司法审查正当性论争之辨析

司法审查的正当性论争所造成的司法审查正当性困窘,堪称司法审查乃＂知难行易＂。辩解和诘难司法审查的两种立场,无不从民主、分权、人权与司法审查之关联以证立或驳斥司法审查,其中又内在地勾连着宪法的性质、立法与司法的关系、宪法解释的方法。此种理论上的分异乃至对立,端在于司法审查的正当性问题已非一般意义的司法的正当性问题,而是因司法审查内含修宪,遂转成为政治正当性问题。民主、分权、人权正是关联着司法审查权的依据、方式和目标三个方面,从而成为证立或驳斥司法审查所必然涉及者。而对民主、分权、人权的理解和判定,又往往人言人殊,由此造成理论上的各执一词、分庭抗礼。然而,在证立与驳斥司法审查之间,逻辑上的要求是不对等的。此所以司法审查在理论上困难重重,在实践上却大行其道。此亦所谓＂知行分离＂。     

Protecting the rights of the developmentally disabled: alternatives to the existing statutory and regulatory scheme.

The Developmentally Disabled Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 1975 and related HEW regulations require each state to establish a system for the protection and advocacy of the rights of developmentally disabled persons as a condition to receiving specified federal funds. This Note contends that, under the present statutory and regulatory scheme, states and governors have broad powers to interfere with the proper functioning of protection and advocacy systems. The Note examines the principal legal remedies, contractual and constitutional, presently available to parties interested in reducing or eliminating such interference, and concludes that such remedies are ineffectual. Instead, the author proposes, the HEW regulations should be revised to strengthen the autonomy of protection and advocacy systems or, alternatively, Congress should amend the 1975 Act to provide for federal administration of such systems.     

Under the quasi-judicial state: H-1B employment rights in an era of judicial retrenchment

Foreign workers holding H-1B visas gained recourse to federal employment rights under the Immigration & Nationality Act (INA) for the very first time when Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1990 (IMMACT90). This paper examines H-1B employment rights enforcement under the INA as it has intersected with broader features of the American legal system: what political scientists call judicial retrenchment and the quasi-judicial state. I first show how H-1B rights, already limited by the domestic politics that shaped the IMMACT, became subject to judicial retrenchment when the federal courts confined H-1B disputes under the INA to the quasi-judicial state at the Department of Labor (DOL). I then use published data on DOL investigation outcomes, published and unpublished administrative case records, and judicial cases reviewing agency action to examine the extent to which and how H-1B workers can use the quasi-judicial state to solve workplace problems. My empirical findings contribute to a new understanding of the relationship between rights retrenchment, the judiciary, and the rise of alternatives to court in immigration and employment law and point to possible fine-grained changes for future immigration reform.     

ATCA as an avenue of overseas environmental protection and its implication to China��s overseas investors

The U.S. federal courts have civil jurisdiction over some torts claims with respect to the violations of law of nations or treaties concluded by the U.S. under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA). Although the applicable scope of ATCA is very narrow from a historical perspective, it has extended much broader nowadays. Seeking remedy for environmental damage under ATCA is difficult, but ATCA is playing an important role in indirectly protecting overseas environment. Under the circumstances, China??s overseas investors who are causing serious environmental problems in developing countries and have direct investment or operation in the U.S. could be subject to the U.S. courts?? jurisdiction.     

Ley suprema y derechos humanos en méxico

In this essay I claim that human rights incorporated in the mexican legal order by means of the Constitution, internacional treaties, judicial decisions of federal courts and other legal sources, constitute the supreme criteria for qualifying the legitimacy of legal norms through a conventionality process that includes different stages.     

Legal Reasoning and the Separation of Powers: A State-Level Analysis of Disputes Involving Federal Funds Appropriations*

This article investigates the influence of judicial decisions on state legislative oversight of federal funds. A systematic analysis of judicial decisions is undertaken in an effort to reveal (a) the extent to which such activity on the part of legislatures is permitted or denied by courts, and (b) the nature of legal reasoning that determines differential outcomes. The analysis reveals, among other things, that there are two divergent paths of law: one upholding the legislative prerogative to exercise the power of the purse, and the other upholding the executive function of governors to act as custodians and executors of federal funds and programs. The delegation of legislative powers to interim committees is likewise investigated.     

Social Network Analysis and the Diffusion of the Strict Liability Rule for Manufacturing Defects, 1963–87

This article reports the results of a study that uses social network analysis to compare the persuasiveness of legal precedents in the diffusion of the strict liability rule for manufacturing defects. This new study tests which legal precedents were most influential and also whether certain state judicial variables influenced the diffusion process. The results are striking. The federal circuit regions appear to define an important reference group in the diffusion process, and social network effects dominate economic and political variables. In addition, the de facto separation of powers in the enactment of new state legislation appears to influence courts' propensities to adopt the strict liability rule. When the executive and legislative branches were controlled by the same political party, regardless of whether it was Republican or Democratic, state courts were more inclined to adopt the strict liability rule.     

论宪法性基本权利的司法保障

公民宪法性基本权利的司法保障是我国法治建设的重要内容。但由于观念和制度的偏差 ,使宪法不能直接适用于司法。宪法的基本特征决定了它是控制国家权力、保障公民基本权利的法律 ,它的法律性决定了公民宪法性基本权利可以通过司法途径加以保障。公民宪法性基本权利进行司法保障的途径是改革法律制度 ,建立宪法委员会和宪法法院 ,赋予法院司法审查的权力。     

Human Dignity and Socio-Economic Rights

The South African Constitution numbers among a very few constitutions around the world which include justiciable socio-economic rights. One of the controversies surrounding judicial enforcement of such rights is the extent to which it is appropriate for courts to engage in policy choices in relation to the use of state resources in light of the doctrine of the separation of powers. The South African Constitutional Court has responded by developing an approach to adjudication of socio-economic rights in which the role of the court is to determine the reasonableness or otherwise of measures taken by the legislature and executive to implement such rights. However, the South African Constitution is also notable for its identification of human dignity as an underlying value and the explicit duty placed on the courts to interpret the rights protected under the Bill of Rights in conformity with this value. This article scrutinises the socio-economic rights jurisprudence of the South African Constitutional court in light of the Constitutional commitment to human dignity. It questions whether reasonableness review in socio-economic cases successfully balances human dignity with the appropriate degree of deference to the legislature and executive, in compliance with the doctrine of the separation of powers.     

Rights and Rhetoric: The Politics of Asylum and Human Rights Culture in the United Kingdom

No assessment of the state of human rights today could be complete without some consideration of the situation of asylum seekers and the political trends behind it. Four years after the implementation of the 1998 Act, asylum seekers are perhaps more denigrated in rhetoric and harsh practice than they were even before the first promise that rights would be 'brought home' for all 'people' in the United Kingdom. This piece looks at the undermining of the very concept of asylum, dehumanizing policies such as forced destitution, and attacks on access to legal process for those making asylum claims. It goes on to consider judicial attempts at coping with the arena in which high politics and fundamental rights seem in greatest tension. Finally it considers potential implications for the broader aspiration of building a human rights culture in this country.     

Accommodating Children's Rights in a Post Human Rights Act Era

This article considers why so little case law currently acknowledges that children have recognisable rights under the European Convention on Human Rights and argues that the family courts are not meeting the demands of the Human Rights Act 1998 in this regard. It suggests that a reinterpretation of the 'paramountcy principle' in the Children Act 1989 should be accompanied by a radically different judicial approach to evidence relating to children's best interests. The article considers the difficulties that such an approach might produce when applied to teenagers intent on refusing life-saving medical treatment. It further argues that the courts should call on the substantial body of rights jurisprudence to provide legal and moral support for this revised approach.     

Panel recommends significant changes to federal law against discrimination

In a report released on 23 June 2000, the Review Panel tasked by the federal Minister of Justice with reviewing the Canadian Human Rights Act made some welcome recommendations for improving the Act and the way the Canadian Human Rights Commission functions. Three are of particular significance: the recommendation that "social condition" be added to the prohibited grounds for discrimination listed in the Act; the recommendation that the Canadian Human Rights Commission should have, under its governing legislation, the duty to monitor and report to Parliament and the UN Human Rights Committee on the federal government's compliance with international human rights treaties regarding economic, social, and cultural rights; and the recommendation that "gender identity" should be expressly added to the Act as a prohibited ground of discrimination.     

The Effects of Legal and Extralegal Factors on Detention Decisions in US District Courts

The Bail Reform Act of 1984 changed the law dictating release and detention decisions in federal court. Since its passage, few studies have examined judicial decision-making in this context. Legal research enables us to account for the structure and interpretation of federal detention laws and to analyze previously neglected measures of legal factors in our analyses. We use US Sentencing Commission data on a sample of defendants who were sentenced in 2007 (N?=?31,043). We find that legal factors—particularly length of criminal history, having committed a violent or otherwise serious offense, and having committed the offense while under supervision of the criminal justice system—have the strongest relationships with the presentence detention outcome. A defendant’s age, race, and ethnicity have weaker relationships with detention. When we compare defendants who are similarly situated with respect to legal factors, the probability of detention is similar regardless of age, race, and ethnicity.     

行政诉讼中的事实审查与法律审查——以司法审查强度为中心

行政诉讼具有不同于刑事诉讼、民事诉讼的构造,行政诉讼除了具有保障人权的基本价值外,还不得不重视权力分立的价值,即在行政诉讼注重司法权对行政权的控制和审查的同时,也要防止司法权对行政权的过度侵入,从而妨碍行政权的独立行使,这就是司法审查强度的问题。我国《行政诉讼法》应当重视区分事实问题和法律问题,并进行不同强度的司法审查。     

跨国公司侵犯人权行为的法律规制简

在当前国际经济秩序中,跨国公司凭借其强大的经济实力愈发扮演起重要的角色.跨国公司在经营活动中,侵犯东道国人权的问题已引起广泛关注.然而,现行法律框架不足以规制跨国公司在东道国侵犯人权的行为.在现行国际法规制模式下,跨国公司不是国际法主体,国际法无法直接规制跨国公司行为.在现行国内法规制模式下,东道国没有实力进行规制,甚至有些侵犯人权行为在东道国法律体系下根本不构成违法;母国没有意愿进行规制,唯一相关的母国立法,即美国ATCA存在诸多缺陷,实际效果有限.通过母国法律规制母公司的行为是一种解决途径,主要基于“企业理论”使母公司对子公司在东道国的侵犯人权行为承担责任,或者母国通过立法给母公司施加规制子公司行为的义务,但是该途径也在法律上及实践中存在障碍.根本的解决途径是促使发展中东道国积极签署并切实履行人权保护相关公约,来规制境内跨国公司侵犯人权的行为,提升本国法治环境.     

When “Best Practices” Win,Employees Lose: Symbolic Compliance and Judicial Inference in Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Cases

This article provides a new account of employers' advantages over employees in federal employment discrimination cases. We analyze the effects of judicial deference, in which judges use institutionalized employment structures to infer nondiscrimination without scrutinizing those structures in any meaningful way. Using logistic regression to analyze a representative sample of judicial opinions in federal EEO cases during the first thirty‐five years after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, we find that when judges uncritically use the presence of organizational structures to reason about whether discrimination occurred, employers are much more likely to prevail. This pattern is especially pronounced in opinions written by liberal judges. In light of these findings, we offer recommendations for judges, lawyers, and policy makers—including legal academics—who seek to improve the accuracy and efficacy of employment discrimination adjudications.     

司法是人权保障的最佳方式

司法是人权保障的最佳方式。一方面 ,它是由权利本身的缺陷所决定 ;侵权是必然发生的 ,因此救济权利成为必要。权利救济的最佳方式是司法救济。另一方面 ,它是由司法的特性所决定 ;司法具有中立性 ,司法过程是建立在正当程序基础之上的 ,以及司法判决是由合格的法庭和法官作出的。     

公共行政组织的法律规制

公共行政组织在当今中国的兴起与发展已成为必然趋势,但同时也涌现出众多不可忽视的问题。对公共行政组织加以有效的法律规制,不仅是确保行政分权、实现行政民主化的必要途径,也是控制国家行政权力、保护相对人合法权益和实现法治的必然要求。具体思路是:借鉴域外经验,增强“准行政组织”性事业单位的独立性和社会自治组织的“自治”程度,以建立独立自治的公共行政组织;在规制的路径选择上,实行加强规制与放松规制并举,并从加强立法、拓宽行政法的适用范围、扩展司法审查范围以及扩大公众参与等方面实现对公共行政组织规制的相关制度构建。     

Power,National Security and Transparency: Judicial Decision Making and Social Architecture in the Federal Courts

Even in a democratic society, the need for transparency must be balanced with an important countervailing interest: the occasional, legitimate need for government secrecy. This article, based on an examination of opinions in federal cases dealing with national security and transparency, explores how judges identified the main legal issues presented by a case and the legal factors or mode of legal interpretation used to reach or justify their conclusions. The article concludes that many of these opinions are as much about judges’ attempts to balance the judicial branch's power with the powers of the executive and legislative branches as they are about national security and transparency. Furthermore, the article contends these opinions have created an “architecture of power” that determines how national security information is controlled. The final section also suggests that judges should be mindful of the original architecture of power established by the Constitution and the First Amendment when writing their opinions.     

国家民事公诉:检察权的新型配置与制度建构

从检察权产生、发展的历史背景和现实需求来考察,检察机关维护国家利益和社会公共利益的角色定位,使其具有承担国家民事公诉权能的自然身份,有充分理由将民事公诉纳入我国检察权新型配置的视野。我国民事公诉法律制度的构建,需要对检察机关的诉权和诉讼法律地位,公诉案件的受案条件、范围和管辖,公诉案件的证据规则,公诉案件的审理、裁判和执行等具体内容进行合理设计,既保障检察机关依法履行职能,又避免与政府公权力的行使和当事人意思自治的基本原则产生冲突。