refer to HK as a “domestic“ matter, international law is at the heart of HK‘s constitutional order and must be considered in any attempt to implement Article 23 of HK‘s Basic Law. I begin by reviewing HK‘s status on the UN‘s list of non-self-governing territories, which created a presumption that residents...
Information Delayed is Justice Denied: Lengthy Procedures Deny the Right to Access Information
European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2016 that European Convention on Human Rights guarantees a right to access information held by public authorities. While according to international documents procedures for accessing information should be ‘rapid‘, the courts have yet to rule on what “rapid“ means and when procedures are so long that they violate...
Media balance in referendum campaigns
Referendums, in the aftermath of Brexit and with the rise of populist movements worldwide, are viewed with a renewed scepticism. An acute concern is the promulgation of misinformation and alternative facts, as voters struggle to distinguish the signal from the noise in the face of new media. In Ireland, where referendums to change the constitution...
Legal Profession in the Waning and Ebbing of Liberal Politics: Clashing Rule of Law Ideals in Taiwan and Hong Kong
Entering this century, Taiwan and Hong Kong both saw drastic political transformation while TW liberalized and HK faced further limitation. A puzzle is why, despite diverging legal-political contexts, the local legal profession both grew to split? I argue for an ideational explanation. Namely, the legal profession is not an it but they. Their ideals of...
Legal Conceptualization of Jews in the Territory of Slovakia during the 20th Century
The paper provides an analysis of the legal status of the Jewish community in Slovakia in the first half of the 20th Century. Czechoslovakia was the only European state at that time that provided an option for its citizens to declare Jewish nationality for the purposes of the census. The scrutinizes the legislative conceptualization of...