Use and Misuse of Language in Judicial Decision-Making: Russian Experience

In my paper I will analyze decisions of the Russian Constitutional Court and courts of general jurisdiction, in which they interpret ordinary and seemingly unambiguous words and phrases. In a number of cases this interpretation is made in a manner, which is suspect from a linguistic point of view. The analysis shows that there is no consistency in the application by Russian courts of the “plain language” rule and that literal interpretation may be used selectively as a means of legitimizing the decisions made on non-linguistic grounds. Though literal interpretation can be often incompatible with the concept of justice and therefore judges should also take into account other criteria, there are examples of court decisions, in which literal interpretation would have been more appropriate from the perspective of justice, separation of powers and human rights. The article shows how use and misuse of language by judges is employed as a tool in judicial decision-making.     

Dignity and Equality

Inequality remains one of the most challenging issues on theglobal human rights agenda. It is widely recognised that a formalapproach to the assessment of inequality has failed to eliminateentrenched structural social and economic inequality and thata different approach is required in order to tackle the rootsof inequality and achieve substantive equality. In seeking toimplement an approach to equality that addresses the historyof apartheid and the social and economic inequality endemicin South African society, the South African Constitutional Courthas rejected formal equality, and is in the process of developinga substantive interpretation of equality based on the protectionof human dignity. Critics of this approach have argued thatthe concept of human dignity is too indeterminate to providea stable foundation for equality law and that it promotes anexcessively individualistic conception of equality. Focussingon key developments in defining human dignity in German andSouth African constitutional law, this article argues that theconcept of dignity is rooted in a rich tradition which is capableof underpinning an approach to equality which avoids excessiveindividualism and fully recognises the interplay between individualand community needs. A detailed exploration of the equalityjurisprudence of the South African Constitutional Court revealshow the dignity-based approach has been developed in order toprovide a framework within which the actual experience of victimsof discrimination can be explored. It is concluded that thisapproach has the potential to engage with the realities of thewide range of divisions within South African society and theireffects in order to address not only the legacy of apartheidbut also to contribute to the creation of a society in whichevery person is valued equally.     

公民社会经济权利宪法救济之中国路径——以南非宪法法院判例为切入点

南非宪法法院对公民社会经济权利的违宪审查判例受到宪法学界的广泛关注,这种做法具有制度创新和人权保障的双重效应。我们可以借鉴南非宪法法院相关判例,建立公民社会经济权利宪法救济的中国路径。在人民法院系统中设立宪法法庭,在人民代表大会系统中设立宪法委员会,并且在人民法院和人民代表大会之间建立特定的衔接机制,通过这些措施有助于实现中国特色的公民社会经济权利宪法救济。     

The Best Interests of Children in the South African Constitution

The welfare principle in cases involving children has been incorporatedin the Bill of Rights of the 1996 South African Constitution,while also remaining a principle of common law. This articleinvestigates the effects of including the best interests principlein the Constitution. It examines, first, whether the best interestsprinciple is a constitutional right, a value, an interpretativetool or a rule of law and argues that, although courts describeit as a right, it is not treated as such. In fact, courts oftenuse the best interests principle to avoid dealing with otherconstitutional rights of children and family members. The secondpart examines the role of the constitutional welfare principlein the development of common law rules of family law and findsa great disparity between different courts, some of which ignorethe existence of the principle in the Constitution, others assumingthat it has the same meaning in the Constitution as in commonlaw and yet others using it to justify drastic changes to commonlaw. The article suggests that the inclusion of the welfareprinciple in the Constitution should have concrete effects,chiefly to direct courts to conduct a proper examination ofthe other constitutional rights of children and other familymembers.     

In Defence of Due Deference

The doctrine of deference permeates human rights review. It plays a role in defining Convention rights, in determining the nature of the proportionality test applied when analysing non-absolute rights, as well as in deciding the stringency of its application. The role of deference has recently been subjected to both judicial and academic criticism, some of which advocates the demise of the doctrine. This article develops a contextual account of deference that is justified for epistemic reasons, rather than reasons of relative authority. This conception is able to withstand current criticism and is modest enough to play a role in a range of different justifications and understandings of judicial review under the Human Rights Act. The article then provides a more detailed account of deference, taking account of the relative institutional features of the legislature, executive and judiciary, without running the risk that the court fails to perform its constitutional function of protecting individual rights.     

基本权利规范的正当程序价值——兼议行政程序法如何保障基本权利

我国宪法中的基本权利规范具有丰富的正当程序价值,行政程序法的制定,需通过宪法解释的方法挖掘基本权利规范的程序价值,使之得到行政程序法的保障。基本权利条款的设置从整体上表征国家与公民之间的平等关系,这种平等关系要求行政程序法建构起交互式的行政程序,吸纳公众有效参与行政过程。人格尊严既包含个别的权利,又是概括的"人权",表征公开、公正的价值,需要行政程序法通过建构回避制度、禁止单方接触制度、职能分离制度和公开制度予以保障。     

Reinforcing or Challenging Stigma? The Risks and Benefits of ‘Dignity Talk’ in Sex Work Discourse

The concept of ‘human dignity’ sits at the heart of international human rights law and a growing number of national constitutions and yet its meaning is heavily contested and contingent. I aim to supplement the theoretical literature on dignity by providing an empirical study of how the concept is used in the specific context of legal discourse on sex work. I will analyse jurisprudence in which commercial sex was declared as incompatible with human dignity, focussing on the South African Constitutional Court case of S v Jordan and the Indian Supreme Court case of Budhadev Karmaskar v State of West Bengal. I will consider how these courts conceptualise dignity and argue that their conclusions on the undignified nature of sex work are predicated on particular sexual norms that privilege emotional and relational intimacy. In light of the stigma faced by sex workers I will explore how a discourse, proclaiming sex work as beneath human dignity, may impact on the way that sex workers are perceived and represented culturally, arguing that it reinforces stigma. I will go on to examine how sex workers subvert the notion that commercial sex is undignified, and resist stigma, by campaigning for the right to sell sex with dignity. I will demonstrate that an alternative legal approach to dignity and sex work is possible, where the two are not considered as inherently incompatible, concluding with thoughts on the risks and benefits of using ‘dignity talk’ in activism and campaigns for sex work law reform.     

Women's Rights to Equality and Non-discrimination: Discriminatory Family Legislation in Uganda and the Role of Uganda's Constitutional Court

In 1995 Uganda adopted the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda1995 which protected a wide range of human rights includingwomen's rights to equality and freedom from discrimination.Article 33(6) of the Constitution prohibited ‘laws, customsor traditions which are against the dignity, welfare or interestof women’. However, more than ten years later legislation,customary laws and practices have continued to be in force largelydue to the lack of political will to confront issues of inequalityand discrimination in a holistic and comprehensive manner. Thisarticle examines such discriminatory laws against women andthe jurisprudence of Uganda's Constitutional Court in the areasof divorce, criminalization of adultery, succession and marriagelaws. Using a comparative approach, it observes that these lawsconflict with Uganda's Constitution as well as regional andinternational human rights treaties to which Uganda is a Stateparty. It recommends that discriminatory laws should be harmonizedwith principles of equality and non-discrimination, and advocatesfor a litigation strategy.     

The influence of the rulings of the Constitutional Court on the development of health law in Lithuania

This article highlights some recent developments in the constitutional doctrine of the right to health care in Lithuania, and more in particular the impact of the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania on the development of health law. The right to health care, enshrined in the Constitution, is both an obligation of the state and an individual right. The Constitutional Court has developed a doctrine of the right to health care, as well a doctrine of certain other constitutional social rights, which is based on the understanding of the close interrelation between the different constitutional rights, the principle of indivisibility and equal importance of these rights, and the presumption of justiciability of social rights. The analysis is based on the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court. Two cases on the disputes of the legal regulation concerning the pharmaceutical activities are presented in more detail.     

南非宪法法院的"合理性审查标准"介评

"合理性审查标准"是南非宪法法院对政府积极义务进行审查的主要标准,是在宪法法院的判例中形成并逐渐发展起来的。"合理性审查标准"的采用,使宪法法院可以在不侵入立法和行政功能、不与政治部门发生直接冲突的情况下,实现对社会权一定程度的保护。但是,宪法法院对"合理性"的过分关注也制约了法院对政府积极义务审查的范围和程度,对社会权的保护产生了一些不利影响。     

德国法院体系探析

德国特色法院体系的形成与演变有其深刻的社会历史背景,首先是文化传统,其次是经济体制,第三是工人运动。德国的法院系统由宪法法院、普通法院和专门法院三类组成。宪法法院专门审理违宪案件;普通法院只审理刑事案件和民事案件;专门法院包括(普通)行政法院、财政法院、劳动法院、社会法院、专利法院、军事法院和惩戒法院等。除了(普通)法院和宪法法院具有独立地位外,其他法院均隶属于政府有关部门。德国行政审判权由各级行政法院与劳动法院、社会法院、财政法院等共同行使。专门法院的性质介于行政机关与司法机关之间,但行政机关的性质更多(本质上属于行政司法)。     

Justice Without Borders: Human Rights Cases in U.S. Courts

In 1980 the Second Circuit Court of Appeals broke with years of legal tradition and ruled that human rights victims could sue their oppressors in federal court—even if the alleged violations occurred outside the country. This court based the extension of its authority on a provision of the 1789 Judiciary Act now referred to as the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA). ATCA cases present a unique opportunity to study judicial behavior in the face of separation of powers interests, traditions of judicial restraint, sovereign immunity defenses, and an active internationalist movement to extend human rights guarantees worldwide. Combining legal analysis with quantitative methodology, I find that U.S. federal courts are slowly accepting an internationalist approach to human rights, and that interest groups are largely driving this transformation. Sovereignty concerns and judicial ideology are not conditioning case outcomes, but party resources and separation of powers issues are.     

政治问题理论的衰落与重构

政治问题作为可推翻的"自然推定",属于可诉性理论的阻却事由要件。其理论发轫于联邦党人对宪法"特定条款"的阐述。为了应对将政治问题理论区分为经典形式与审慎形式所带来的司法操作性难题,布伦南大法官通过描述政治问题的六个特征,构建了政治问题的确认标准。然而,法院在适用政治问题确认标准的过程中所形成的政治问题理论的循环悖论,以及学界对政治问题理论存在合理性的质疑使得其经典形式出现变异、审慎形式日渐消亡。在激励相容理论基础上重构政治问题理论,可以尝试化解学界对政治问题免于司法审查理论基础的种种非议。     

Text Matters: Some Reflections on the Forging of a New Constitutional Jurisprudence in South Africa

The South African Constitution establishes a constitutional democracy with a strong form of constitutional review. The Constitutional Court is required to declare invalid any legislation or conduct of the President which is inconsistent with the Constitution. The author, a former judge of the Constitutional Court, argues that the text of the Constitution has been an important determinant of the Court's jurisprudence, both in relation to the Court's jurisprudence concerning the institutional structures established by the Constitution and its Bill of Rights jurisprudence.     

Human Rights in the Scottish Courts

This article looks at the use made of the human rights legislation in the Scottish courts since the devolution of legislative and executive power to Scotland, based on research undertaken in all the ordinary courts, but excluding tribunals. It concludes that the incorporation of the Convention via the human rights legislation has had significant effects within the Scottish court system and on policy development without amounting to a major upheaval.     

论社会权的可裁判性

社会权是否可以交由司法判断,这在各国理论界都存在种种争议。大体上,反对司法裁判社会权主要出自于分权考量、民主考量、公共政策考量以及社会权的不确定性等。尽管如此,在以南非为代表的很多国家开始了司法裁判社会权的积极尝试。这些初步经验,可以为我国社会权的保障提供若干借鉴意义。     

立法与行政的权限分配

所谓立法与行政的权限分配即是理顺法的制定与执行之间的上下游关系,本质是权力等级序列问题,它与权力分立语境下机关之间的监督与制约关系并非一回事。所有的立法与行政权限分配方式都可以总结为分离型与下降型两种模型,其中分离型又可以细分为双重分离型、立法与行政分离型和立法分离型。"分离"意味着要么是限制下游,要么是限制上游。对学说、实务、规范三者进行彻底分析可以得知,我国立法与行政的权限分配应当是一种立法分离型结构。立法权自身分离给立法机关与行政机关,但这种分离是限制下游式,受到制约的是行政立法而不是法律;相反,行政权则是立法权的下降,既不应当存在自主行政行为,也不应当限制立法作具体措施。     

试论孙中山先生“五权宪法”思想体系的构成要素

孙中山先生“五权宪法”思想体系的构成要素,主要包括：“五权宪法”的法理——三民主义;“五权宪法”的形式——五权分立制;“五权宪法”的基础——权能分开说;“五权宪法”的实现——革命程序论。     

不方便法院说比较研究

“不方便法院”说是指一国法院认为某个涉外案件更适合在外国审理或者本国法院不适合审理 ,而拒不行使管辖权的一种自由裁量权。它起源于英格兰 ,后来逐渐发展成为英美国际私法上影响法院行使国际管辖权的一项重要制度。该说缺乏合理性 ,没有统一的适用标准 ,且赋予审理案件的法官过多自由裁量权 ,很容易被当事人或者法院操纵 ,往往导致适用结果的不一致。除一些普通法国家和地区外 ,其他国家都拒绝接受该说。我国法院在审理涉外案件中也不宜适用该说。