《中华民国临时约法》的主要缺陷

《中华民国临时约法》拉开了中国近代民主宪政的序幕 ,但历经十余载而归于失败。其失败的原因 ,除了当时政治环境的不利影响以及广大民众的民主意识低下外 ,临时约法本身的缺陷 ,如制定缺乏代表性、行政权力划分与现实政治状况相悖离、权力划分混乱等 ,也是导致其失败的重要原因。临时约法的缺陷及其失败 ,充分昭示了中国从传统专制国家向近代民主国家过渡的进程中所遇到的种种困难。     

从“总揽机关”到“最高机关”:“总揽”现象之宪法史阐释

在近现代中国立宪过程中,"总揽"现象是一种特殊的宪法现象。总揽机关,大致有君主、大总统以及代表国民的机关等。而关于总揽的对象,则有统治权、政务、治权和行政权等。从历史发展来看,"总揽机关"渐渐为"最高机关"所取代,后者成为宪法文件的常用术语。"总揽"现象反映了中国人对不同政体形式的认知逻辑。其背后彰显了传统法律文化中一元权力观对近现代中国立宪的影响。而"总揽"模式表现为行政集权制和民主集权制两种形式,在本质上区别于总统制、内阁制和委员会制。从历史发展来看,行政集权制与民主集权制渐渐走向融合。     

《临时约法》“因人立法”说辩正

通行的中国法制史教科书关于《中华民国临时约法》特点在于“以法制袁”的论断 ,本来是对该约法的肯定 ,却为批评该约法因人立法提供了口实。这种批评虽然是在法律价值观上的拨乱反正 ,但通过史实考辩可以看出 ,该约法规定责任内阁制却并非针对袁世凯 ,而是临时参议院基于利益的考虑所采取的扩大自身权力的措置。该约法的缺点不在于规定了责任内阁制 ,而在于没有规定保障其正常运作的健全规则。     

基本法的功能性与开放性及其启示——《联邦德国宪法纲要》读后

站在魏玛宪法肩上的德国基本法,在总统的宪法地位、宪法的守护者等方面吸取了魏玛宪法的失败教训,并使权利规范成为其核心规范。黑塞教授的《联邦德国宪法纲要》从功能性和开放性两个方面把基本法解析得入木三分。他认为,宪法的首要任务就是为国家构建一种功能性的政治统一体,而宪法如果试图将各种历史变迁情形下的问题都解决的话,就必须在内容上保持“向时代开放”。德国基本法的功能性与开放性可以说为我国的宪法改革指明了方向,而黑塞的这本宪法学教科书亦为我国宪法学的发展提供了宝贵的教义学路径,即注重分析宪法文本的功能性和开放性。     

Neglect of mining areas in Ghana: the case for equitable distribution of resource revenue

The article portrays the standard of living and the deplorable conditions that exist in mining areas. The government of Ghana set up the Mineral Development Fund to aid development in mining areas but has not been successful in ensuring that mining communities benefit sufficiently from mining revenues since development still does not take place. Mining has gone on for over a 100 years in Ghana, but the developmental challenges facing the mining communities remain with agitations from the towns. Meanwhile, Ghana’s Constitution vest all natural resources in the President on behalf of and in trust for the people of Ghana. The confidence the Constitution puts in the President must see to the development of the mining communities. Progress has eluded mining communities in Ghana since the exploitation of minerals. This article argues that part of the revenue that accrues to the nation from its minerals must be reserved for a national fund that is managed by a body that is not related to the state for the development of the mining areas. In the alternative, mining lease should specify part of the revenue for the development of the mining communities.     

美国宪法所体现的平衡原则

美国宪法是一部对世界格局影响深远的杰作。本文分析了美国宪法制订的背景,以及美国宪法运作成功的重要因素——其自身蕴含的平衡机制。在美国宪法制订过程中,宪法制定者们最重视的就是各种因素之间的平衡,其核心是参议院与众议院之间的平衡,立法权、行政权和司法权三者之间的平衡、州与联邦之间的平衡,其中这一切平衡都以人民主权为基础。     

The Italian Post War Fiscal Constitution: Reasons of a Failure

If the Italian Constitution shall be changed, to transform Italy in a semi-Presidential Republic-as in the project of constitutional revision recently approved by the Parliamentary Committee for Constitutional Reforms-the President of the Republic, elected by the people, shall become the natural guardian of the fiscal constitution, under direct control of the public opinion (17). He should, then, be staffed with an office, to check the conformity of laws to the fiscal constitutional rules and claims might be addressed by a qualified number of Parliamentarians, in addition to the Court of Accounts, to him. The chain connecting the President of the Republic to the Parliament, in this new constitutional model, will be broken. And hardly the President could stand still, in case of open violation of the rules of the fiscal constitution by the Government on the Parliament, because of the risk of loss of reputation. If he were to overlook negative checks by the Court of Accounts, his behaviour would greatly damage his credibility among the electors. Thus, it seems that the difference in the model of State, whether is a parliamentary system or a system where the President of the Republic is elected by the people, has much to do with the workability of a fiscal constitution aiming to monetary and fiscal soundness.     

论美国经济制裁中的总统权力边界

美国具有较为完善的经济制裁体系,主要依据《敌国贸易法》和《国际经济紧急权力法》对外实施单边经济制裁。虽然《国际经济紧急权力法》是国会限制总统权力的法律,但是在内容上却给予总统以广泛的行政权力。总统既享有固有的外交权力,又获得国会赋予的对外贸易管制权,而司法部门在涉外问题中基于政治问题和国际礼让原则,并不做司法审查,总统经济制裁的行政权力扩张得到了立法与司法的支撑。在美国经济制裁中,立法权、行政权与司法权受商业利益、个人追求与党派之争的影响,逐渐脱离法治轨道。从宪法授权以及美国经济制裁的发展历程上看,经济制裁措施存在不完全符合宪法等要求的问题,我们在应对美国经济制裁时可从这些问题着手加以研究。     

Parliamentary deadlock and the removal of the prime minister: Incumbency and termination theory in Trinidad and Tobago

In December 2001, the result of the general election in Trinidad and Tobago was an 18–18 tie for the 36 seats in the House of Representatives. The party led by the then incumbent prime minister, Basdeo Panday (the United National Congress – UNC) and the party led by the then leader of the opposition, Patrick Manning (the People's National Movement – PNM) found themselves in a situation in which the President of the Republic, Arthur N.R. Robinson, had to decide on which one of them to appoint as prime minister. The incumbency theory has been an established principle in most parliamentary democracies in the Commonwealth in situations where there is a ‘hung’ parliament insofar as offering the incumbent prime minister the opportunity to form a government is concerned. The decision of President Robinson to revoke the appointment of Prime Minister Panday and to appoint the leader of the opposition, Patrick Manning, as prime minister opened a new debate about the powers of the Head of State to terminate the appointment of an incumbent prime minister in spite of the fact that both aspirants for the office commanded the support of an equal number of elected MPs.     

再论美国宪法的特点--兼与英、法、德、日宪法比较

总结了美国宪法具有四个特点,即确立了有限政府原则、确立了权力分立与制衡原则、实现了宪法的司法化、具有较高的稳定性和灵活性,分别就这四个特点进行了分析、论述,并与英、法、德、日四国宪法的相应方面进行了比较.通过对美国宪法的特点及其相互关系的分析,从中可以看出有限政府、宪法与法治之间的依存关系.     

The President’s power to withhold assent to Bills of Parliament

In terms of Article 64 of the Namibian Constitution, the President may withhold his or her assent to a Bill passed by Parliament on constitutional grounds, and may refer such Bill to a competent court for a decision. The strength of Article 64 is rooted in the fact that legislative proposal, which is not yet law, can be challenged for constitutionality. The power of the President is comparable with systems in South Africa, Ireland and India. This article examines the extent to which the executive, represented by the President, acts as a constitutional check on the legislative, represented by Parliament.     

60年60部重要法律

1．中华人民共和国宪法（1982年12月） 1982年12月4日,第五届全国人民代表大会第五次会议,庄严通过中国现行根本大法《中华人民共和国宪法》。现行宪法首先以序言的形式记载一百多年来中国人民革命的历程,记述20世纪中国所发生的伟大历史变革,     

The Problem of Emergency in the American Supreme Court

Sixty years before Carl Schmitt wrote his Political Theology, and more than a 100 years before President Bush announced a ‘war on terrorism’ the American Supreme Court grappled with the difficult issue of emergency powers in connection with issues arising out of the American Civil War (1861–1865). The question confronting the Court in a set of cases named the Prize Cases was whether President Lincoln’s decision to respond to acts of aggression by the secessionist Southern states with measures of war was lawful. The legal problem was that Lincoln had made this decision unilaterally although the American Constitution specifically allocates the power to declare war to Congress. The Court solved the dilemma by arguing that in cases where no war has been declared, the decision whether the country is in a state of war is ultimately ‘a question to be decided by him [the President], and [the Supreme] Court must be governed by the decisions and acts of the political department of the Government to which this power was entrusted’ (Prize, p. 669). The precedent, which the Court thereby laid down, has since played out as an important leverage for the Bush government’s legal arguments in connection with the war on terrorism. This article engages the theoretical framework of Locke, Schmitt and Agamben in order to come to a better understanding of this important set of cases.     

西方宪政中“三权分立”的历史解释

从神秘主义或政府的内在价值出发解释"三权"分立的合理性是不够的.要理解为什么是"三权"分立,需要从历史发展的视野中寻找答案.从历史上看,三权分立是政府职能不断归类和抽象的发展结果,是长期以来人们不断探索制衡政治权力的历史结果.因此,三权分立制度是社会变迁、政治力量斗争的结果,是混合政体理论及其实践演变的目标,具有其一定的历史必然性.     

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.     

“Our People in General Have a High Degree of Freedom”

This article considers the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in National Federation of Independent Business et al v Sebelius, which questioned the constitutionality of President Obama’s signature healthcare reforms of 2009, which have become colloquially known as ‘Obamacare’. Although the Supreme Court upheld the Act as constitutional, this article contends that the Supreme Court’s reasoning can be read as another battle in the long-standing debate in American politics over the correct size and limits of the Federal Government. In upholding the healthcare reforms as a tax, rather than under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, the Supreme Court has endorsed a view of limited government in line with the principles of classical liberalism. This has the potential to greatly restrict the scope of the Federal Government to pursue large scale expansive social welfare programmes in the future.     

论宪法第三条第四款——也读毛泽东《论十大关系》第五节

1982宪法第三条第四款所规定的中央与地方关系乃是政策式的,并非真正的法律性的规定,即缺乏操作性,因此,实践中的中央与地方关系更多的是靠中央政府与地方政府的权力博奕。既然是作为一种博弈,那么其必然更少地依赖规则,或者说至少不具有"常规化"的外表,而新中国建立以来的包括中央与地方关系在内的政治实践也倾向于这种选择。更重要的是,具备严密组织性的中国共产党在中央及地方的各级组织强有力地支持了这样的处理方式,并且,党组织本身构成了该处理方式的重要组成部分。     

An Appraisal of the Powers of the Attorney General of the Federation with Respect to Criminal Proceedings Under the Nigerian Constitution

This article undertakes a detailed examination of the powers of the Attorney General of the Federation under the Nigerian Constitution, specifically with regard to criminal proceedings. These powers are specifically spelt out in the Nigerian Constitution. The nature of the office of the Attorney General is identified and evaluated. The powers of the Attorney General with respect to criminal proceedings are then discussed. The question as to whether the powers of the Attorney General are delegable is considered. Finally, recommendations are made to the effect that the office of the Attorney General be separated from the office of the Minister of Justice.     

The United States Congress and nuclear war powers: explaining legislative nonfeasance

Scholarly debate over the role of the United States Congress in approving military action has focused on the respective war powers granted the executive and legislature by the United States Constitution. Although a voluminous literature has examined the institutional and partisan politics shaping their exercise, a conspicuous lacuna concerns nuclear war powers. Despite periodic but mostly ineffective reassertions of congressional prerogatives over war, the decision to employ nuclear weapons has been left entirely to presidential discretion since 1945. Explaining this consistent refusal by Congress to rein in the ultimate presidential power and exercise co-responsibility for the most devastating form of war relies less on disputatious constitutional grounds than on three arguments about congressional dysfunctionality, legislative irresponsibility, and the relative costs of collective action by federal lawmakers on perilous national security questions.     

《中华民国临时约法》之宪政经验述略

清帝逊位之初十几年的中国近代史，就是围绕《中华民国临时约法》的斗争史。国民党试图凭借《中华民国临时约法》实现责任内阁和政党政治；袁世凯或明或暗地破坏该法，欲使中国社会回归传统，让自己君临天下。然而，最终双方都以失败而告终。何也？在袁世凯，大概因为封建传统思想严重，过于迷信武装的力量和政治手腕，以至于公然逆民意和历史潮流而动，冒天下之大不韪；在国民党，大概因为没有真正接受宪政文化的洗礼，没有彻底摆脱传统文化的影响，对时局的把握也不够准确，以至于不知不觉地犯了这样那样的错误。