Power of the law or power of the sword: the conflictive relationship between the executive and the legislative in nineteenth-century Peru

ABSTRACT

The Peruvian parliament was a central institution in the early republic, but so far very little has been written on its history. This is due to the fact that military leaders took control of power for most of the nineteenth century. This article reflects on three main questions: what was the role of the legislative in nineteenth-century Peru? What was its relationship with the executive power? And what part did conflict play in these relationships? Most initial congresses were tasked with writing up constitutions, because institutions had to be created, and there was a strong belief that having a written charter mattered. The strongmen who took power felt the need to obtain legitimacy from both constitutions, and elections, but often did not see eye to eye with congress. This led congress to be closed, particularly when legislators refused to bow down to presidential power.     

THE LANGUAGE OF STIGMATIZATION AND THE MARK OF VIOLENCE: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE ON THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF CRIMINAL RECORD STIGMA

After years of stagnation, labeling theory has recently gained new empirical support. Simultaneously, new policy initiatives have attempted to restructure criminal record stigma to reduce reintegration barriers, and subsequent recidivism, driven by labeling. For example, in a recent Department of Justice (DOJ) language policy, person‐first terms (e.g., “person with a conviction”) were substituted for crime‐first terms (e.g., “offender”). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has also issued guidelines to structure how decision‐makers use criminal records. Unfortunately, little is currently known about the social construction and use of criminal record stigma or the potential effects of such policy changes. In the current study, we provide two unique empirical tests. In study 1, we examine the social construction of stigma by testing DOJ's language policy with experimental data from a nationally representative sample of American adults (N = 996). In study 2, we use a separate nationwide experiment (N = 1,540) to examine how the contextualization of criminal records influences social exclusion decisions. Across both studies, we find consistent evidence of a “mark of violence.” The public perceives that individuals with violent convictions are the most likely to commit future crimes, and it is more supportive of excluding these individuals from employment. Crime‐first terms exacerbate perceived recidivism risk for individuals with violent convictions.     

The impact of student-generated digital flashcards on student learning of constitutional law

This article describes, evaluates and reflects upon student creation of cloud-based digital flashcards as an authentic formative and summative assessment task designed for the deep learning of constitutional law. The usefulness of digital flashcards in online legal education is explored. The undergraduate law student participants in the study responded differently to the assessment task depending upon the constitutional law topic they were assigned, the perceived relevance of constructing digital flashcards to professional practice and how they reacted to this creative task. Building digital flashcards provides a potentially powerful authentic assessment task for the study of constitutional law provided it is designed to support semester long creation, validation and sharing of digital flashcards that students perceive as professionally relevant and educationally useful. Student recommendations for designing an assessment task involving the creation of digital flashcards are evaluated.     

原旨主义、活的宪法与复杂状态下的宪法解释?

宪法解释应该遵循原初意义还是回应时代需要,是原旨主义和“活的宪法”之争的焦点所在。在对宪法裁判进行批判与维护的过程中,原意解释方法和非原意解释方法都开始走向基础主义。两种解释方法执着于单一的理念,既无法证明自己比对方更为优秀,也未能对解释实践进行全面的描述。宪法解释是一个相当复杂、语境多元的过程,在不同复杂状况下,法官拥有不同程度的解释裁量权。有鉴于此,任何将宪法解释化约为单一解释哲学的做法,都是不恰当的。     

论制宪权的概念--兼论中国历史上的几次立宪活动

制宪权是宪法制定和运行的前提 ,但传统制宪权理论并未准确揭示其权力属性、内涵和外延。根据制宪权的性质可以判定 :制宪权形成的条件包括国家政治统一、制宪过程民主、以立宪为直接目的等 ,而且制宪权的关键在“定”而非“制”,即制宪权作为一种权力的本质内涵在于能够使宪法产生规范效力。与此相适应 ,制宪权主体构成在体制上可分单一制和复合制两种 ,在具体形态上则更为复杂多样。     

论依法行政的制约因素及其对策

在我国 ,全面推进依法行政 ,建设法治政府 ,无论是观念上还是制度上都面临着挑战。因此 ,依法行政是一场深刻的观念更新和制度变革 ,必须加强社会主义宪政建设     

美国宪法性刑事诉讼法：意旨、构造与启示

美国宪法性刑事诉讼法是美国联邦最高法院以宪法文本及宪政精神为理据,在特定的刑事诉讼案件的裁判过程中,经由司法判决而延伸出来的一套基本权保障与救济机制。它与宪法存在紧密关系,但又与宪法不同构,有着自身的意旨与构造。西法可鉴,研究美国宪法性刑事诉讼法对当前我国刑诉法研究的纵深发展有很大的启示。     

印度尼西亚的多元民主改革及前景

印尼多元民主改革始于宪政改革,并效仿美国一些政治制度,在具体实践中遇到了严峻的挑战。经过10年的改革,印尼基本建立起多元民主体制。印尼的民主改革的前景并非一片坦途,最终还需与民主治理、政府效能结合起来,印尼民主改革才能具有生命力。     

宗教自由基本权利的肥大症——关于宗教和世界观自由与一般权利有效性请求的关系

当人们通览宗教和世界观自由的基本权利在过去十几年里的实际运用和法教义学上的发展时,很难忽略其在规范性轮廓上萎缩这一事实。这一现象由构成要件要素的发展上更多地考虑主观标准所承载,并且经由联邦宪法法院在司法判例中对有关限制问题的决断性的、限制性的判决而被强化。因此,相对于依据宗教或者世界观的动机而提起的个人的发展请求,一般的法治国规范的有效领域持续地受到限制。当相关现象的潜在冲突在德国呈现趋势性增长的时候,这样的判断就显得越发的危险。     

论表达自由的界限（下）——从比较法、特别是普通法的视角切入

表达自由是自由社会的人们享有的一项带有普遍性的、根本性的权利,通常表现为宪法或法律规定的权利。鉴于各国政治和法律体制以及文化环境之不同,人们享有该项权利的普遍性和充分性存在很多差别,因此,可从比较法,特别是普通法的角度关注该项根本权利的行使及对其设定的界限和施加的限制,集中展示强加这等界限或限制的法理学说、理据以及方法和途径,并分析提出具有普遍意义的结论。