布坎南宪政规则理论研究

立宪民主是宪法性规则约束下的一种有限民主,立宪规则理论是布坎南宪政民主理论的核心内容.布坎南相信一套政治和经济活动的宪法性规则可以有效约束政府行为.但是由于布坎南的规则理论太过理想化而招致很多批评,使得布坎南不得不对其规则理论进行不断修正,其规则理论经过了一致同意规则、超多数裁定规则、普遍性原则等几种形式流变.通过对布坎南的规则内容及规则形式流变的研究,有利于我们进一步看清布坎南规则理论的困境和乌托邦色彩,有助于我们深入地把握其立宪民主理论的内容实质.     

论确立行政给付界限的宪法劳动义务规范

宪法劳动义务规范传统上作为“不劳动者不得食”的体现已经失去其存在的意义,但其作为宪法的成文规范,简单地予以废除意味着法解释学的失败.实际上,宪法劳动义务规范完全可以成为行政给付界限的宪法依据.义务不仅意味着国家的强制,也意味着国家责任的豁免.宪法劳动义务就是在宪法上确立了公民自食其力、自力更生的基本义务以及国家在这一范围内物质帮助义务的豁免.这一规范构成了行政给付中国家责任范围的重要依据,并且已经在我国最低生活保障制度中有明确体现.     

宪法是关于主权的真实规则

语言要有意义 ,就必须或直接或间接地指示物理客体。思想和言说之谬误的根源在于 :混淆实名词 (即主项之名 ,包括物理名词和抽象名词 )和物理世界之关系 ,冒称前者是后者。本着此种语言观 ,宪法学者的首要职责就是解释主权的真相。此种身份定位决定了宪法的概念 :它是关于主权之构成和运作的真规则 ,包括道德无涉的宪法法律和惯例。在成文宪法作用仍待提升的国家 ,要解释主权的真规则 ,培育符合宪政的宪法 ,尤其要倚重宪法惯例。     

宪法演进模式之比较

本文对宪法演进模式进行了评析 ,认为在一般意义上说 ,大陆法系的宪法演进采取的是立宪式的路径 ,英美法系宪法演进所采取的则是释宪与惯例式的路径 ,在此基础上对两种模式之优劣进行了比较分析 ,提出中国宪法演进发展的模式应当尽可能采取释宪演进方式 ,以此提高宪法的权威性、稳定性和连续性 ,从而在全体社会成员之中培养起尊重宪法、信任宪法乃至信仰宪法的传统。     

La construcción de una democracia respetuosa de los derechos humanos. reflexiones a partir del modelo constitucional adoptado por la república de timor oriental

This paper proposes to show the benefits of adopting a constitutional model that incorporates fundamental rights and judicial review systems in order to build a democracy respectful of human rights. Such goal will be achieved analyzing the constitutional model adopted by the young republic of East Timor. To that end, first we will explain briefly the political background and the roots of the Constitution of this country. Further on, we will present some of the characteristics of the constitutional model of East Timor. Specifically, we will show that this Constitution: i) it is not made up only of rules, but also includes values and principles which are directly applicable, and works as validity standards for the whole legal system; and ii) it recognizes some legal contents -related to human rights- that limit the rules, decisions and actions made by authorities and citizens. Finally, we will point out some challenges that this constitutional models usually face when reviewing authority decisions.     

An Empowerment Theory of Legal Norms*

Abstract. Traditionally legal theorists, whenever engaged in controversy, have agreed on one point: legal norms are par excellence rules which impose obligations. The author examines this assumption, which from another perspective (that of constitutional law, for instance) appears less obvious. In fact, constitutional rules are commoniy empowering norms, norms which do not create duties but powers. To this objection many theorists would reply that empowering rules are incomplete and that they are to be understood as parts of duty-creating rules. A different position from this traditional stance is that defended in Kelsen's later writings, according to which the fundamental type of norm is the empowering norm. The author discusses Kelsen's three theories on the “ideal form” or structure of the legal norm, with special attention to the third of these, the empowerment theory.     

论宪法与区际法律冲突

本文通过分析宪法中的立法管辖权规范及其与区际法律冲突的关系 ,探讨了宪法与区际法律冲突之间的关系。此外 ,本文还着重讨论了中国的宪法 ,尤其是两部基本法 ,对区际法律冲突问题的影响。本文的结论强调 ,宪法在一定程度上决定了复合法域国家区际法律冲突的产生、范围及其解决途径。     

Group Size, Group Heterogeneity, and Voting Rules: An Application of the Buchanan-Tullock Model to the European Union

In The Calculus of Consent, Buchanan and Tullock develop a theory of voting rules in which the optimal rule is determined by minimizing the sum of voters' external and decision costs. Other researchers have extended the Buchanan-Tullock model to include the effects of group size and heterogeneity on external and decision costs and, subsequently, on the optimal voting rule. Despite the prominence of the Buchanan-Tullock model in the constitutional, legal, and public-choice literature, their theory has not (to our knowledge) been tested. In this paper we test the Buchanan-Tullock model by examining the establishment and evolution of voting rules in the European Union. Over the past four decades, the European Union has experienced significant changes in number and heterogeneity, and we interpret the general movement towards, and call for, less inclusive voting rules as support for Buchanan and Tullock's original theory.     

Can young pups teach an old Dog new tricks? Lessons for British reformers from eastern Europe's new constitutional democracies

This article analyses the process of constitutional reforms in eastern Europe and draws lessons for similar reforms in British politics. It looks, first, at electoral engineering and shows how political actors, pursuing their particular interests, try to turn proportionality back into majoritarianism, and how and why such moves do not necessarily result in their projected outcomes. In a similar vein, it then goes on to analyse parliamentary formal rules, such as standing orders, and demonstrates how attempts to manipulate them can be offset, not just by counter‐manipulation, but by underlying informal rules and cultural norms. Overall, we argue that, because constitutional change is an ongoing and crucially political process, its results are neither wholly predictable nor always welcomed. On the basis of the eastern European experience, we also suggest that constitutional change does not necessarily lead to increased legitimacy of the system, thus undermining one of the major hopes of reformers in Britain.     

非法证据排除规则的宪法思考——兼评我国刑事诉讼法的修改

非法证据排除规则是宪法程序的基本内容,美国宪法第5条修正案规定了不得强迫自证其罪,宪法判例据此推定出排除规则;日本等国宪法既规定了不得强迫自证其罪,也规定了排除规则;德国基本法从公权力的限制性规范推定出排除规则。排除规则排除的不是证据本身,而是公权力的违法行为,因为证据是先于程序而存在的客观实在,不能排除,也不应该排除。排除规则的价值取向可分为:单维度的价值定位和多维度的价值定位,前者在于保护犯罪嫌疑人和被告人的权利,后者还包括证人、被害人和社会大众的权利;不同维度的价值取向意味着非法证据的排除范围有别。我国宪法没有禁止强迫自证其罪和排除规则的规定,正在热议的《刑事诉讼法草案》对这两个规则作了具体规定,其意义重大,不容置疑,但也存在着实施的困难和障碍:一是与排除规则配套的司法体制、强制措施和侦查手段等有待完善;二是非法证据排除的范围和标准不确定、不具体、不合理;三是排除规则适用的例外情况没有专门规定,容易放纵公权力的恣意。     

欧洲近现代历史上宪政民主政制的生成、建构与演进

宪政民主政制与社会经济发展之间的关系,是一个值得深入进行理论探讨和实证研究的新课题。本文对西方宪政民主的起源、生成与演变史做了一个鸟瞰式的回顾,为探究宪政民主与经济发展之间的关系提供一些背景知识。在从词源和辞义上辨析了西方文字中的"constitution"以及以及与之对应的中文"宪法"和"宪政"的基本含义之后,本文对英国、法国和德国近现代宪政民主政制的生成、建构和演变史做了一些简略的历史考察,并在最后一部份对近现代欧洲历史上宪政民主政制下的法律制度的生成原因做了理论的和历史的分析。     

内阁集体负责制及其例外——英国宪政习惯研究

研究英国的内阁制度 ,离不开研究英国的宪政习惯 ,因为规制着英国内阁行为的政治规则不是一般意义上的法律 ,而是宪政习惯。内阁集体负责制是英国宪政的核心制度之一 ,通过考察和分析英国内阁集体负责制的特点和实际运作机制 ,可以清楚地看到宪政习惯是如何在英国的现实政治生活中发挥作用的     

我国检察机关提起公益诉讼的正当性质疑

随着司法改革向纵深发展以及理论界扩张检察权、借鉴国外检察机关提起民事公益诉讼的立法例、加强我国检察机关民事公诉权的大声疾呼,检察机关提起公益诉讼已从司法实践进入了理论设计与制度设计的层面.然而,从理论上进行深层次分析后可以看出,作为法律监督者的我国现有检察机关提起公益诉讼因不符合公益诉讼的本质要求而不具有理论上的正当性.我们应当立足于我国的实际情况建立由代表国家公共利益的机关提起公益诉讼的制度.     

The Jurisprudence of Constitutional Conflict: Constitutional Supremacy in Europe before and after the Constitutional Treaty

Abstract:  One of the core constitutional questions for national constitutional courts in the EU in the past decades has been whether to accept the claim made by the Court of Justice that EU law is the supreme law of the land, taking primacy even over conflicting national constitutional provisions. With the inclusion in the recently adopted Constitutional Treaty of a clause explicitly confirming the 'primacy of EU Law' appearances suggest that the EU is about to establish a characteristic of mature, vertically integrated, federal states such as the USA. This article argues that this view is mistaken. It develops a comprehensive jurisprudential framework for addressing constitutional conflicts, 'Constitutionalism Beyond the State' (CBC). CBS detaches the discussion of supremacy and constitutional conflict from a statist framework; provides a jurisprudential account that explains and justifies the highly differentiated, context-sensitive and dynamic set of conflict rules that national courts have in the past adopted; and provides the lacking theoretical basis for the more attractive, but undertheorised sui generis accounts of European constitutional practice that have recently gained ground in the literature. CBS provides a jurisprudentially grounded reconstructive account of why the issue of constitutional conflict is as rich and complicated in Europe as it is and why it is likely to remain so even if the Constitutional Treaty is ratified. The article then goes on to make concrete proposals addressed to national constitutional courts and the Court of Juctise respectively about how, in application of the developed approach, constitutional conflicts ought to be addressed doctrinally. It includes a proposal to read the new 'constitutional identity' clause as authorising Member States as a matter of EU Law to set aside EU Law on constitutional grounds under certain circumstances.     

Remarks on the Normativity of International Legal Rules and Global Constitutionalism

The article reflects on the possibility of conceptualising the complex problem of the normativity of international legal rules, including in particular the phenomenon of “relative normativity.” The author utilises the critical potential of Ronald Dworkin's proposal for a new philosophy of international law to reflect on the classical accounts explaining normativity of international law. By building on Dworkin's argument, the author argues for a constitutional account of international law. The far‐reaching constitutional proposals may provide a more complex and coherent set of possible rationalisations of international legal rules. International law is in great need of a comprehensive theory that could better explain its normative character as well as its sources, and it is argued that international constitutionalism has the potential to serve this purpose.     

Investment Rules and the New Constitutionalism

The new model for economic and political renovation mandates the entrenchment, beyond the reach of majoritarian control, of rules for the free movement of transnational capital. This "new constitutionalism" removes key aspects of economic life from the influence of domestic politics within nation states. A manifestation of this new orthodoxy is the network of bilateral investment treaties designed to ensure foreign investors security from "discrimination" and "expropriation," and conferring standing on investors to sue in the event that their investment interests are impaired. This paper examines the agency of the state in promoting this self-binding regime of investment rules and its potential impact on domestic constitutional regimes. Of particular concern here are constitutional arrangements that protect property, such as that recently enacted in the Republic of South Africa, that deviate from the norms expressed in the transnational investment-rules regime.     

宪法作为行政法直接渊源论析

宪法作为行政法直接渊源是在技术层面所作的分析,对于宪法的实施与实现以及解决宪法与行政法的关系有深层次意义。它具有体现宪法规制力、弥补行政法不足、将宪法权利类型化、构造一国法治体系的价值。当然,鉴于宪法与行政法的质的区别,宪法原则、宪法中的政治性条款、宪法中的非行政性规则不能作为行政法的直接渊源。     

Constitutionalising EU Executive Rule‐Making Procedures: A Research Agenda

The existence or non‐existence of procedural rules for executive rule‐making in the EU is not merely a ‘technical’ question free of constitutional value choices. This article argues that constitutional principles, such as transparency, openness and participatory democracy, highlighted by the Treaty of Lisbon constitute decisive normative standards for the design of administrative procedures in the EU, with a considerable impact on substantive outcomes. We apply such principles to executive rule‐making procedures in the EU, highlight the salience of this discussion and argue that systematisation of executive rule‐making procedures is needed in order to implement constitutional principles in a complex and plural environment.     

公平视野下的德国简化税法改革方案——基于保罗·基尔希霍夫教授税收正义理论的公法学思考

保罗·基尔希霍夫教授提出的税制改革方案主要借助取消不必要的类型化区分、确立中立法律形式下的课税表达、对婚姻和家庭的特别保护、减少例外规则以及简化税收程序等来实现税收正义。税收不仅仅是政治上的现实,其改革思路的起点恰在于税收背后的宪法理念:宪政体制下的租税国家、人格图像并函摄了基本权利主客观面向的理论基础,即对国家共同体及任务有着共同价值观的自由而有个性的人必然要求处于国家所保障的自由经济体制下的税收法律予以相匹配的规制,它具体表现为以减少纳税人税收形成可能性为目标,保障国家对个人经济成果最温和分享以及减少例外的原则。     

Invalidity

Abstract . According to the common thinking of continental European lawyers, a rule is invalid each and every time either it was not produced in accordance with the metarules which govern the production of rules in the system, or it is inconsistent with a "superior" (higher-ranked) rule belonging to the same system. Thus, a better understanding of the concept of invalidity demands a careful inquiry into the various kinds of meta-rules which govern the production of rules as well as into the various kinds of normative hierarchies. The paper is mainly devoted to such an analysis. Five different grounds for invalidity are distinguished. The analysis further shows that invalidity can affect rules as well as legal provisions and legal sources. Further, invalidity should be sharply distinguished from non-existence (existence being a sufficient condition for rules to be applied). In most legal systems, invalid rules too are susceptible of judicial application: At least, until their invalidity is "declared" (in a constitutive way) by a competent organ (namely, a constitutional court, as far as statutory rules are concerned).