The Historical Overview of the Constitutional Reforms towards Limited Leadership in Tanzania

This paper points out the historical origins of most of the powers that are enjoyed by the President of the United Republic of Tanzania today. This is in essence a contribution to the current debate in Tanzania as to whether there is a need to cut down the broad powers of the President under the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania. In its historical perspective, the discussion proceeds by first comparing the powers of the President of Tanzania with those of the former colonial Governor. Having demonstrated the re‐institution of these powers after Independence, through the Republican Constitution of 1962, and the way they were utilized between 1965 and 1992, it is shown that the constitutional and political reforms that took effect from 1992 to date have not sufficiently addressed this problem. The paper proceeds to examine the work of the ‘Committee for the Collection of Views on the Constitution’ of 1999, which was given an opportunity to bring reform in this area, but which according to the author was not sufficiently effective in this regard.     

The call to citizens of Ghana to defend Ghana’s Fourth Republican Constitution: a death trap?

The 1992 Constitution of Ghana grants citizens the right and duty to employ any means to protect the Constitution. It also seeks to protect those who respond to the call to resist usurpers. However, in Ekwam v Pianim (No 2) the Supreme Court of Ghana ruled that a person who failed in his attempt to defend the Constitution against usurpers could not rely on the Constitution he unsuccessfully sought to defend for protection. The issue of the unsuccessful resister is an ‘unanswered question’ of the Constitution. This is a hard case and Dworkin’s adjudicative theory offers insights into resolving it.     

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.     

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.     

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。     

论社会哲学视野中的人、社会共同体与宪法——兼评《欧盟宪法》

宪法是人为了自己的生存与发展有意识地组织社会共同体的规则,以及由该规则所构建的社会秩序。因此,宪法、人的生存与发展即人权、社会共同体三个范畴及其相互的关系是宪法社会学的基本问题:宪法的终极关怀是人的生存和发展,其首要功能在于组织自足与互助的社会共同体,这种观念不仅把宪法的历史与逻辑统一起来了,而且能够很好地解释《欧盟宪法》的历史必然性。     

Digging for Gold or Justice? Misrecognition and Marginalization of “Illegal” Small-Scale Miners in Ghana

Artisanal small-scale mining remains a concern to many mineral-rich countries in the developing world. In Ghana, a significant number of those engaged in the sector are operating illegally. The ubiquity of the illegal mining sector has posed a policy challenge to the government, and high-handed measures to curb the problem have failed. This study contributes to our understanding of the problem by providing a more nuanced alternative perspective to the illegality discourse that has informed discussions and policy till now. Based on qualitative primary data collected from Noyem, a mining community in Ghana, the study shows that the so-called illegal small-scale mining is an outcome of existing social injustices suffered by the miners. It further reveals that those engaged in the sector are not homogenous but differentiated by class and motive. The study recommends among others that government addresses the identified social injustices rather than simply focusing on law enforcement to address the problem.     

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.     

论法人的基本权利主体地位

美国宪法并没有规定公司是基本权利主体,美国联邦最高法院在很多判例中亦认定美国宪法的特权与豁免条款不适用于公司。宪法第14修正案通过后,尤其是自19世纪80年代以来,美国联邦最高法院逐渐将宪法的保护扩大适用于公司,使得公司成为某些宪法基本权利的主体。这一转变迎合了美国经济发展的需要,使得国内统一大市场的建立成为可能。本文借鉴美国的宪法实践,细致梳理了公司作为基本权利主体的相关理论。     

符合法律的宪法解释与宪法发展

符合法律的宪法解释是在宪法有复数解释时以法律为准据而选择宪法解释的方法,与合宪性解释的方向恰恰相反。在我国宪法实践上,全国人大常委会曾经将《宪法》第40条上的公安机关解释为涵盖国家安全机关,这是较为典型的符合法律的宪法解释。从理论上说,为化解违宪疑虑,也可以通过这种解释方法将《宪法》第40条上的通信解释为排除通讯记录,而将检察机关解释为涵盖监察机关在内。与合宪性解释不同的是,符合法律的宪法解释属于逆向的"以宪就法",因此通过这种方法得出的结论须接受宪法上的再审查。这种解释方法既能维持宪法的最高性,恪守宪法与法律之间的界分,同时又能容纳宪法含义新的发展。     

规范与实践的悖离——民族自治地方法律变通的问题及对策

民族自治地方法律变通存在的主要问题是关于变通的规范与变通实践的悖离,这种悖离主要体现在宪法、法律赋予了民族自治地方的自制机关立法变通权,但民族自治地方的自治机关在实践中却并未充分行使这种变通权,而宪法和法律并未授予民族自治地方的司法机关变通权,但在实践中司法机关出于种种目的却大量进行着变通行为。解决这种悖离现象的主要对策是通过完善的法律制度促使民族自治地方的自治机关积极行使法律变通权,同时通过宪法或法律授予民族自治地方的司法机关一定的变通权,但应明确变通权行使的目的及范围,以限制司法机关滥用变通权。     

Winnowing the chaff out of the grains: the intermixture of customary law and spiritualism in Ghana

Belief in the supernatural runs so deep in the cultural lives of Ghanaians that customary law – ‘the rules of law, which by custom are applicable to particular communities in Ghana’ – has not been spared its influence. This article asserts that state sanctioned enforcement of superstition inspired customs violates the fundamental constitutional value of freedom of conscience relative to persons who do not subscribe to such beliefs in the supernatural. But in order to accommodate the twin state interests of preserving customary laws and respecting the freedom of conscience, this article proposes the development of a body of customary laws devoid of superstition. It sets out to discuss why this idea is imperative and how it can be achieved.     

A fresh start I: Education rights in South Africa

In this first part of a two-part article education rights as protected by the South African Constitution are analysed. As background, the education rights protected by section 32 of the interim Constitution and the case law that arose from that provision are discussed. Section 29 of the 1996 Constitution is then discussed with reference to the right to basic and further education, the right to education in the language of one's choice, and the right to private education. Mention is also made of the way in which religious observances maybe conducted in schools. This first part of the article concludes with the observation that the education rights in the Constitution form the basis and the spearhead of the fresh start South Africa has made in education. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Post-Apartheid Social Movements and the Quest for the Elusive 'New' South Africa

The South African Constitution guarantees justiciable socio-economic rights such as the rights to access to housing; to sufficient food and water; to social security and health care services. This 'transformative constitution' is meant to help rid the country of legacies of apartheid such as huge economic inequalities and entrenched poverty. The government's embrace of neoliberalism has, however, meant that these legacies have not only remained largely untreated but have also become entrenched. Poor communities have started organizing themselves in order to challenge the government's neoliberal policies as well as marginalization from structures of governance. This paper evaluates the nature of these 'social movements' as well as their impact on democracy and development.     

论法国民法典的宪法化

《法国民法典》具有极为崇高的地位，为形成和维系大革命以来的法兰西社会提供了重要的法律基础。但20世纪80年代以来，法国宪法法院通过合宪性审查不断使民法典受到宪法规范的约束、辐射和渗透，实现了路易·法沃赫教授所说的“宪法化”。30余年的宪法化进程使民法与宪法的关系进入了一种规范语境，民法典在规范上已经受到宪法的切实约束，同时，民法典作为“真正宪典”的社会作用也逐渐被人权宣言所取代。在探讨民法与宪法的关系时，“民法典是真正宪典”这一社会学命题不应错误地扩大到规范领域，更不能不顾时代变迁，忽视宪法化的时代背景。     

城市土地“国家所有”的困惑与消解

本文从中国、美国、加拿大等国的比较分析出发,论证了土地所有权和使用权分离的可行性与必然性,纠正了1982年宪法一夜之间将城市私人土地"国有化"的简单化理解。这种错误理解不仅违背了尊重人权、法治、公正和市场规律的宪法精神,而且已经在实践中造成了极其严重的社会后果。世界各国的经验表明,所有权是可以分割的,名义所有权完全可以和实际使用权相分离。文章认为,对于城市"国有土地","全民"所有权只能是一种名义所有权,1982年宪法关于城市土地"国家所有"的规定并未剥夺任何个人或单位的土地使用权。     

“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.     

Husbands who kill their wives: an analysis of uxoricides in contemporary Ghana

This article addresses the current lack of research on uxoricides in non-Western societies by examining the phenomenon in Ghana, West Africa. Analysis of data from the 60 husband-wife killings reported in a national daily newspaper reveals that jealousy and suspicion of infidelity overwhelmingly provided the basis for wife murders. The findings also indicate that assailants and victims were of low socioeconomic background and the murders predominantly occurred in the rural areas of the country. Posthomicidal suicide by the assailant occurred in about one fourth of the cases. Overall, the results demonstrate that the patterns of uxoricide in Ghana are congruous in many significant ways with those noted in Western industrialized societies. It is concluded that additional research in non-Western societies is warranted to contribute to the development of sound conclusions about and remedies for uxoricide.