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。     

公诉权的理论解构

国家意志、刑罚权、程序正义是决定公诉权确立和发展的根本的法理依据。在权能的实现上 ,公诉权与刑罚权互为条件 ,公诉权来源于刑罚权 ;程序正义是公诉权发展的永久的根据之一。公诉权是一种具有开放性的公权力和具有系统制约性的诉权 ,以及具有对应性的事实主张权     

RETHINKING JUVENILE STATUS OFFENSE LAWS: CONSIDERATIONS FOR CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF THE JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION ACT

Families struggling with a breakdown in communication, trying to control the behavior of an unruly child, or experiencing a crisis often look for outside help. Many families, particularly those without resources to pay for private support, turn to their local status offense system. Status offenders are young people charged with behavior unique to their status as juveniles such as running away, truancy, or disobedience. In 2007, Congress will begin to consider reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), the federal act related to status‐offender policy. By providing an overview of recent state status‐offense legislation and case law, this article identifies issues to be addressed by Congress in reauthorizing the JJDPA.     

我国国家赔偿程序之缺失与完善

我国现行《国家赔偿法》存在许多缺陷,在实践中造成了诸多弊端。除了赔偿范围狭窄、赔偿标准太低等实体方面的原因外,赔偿程序设计不合理也是其重要方面。建议将赔偿委员会设置在人大之下,同时完善赔偿的审理程序和执行程序,改进赔偿费用的支付方式。     

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。     

弱势群体保护的社会契约分析

社会契约的“订立”旨在使人类摆脱“自然状态”进入“社会状态”;作为国家“存在原理”,社会契约主旨是解决个人、社会和国家之间的权利与义务问题,其终极关怀是人民的福祉——保障安全、自由、财富和尊严等。但这些可欲的价值的实现须符合一种正义的原则和道德要求:平等对待和惠及包括弱势群体在内的社会合作体系中的每一个立约者。平等、互惠构成弱势群体保护的社会契约基础和道德义务,也是社会契约和社会秩序的实现条件。在这一意义上,不保护弱势群体,社会契约目的就不能达到,政府合法性就被质疑。弱势群体保护需要对社会契约进行动态完善——创新保护模式、着力后续调整、突出经济权利、建立诉讼制衡机制、高扬人本立约观。     

“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