Constitutional monism and legal monism – the idea that there is a clear hierarchy of institutions and rules within a constitutional or legal order – have proved to be inadequate theories for conceptualizing contemporary constitutional and legal orders. This panel explores pluralism, an alternative to monism, from the descriptive, normative and explanatory angles. It examines...
Tag: <span>Jaclyn Neo</span>
Changing Ideas of Representation: Representative Democracy, and the Rule of Law in Singapore
This paper examines recent pronouncements, both in and outside of courts, concerning the nature of representative democracy and how it relates to the rule of law in Singapore. Given that conceptions of the rule of law are theorized to require the incorporation of democracy into the legal system, this article examines the implications of recent...
State Constitutional Pluralism
The complexity of engagement among multiple legal systems is now an increasingly studied subject. However, despite a broad range of legal pluralism scholarship examining the presence and engagement of state/non-state as well as state/state legal systems, much constitutional law scholarship tends towards a monist perspective in examining state constitutions. While constitutional pluralism has emerged as...
The Politics of Judicial Engagement with Constitutional Amendments
Constitutional amendment is a common method by which political branches bring about constitutional change. Some of these amendments however may critically transform the existing constitutional arrangement to serve what Landau and Dixon have called “abusive“ constitutional aims. This paper examines recent judicial engagements with constitutional amendments in Singapore and Malaysia. In particular, it highlights the...