完善宪法程序若干问题初探

我国目前亟需完善的宪法程序为 :各级人民代表选举程序 ;修改宪法程序 ;保护公民宪法权利的宪政立法程序 ;执政党执政程序 ;违宪审查程序 ;其他国家机关对本级国家权力机关负责的程序 ;国家权力机关监督本级其他国家机关的程序。     

完善我国宪法监督制度之构想

设立宪法法院负责宪法监督工作是一种最切合实际的完善我国宪法监督制度的方案。除在中央设立宪法法院外,可在地方设立巡回宪法法院。宪法法院应当具有相对独立性。为保证宪法法院有效行使其宪法监督职能,必须赋予其事前审查权、宪法解释权等职权。宪法监督程序须由相应的主体提起。     

To Wonderland Through the Looking-glass: Conceiving a Critical Legal Argument for Contractual Justice in the South African Law of Contract †

The aim of this paper is to identify the possible substructure (looking glass/es) of a critical legal argument for contractual justice (Wonderland) in the South African law of contract. South African contract law still fails, ten years after the constitutional transformation, to reflect the constitutional ideals of freedom, equality and human dignity in an acceptable manner. I argue that this disposition places a question mark over the legitimacy of contract law and marginalizes opportunities for the social change envisaged by the Constitution. The paper explores Duncan Kennedy’s Form and Substance-argument and indicates that the reluctance to accommodate these values may be attributable to the fact that the majority of role-players position themselves on the individualism/rules side of Kennedy’s continuum – a paradigm that perceives the law of contract as a body of positivistic rules to be applied neutrally and regardless of the social or socio-economic distortions its application may generate. In an attempt to move away from this traditional approach, the privileged paradigm is criticised. A typical CLS-approach is followed which employs sociology, psychological jurisprudence and game theory to criticise the law from outside the restrictive realms of law itself. Simultaneously, I attempt to illuminate the argument for a shift (step through the looking glass) to another paradigm. I conclude that our judiciary finds itself in a position similar to that of Plato’s prisoners in the cave and will not reach the point where they apply relevant (constitutional) values directly to contractual disputes. The State is thus responsible for infusing contract law with contractual justice, by implementing legislation to this effect in order to limit the hegemonic consequences of the judiciary’s obsession with freedom of contract and utopian rules, which fail in reality to further the ideal of justice. Paper presented at the Critical Legal Conference, 4 September 2004, London, UK. This paper is dedicated to the memory of the late Judge of Appeal, Mr. Justice P.J. Olivier. The paper is based on research conducted for the thesis in partial fulfilment of the degree LLD in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria under the title ‘A critical legal argument for contractual justice in the South African law of contract.’ The degree supervisor is Professor Karin van Marle in the Department of Legal History, Comparative Law and Jurisprudence. The author wishes to thank the following persons for valuable deliberations and input: Karin van Marle, Graham Bradfield and Anashri Pillay. In addition, the author wishes to acknowledge and thank the University of Cape Town for financially supporting this research. †Paper presented at the Critical Legal Conference, 4 September 2004, London, UK. This paper is dedicated to the memory of the late Judge of Appeal, Mr. Justice P.J. Olivier. The paper is based on research conducted for the thesis in partial fulfilment of the degree LLD in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria under the title ‘A critical legal argument for contractual justice in the South African law of contract.’ The degree supervisor is Professor Karin van Marle in the Department of Legal History, Comparative Law and Jurisprudence. The author wishes to thank the following persons for valuable deliberations and input: Karin van Marle, Graham Bradfield and Anashri Pillay. In addition, the author wishes to acknowledge and thank the University of Cape Town for financially supporting this research. apply relevant (constitutional) values directly to contractual disputes. The State is thus responsible for infusing contract law with contractual justice, by implementing legislation to this effect in order to limit the hegemonic consequences of the judiciary’s obsession with freedom of contract and utopian rules, which fail in reality to further the ideal of justice.     

受教育权的司法救济

受教育权是公民的宪法权利,具有自由权、社会权、发展权的多重性质。通过行政诉讼解决受教育权案件有其积极意义,但也存在诸多弊端和局限性。宪法诉讼是受教育权司法救济的根本途径。只有从宪法层次和高度解决一系列的理念和技术障碍,逐步实行宪法司法化,才能最终保障受教育权的实现。     

A SHORT COMMENTARY ON TIMOTHY M. TIPPINS AND JEFFREY P. WITTMANN'S "EMPIRICAL AND ETHICAL PROBLEMS WITH CUSTODY RECOMMENDATIONS

In this commentary, the call for clinical humility and judicial vigilance in custody recommendations is confirmed as valid and the Australian experience, where the child custody report writer has for some years been permitted to express an opinion on the ultimate issue, is considered. The inherent risks are briefly discussed, and the question of who of the judge and the social scientist might be better placed to decide the exquisitely difficult children's issues after family breakdown is touched upon. It suggests that a combination of the expert's opinion and judicial fact finding probably produces a result that is as good as it gets. But a greater danger is highlighted. It is the impact of the adversary system, and whether it is suitable in any event to these sensitive court decisions.     

宪法监督司法化的制度构想

宪法监督的司法化,是宪法监督的最主要和有效的方式。我国应当建立宪法诉讼制度,改革可以分三阶段进行:第一阶段,由行政审判庭审理少数“准宪法诉讼”案;第二阶段,宪法监督委员会和人民法院共同实施监督;第三阶段,设立宪法法院承担全部宪法监督职能,最终确立我国的宪法监督制度。     

“宪法政治”理论的时代课题——关于中国现代法治主义理论的另一个视角

中国现时代处于一个“非常时期” ,即有别于日常政治的宪法政治时期。因此 ,政治国家的问题是我国宪法的理论基础 ,目前法学界倡言的法治主义属于一种市民社会的规则之治 ,但如何把法律人的法律上升为政治家的法律 ,或者说如何处理民法与政治法的关系 ,是当前我们国家宪法政治所要解决的一个重要问题 ,而对此 ,欧洲大陆国家的公法理论和英美传统的阿克曼的宪法政治学说 ,为我们提供了一个可资借鉴的新视角     

THE EFFECT OF GENDER ON THE DECISION TO INCARCERATE BEFORE AND AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF SENTENCING GUIDELINES*

The present study explores the relationships between gender and imprisonment decisions in Minnesota before and after the introduction of sentencing guidelines. Results from a series of logistic regression models indicate that gender alone did not have a significant impact on the likelihood of imprisonment, but women with dependent children were significantly less likely to be imprisoned before sentencing guidelines and in the years subsequent to their implementation. The findings suggest that despite the introduction of sentencing reforms, court officials tend to return to issues of substantive justice, and they appear unable to shed their individual or organizational ideas of fairness in sentencing.     

英国知识产权审判体系

英国是较早便开始对知识产权案件进行专业化审判的国家,发展至今,历经多次改革,已然是现今世界上知识产权审判体系较成熟的国家。其中,设置在高等法院大法官庭下的专利法庭和知识产权企业法庭是英国极具代表性的两个具有全国管辖权的知识产权法庭,负责审理大部分知识产权民事、行政的初审案件。此外,尚在筹建中的欧洲统一专利法院、"被指定人"、著作权审裁处以及替代解决纠纷机制,也都是英国知识产权审判体系的重要组成部分。2014年,我国在北京、上海、广州设立了知识产权法院,在这样一个改革试点的契机下,分析和借鉴英国知识产权审判体系的发展轨迹和成功经验对我国知识产权法院的建设具有现实意义。     

欧盟统一专利法院概况

经过多年的努力，欧洲统一专利制度在司法诉讼领域终于取得关键性进展，统一专利法院即将正式成立。对于欧洲而言，统一专利法院的建立意味着欧洲统一专利制度最后的障碍将要被扫除，对欧盟政治经济的发展具有重大意义。我国正面临着建立知识产权领域统一法院的问题，而统一专利法院的经验具有一定的参考价值。