论违宪审查制度

违宪审查制度是对宪法本身乃至于宪政秩序进行维护的制度性保障机制,该制度已经在世界上大多数国家生根落户,并在维护宪政秩序方面发挥着不可替代的作用。通过对世界各国违宪审查制度进行审视和考察,可以从审查机构到审查程序两个方面,对分散式违宪审查和集中式违宪审查这两种审查模式的产生原因及实际效果进行探究分析,以期对我国违宪审查制度的建构起到参考作用。     

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.     

任何民族无信仰即无宪政也无法治——民族信仰与中国百年宪政关系的文化考察

中国人民追求宪政并且为之奋斗一百余年但社会效果仍不理想的根本原因在于一百年多来中国人没有形成较为稳定的、长期的、统一的精神信仰。信仰也是一种规则体系、价值体系,可以补充、完善法律的规范作用。一个民族只有解决了信仰问题,才有可能走向宪政或法治。     

日本舆论监督的法律边界

舆论监督是世界各国宪法普遍保障的一项基本权利。日本法院在舆论监督的两大法律限制——事前限制与国家秘密,从原则上确认了表达自由和新闻监督的重要意义。但是在“《北方杂志》事件”和“家永教科书”等具体判例中,仍然采取相当谨慎的立场,政府在限制新闻出版过程中可以依据相当宽泛的公共利益行使自由裁量。     

宪法解释方法的两种传统及其启示

宪法解释的重要性已经得到了普遍的认可,而在宪法解释方法的历史发展中,存在着两大分支:德国传统和美国传统,二者分别以文义解释和原旨主义为主导性解释方法。虽然两种传统有着诸多差异,但从20世纪以来却出现了趋同的倾向,以重视社会学解释方法为集中表现。在两种传统的差异与趋同中,中国宪法解释可以受到多方面的启示,包括回归宪法文本、期待个案发轫、扩展主体范围和重视社会效果等。     

地方“土地财政”之合宪性控制

地方"土地财政"的宪法基础,不仅在于"租税并存的财政分权体制",更在于宪法文本所确立的"赶超型战略"。其不仅促进了社会经济高速增长等宪法上"国家目标规定"之实现,亦在实质上侵害到公民的"自由权"、"生存权"等基本权利,其间已经隐含了宪法规范的效力冲突。为此,我国需依循"人权保障"的宪法理念,在整个财税法制领域贯之以"量能课税(费)"、"生存照顾"等法治原则,建立规范化的财政转移支付制度,并推进法治化的财政支出制度改革,以消减地方"土地财政"的扩张冲动,遏制其负面效应之滋生。     

浅析宪法司法化的含义与现状

早在80年代,理论界就曾讨论宪法司法化问题.宪法司法化的障碍源于最高人民法院1955年和1986年做出的在法院判决中不准引用宪法的两个批复.最近,最高人民法院在"冒名上学"案中做出了关于法院判决中可以引用宪法的相反批复,从而使宪法司法化问题再度引起理论界的关注.本文拟就宪法司法化的含义、现状和难题作一剖析.     

Inter-parliamentary relations in the United Kingdom: devolution’s undiscovered country?

Since 1997, the United Kingdom’s territorial constitution has undergone an immense process of change and has resulted in the establishment of separate legislatures and governments for the peoples of Scotland, Wales and, when Stormont is operational, Northern Ireland. These changes have spawned a whole series of relationships between the institutions of the devolved UK, at executive, legislature and civil service levels. However, while intergovernmental relations has been the subject of repeated debate, there has been little attempt to document and examine the way in which the UK’s four legislatures interact with one another, post-devolution. To the extent that these interactions, otherwise known as inter-parliamentary relations (IPR), have been the subject of scrutiny, it has been largely to bemoan their modest state and/or to suggest that stronger, albeit occasionally rather unelaborated, mechanisms be established. This article seeks to correct this deficit and provide a first step towards a clearer understanding of IPR in the UK, post-devolution. The article breaks the different levels of IPR down into three main strands: (1) parliament-parliament, (2) committee-committee and (3) official-official, and suggests that the main interactions that take place at each of these levels. Following this audit, the article concludes by highlighting the role that shared policy competence (a field that is set to grow with the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union) has played in driving IPR in the UK, post-devolution, and suggests some steps that may be taken to enhance IPR in the future.     

Constitutional reform and new patterns of electoral violence: evidence from Kenya’s 2013 elections

In places prone to electoral violence, what effects can constitutional changes have on elites’ incentives to organise conflict? This article develops two hypotheses to address the above question. It proposes that in places where national reforms find sub-national resonance, national and local politicians’ incentives regarding the electoral utility of conflict will align. However, in places where national-level changes fail to be locally relevant, these incentives will deviate from one another. The research illustrates these logics through a controlled comparison of two Kenyan counties: one that experienced electoral violence and the other that maintained peace around the 2013 elections.     

Statehood without an army: the question of the Kosovo Armed Force

ABSTRACT

Almost a decade after its declaration of independence, Kosovo continues to depend on NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR) for its protection. This article explores why Kosovo has not developed its own armed forces and how it could complete the process of security institution building through the establishment of a Kosovo Armed Force (KAF) in the future. Conceptually, the article highlights the role of different agents with diverging positions on the development of a KAF and the unfolding politicization of the issue, under conditions of legal uncertainty. The empirical analysis traces the stalemate regarding the creation of a KAF to legal restraints and the diverging positions of different parties on the issue. More specifically, the government’s inability to balance between the high expectations of Kosovo Albanians and the adamant objections of Kosovo Serbs has exacerbated the politicization of the debate.