The ideas of the culture of justification – according to which it is the role of the courts to ensure that every act of the state that affects a person is substantively justifiable – and the related right to justification – which claims that every person possesses a moral and, ideally, constitutional right to the...
Tag: <span>TUESDAY JUNE 26 2018 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM</span>
Labour constitutionalism
This intervention will discuss the chapter on social rights and protection of work. In particular, the potential offered by the constitutionalisation of a contradiction between individual property rights and labour rights will be explored and assessed. The discussion will be opened to examples from different constitutional jurisdictions.
Judicial Review of Constitutional Amendments: Taiwan
Major differences in the finality and impact of judicial review from country to country have led scholars to distinguish between “hard“ and “soft“ forms of judicial review. However, hard review does not give courts the last word: even in systems of nominally hard review, the government usually retains the ability to effectively override the courts...
Juridical Interest in Constitutional Proceedings
The paper covers the issue of requiring plaintiff to prove juridical interest in constitutional proceedings befor the Maltese courts of constitutional jurisdiction; while in human rights actions one must prove that an infringement occurred in relation to applicant no such requirement is needed for non-human rights actions; In spite of this the Maltese courts have...
Judicial backlash in inter-American human rights law
After a steady process of influence upon states, both the Court and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights are subject today to significant and direct challenges from states. From the use of diplomatic mechanisms to contain the powers of human rights bodies, to the challenges by domestic courts of the doctrines of the Inter-American Court,...
Participatory Democracy in the CJEU Case Law: Challenges and Implications for the EU
Innovative developments in EU participatory democracy have recently led to a number of significant CJEU judgments that directly address the challenges it poses to the Community Method, particularly in the European Citizens‘ Initiative case law. Having analysed these judgments, this paper explores the Court‘s interpretation of participatory democracy in light of other key EU principles...
Open Justice and the Rule of Law
The principle of open justice is innately connected to the integrity of the legal system. A fundamental aspect of the system of checks and balances at common law, it has been enshrined as a key institutional feature in democracies which value the independence of the judicial branch. In Ireland, the administration of justice in public...
Non-Citizens‘ Rights and Judicial Review for Inclusive Democracy
Citizenship still defines boundaries of political membership and democratic participation in most states. On the other hand, many constitutions acknowledge certain, if not all, basic rights for non-citizens and enable them to challenge law or government actions when those rights are violated. Democratic theories do not require excluding those persons subject to law based on...
Nonjudicial Constitutional Interpretation: The Netherlands
This chapter focuses on the manner in which non-judicial actors engage in constitutional guardianship, using the Netherlands as a case study. Article 120 of the Dutch Constitution explicitly prohibits courts from examining the constitutionality of Acts of Parliament. Instead, other institutions ensure that constitutional rules and values are duly taken into account, especially when new...
Nationalism with a ‘human‘ face (under the veil of integration): Is the ECtHR allowing and thus fueling nationalist politics?
Recent judgments of the ECtHR provide nationalists with an opportunity to promote a nationalist discourse that is seemingly in line with human rights, but fundamentally at odds with the counter-majoritarian core of human rights. The analysis focuses on several judgments in which the ECtHR accepts arguments of liberal democratic states to infringe fundamental rights of...