The Nation State Law and the Arabic Language in Israel: Downgrading, Replicating or Upgrading?

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-285
Author(s):  
Mohammed S Wattad
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
The State ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Official Language ◽  
State Law ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
The Status

Article 4 of the Nation State Law (NSL), entitled ‘Languages’, stipulates that Hebrew is the language of the state (Article 4(a)); the Arabic language has a special status in the state and regulating the use of Arabic in or by state institutions will be set in law (Article 4(b)); and this clause does not harm the status given to the Arabic language before the law came into effect (Article 4(c), the ‘validity of laws’ clause). The question is whether, how, and to what extent these provisions hinder the present legal status of the Arabic language in Israel. The legal status of Arabic had never been determined decisively before enactment of the NSL. The High Court of Israel has always been divided on this matter, particularly between judges who perceived Arabic as an official language and judges who deemed it solely as having been granted its acknowledged ‘special legal status’. Furthermore, the judges who perceived Arabic as an official language of the state were also in dispute among themselves as to the meaning, the scope and the consequences of such recognition. Considering these circumstances, my view is that the NSL perpetuates the legal status of Arabic as prescribed in the laws and case law that already existed, and that the validity of laws clause, coupled with the special status granted to Arabic in a basic law, suggests that the door is still open for the Court to further endorse the legal status of Arabic in Israel.

The Jewish Nation-State Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan Jabareen ◽  
Suhad Bishara
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
State Law ◽  
Green Line ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
The Status ◽  
Occupied Territories

This analysis explores the origins and constitutional implications of Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State of the Jewish People (hereafter the Jewish Nation-State Law), enacted by the Israeli Knesset in July 2018. It examines the antecedents of the legislation in Israeli jurisprudence and argues that most of the law's provisions are the product of precedents established by Israel's Supreme Court, specifically the court's rulings delivered post-Oslo. The authors contend that the “two states for two peoples” vision of so-called liberal Zionists paved the way for Israel's right-wing politicians to introduce this law. Their analysis holds that the law is radical in nature: far from being a mere continuation of the status quo, it confers unprecedented constitutional status on ordinary policies and destabilizes the prevailing legal distinction between the area within the Green Line and the 1967 occupied territories.

The Legal Status of Local Government in South Africa under the New Constitutional Dispensation

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mbuzeni Mathenjwa
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Case Law ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic ◽  
First Time

The history of local government in South Africa dates back to a time during the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. With regard to the status of local government, the Union of South Africa Act placed local government under the jurisdiction of the provinces. The status of local government was not changed by the formation of the Republic of South Africa in 1961 because local government was placed under the further jurisdiction of the provinces. Local government was enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa arguably for the first time in 1993. Under the interim Constitution local government was rendered autonomous and empowered to regulate its affairs. Local government was further enshrined in the final Constitution of 1996, which commenced on 4 February 1997. The Constitution refers to local government together with the national and provincial governments as spheres of government which are distinctive, interdependent and interrelated. This article discusses the autonomy of local government under the 1996 Constitution. This it does by analysing case law on the evolution of the status of local government. The discussion on the powers and functions of local government explains the scheme by which government powers are allocated, where the 1996 Constitution distributes powers to the different spheres of government. Finally, a conclusion is drawn on the legal status of local government within the new constitutional dispensation.

Ensuring the rights of refugees in case of bringing administrative responsibility as a guarantee of realization of their legal status in Ukraine

2021 ◽  
pp. 56-62
Author(s):  
Valeriia Golub
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
The State ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Legal Documents ◽  
Administrative Legislation ◽  
Political Persecution ◽  
Administrative Responsibility

Problem setting. One of the important factors that play a key role in the observance of human rights and freedoms, including such categories of foreign citizens and stateless persons as refugees in case of administrative prosecution - is the functioning of state institutions to guarantee these rights, the use of all. The decisive place in this problem belongs to the activities of the state of Ukraine, which in connection with the formation of social relations related to the stay of refugees on its territory, protection of this category of persons from political persecution , should ensure the adoption of relevant legal acts aimed primarily at the protection of rights and freedoms. administrative penalty. As a result, there are real risks of violating the rights and freedoms of the person to whom these penalties apply. Analysis of recent researches and publications. Problems of protection of rights and freedoms of refugees in case of bringing them to administrative responsibility were devoted to the work of such scientists as: V. Averyanov, O. Bandurka, O. Bezpalova, Yu. Bityak, O. Dzhafarova, A. Komzyuk, V. Komzyuk, D. Lukyanets, O. Muzychuk, D. Priymachenko, O.S. Pronevich ect. The purpose of the article is to investigate and analyze the importance of ensuring the rights of refugees in case of bringing them to administrative responsibility, to consider this issue as one of the guarantees of legal status of refugees in Ukraine. Article’s main body. The article considers the issue of observance of the rights and freedoms of this category of foreign citizens and stateless persons as refugees in case of committing offenses and bringing them to administrative responsibility. The issue of ensuring both international legal acts approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and legal documents on behalf of the state of Ukraine gives grounds to believe that in case of involvement of this category of persons (if they are in Ukraine legally) to administrative responsibility, they have the same rights as citizens of Ukraine. Conclusions. The peculiarities of the relevant provisions of the administrative legislation of Ukraine on the peculiarities of bringing foreign citizens and stateless persons, including refugees to administrative responsibility, are analyzed. The significance of the ratio of observance of the rights and freedoms of refugees in case of bringing to administrative responsibility and necessity of non-alternative fulfillment of requirements of legal norms of the current administrative legislation of Ukraine is determined.

The Status of Arabic in Israel: Refiections on the Power of Law to Produce Social Change

2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilan Saban ◽  
Muhammad Amara
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
The State ◽  
French Language ◽  
The Status ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Ethnic Nation ◽  
State Of Israel

AbstractThe status of Arabic in Israel gives rise to question. Israel is a rare case of an ethnic nation-state that grants the language of minority group with a legal status which isprima facieone of equality. Both Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages of the State of Israel. What are the reasons for this special state of affairs? The answer is threefold: historic, sociological and legal. In various ways the potential inherent in the legal status of Arabic has been depleted of content, and as a result of that, as well as other reasons, the socio-political status of Arabic closely resembles what you would expect the status of a language of a minority group in a state that identifies itself as the state of the majority group to be. This answer, however, is another source of puzzlement – how does such a dissonance between law and practice evolve, what perpetuates it for so long, is change possible, is it to be expected?We present an analysis of the legal status of Arabic in Israel and at the same time we proceed to try and answer the questions regarding the gap between the legal and the sociopolitical status of Arabic. We reach some of our answers through a comparison with the use of law to change the status of the French language in Canada. One of these answers is that given the present constellation in Israel, the sociopolitical status of Arabic cannot meaningfully be altered by legal means.

Who Are Protected by the Fundamental Guarantees under International Humanitarian Law? Part 2: Breaking with the Control Requirement in Light of the icc Case Law

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-58
Author(s):  
Raphaël van Steenberghe
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Case Law ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
General Control ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
The Status ◽  
Control Requirement ◽  
Specific Paper

Abstract International humanitarian law provides for fundamental guarantees, the content of which is similar irrespective of the nature of the armed conflict and which apply to individuals even if they do not fall into the categories of specifically protected persons under the Geneva Conventions. Those guarantees, all of which derive from the general requirement of human treatment, include prohibitions of specific conduct against persons, such as murder, cruel treatment, torture, sexual violence, or against property, such as pillaging. However, it is traditionally held that the entitlement to those guarantees depends upon two requirements: the ‘status requirement’, which basically means that the concerned persons must not or no longer take a direct part in hostilities, and the ‘control requirement’, which basically means that the concerned persons or properties must be under the control of a party to the armed conflict. This study argues in favour of breaking with these two requirements in light of the existing icc case law. That study is divided into two parts, with each part devoted to one requirement and made the object of a specific paper. The two papers follow the same structure. They start with general observations on the requirement concerned, examine the relevant icc case law and put forward several arguments in favour of an extensive approach to the personal scope of the fundamental guarantees. The first paper, which was published in the previous issue of this journal, dealt with the status requirement. It especially delved into the icc decisions in the Ntaganda case with respect to the issue of protection against intra-party violence. It advocated the applicability of the fundamental guarantees in such a context by rejecting the requirement of a legal status, on the basis of several arguments. Those arguments relied on ihl provisions protecting specific persons as well as on the potential for humanizing ihl on the matter and also on the approach making the status requirement relevant only when the fundamental guarantees apply in the conduct of hostilities. The second paper, which is published here, deals with the control requirement. It examines several icc cases in detail, including the Katanga and Ntaganda cases, in relation to the issue of the applicability of the fundamental guarantees in the conduct of hostilities. It is argued that the entitlement to those guarantees is not dependent upon any general control requirement, and that, as a result, some of these guarantees may apply in the conduct of hostilities. This concerns mainly those guarantees whose application or constitutive elements do not imply any physical control over the concerned persons or properties.

The Constitutionalization of the Israeli Legal System as a Result of the Basic Laws and its Effect on Procedural and Substantive Criminal Law

1997 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 3-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aharon Barak
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Constitutional Democracy ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Constitutional Revolution ◽  
State Of Israel ◽  
Normative Value

In March 1992, Israel underwent a Constitutional Revolution. In March 1992, two new Basic Laws were passed: Basic Law: Freedom of Occupation and Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty. Under these new Basic Laws, several human rights — among them Dignity, Liberty, Mobility, Privacy, Property — acquired a constitutional force above the regular statutes. Most of these rights were already protected, prior to the constitutionalization. While a few were protected by the legislator, most were protected by the case law of the Supreme Court, developed by some of our greatest judges since the establishment of the State. The main difference made by the Basic Laws is the strengthening of the normative value of these rights. A regular Knesset (Parliamentary) statute can no longer infringe upon these rights, unless it fulfils the requirements of the Basic Laws (the ‘limitation clause’) namely, it befits the values of the State of Israel, it was passed for a worthy purpose and the harm caused to the constitutional Human Right is proportional to the purpose. Thus, we became a constitutional democracy.

A Transnational Concept of Law

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Patrick Glenn
Keyword(s):  
Legal Theory ◽  
The State ◽  
Western World ◽  
State Law ◽  
Significant Development ◽  
State Laws ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Western Law ◽  
Concept Of Law

Most of the legal theory of the last four centuries, in the Western world, has been state-centred. It has justified the existence of states, facilitated their expansion, conceptualized their sources and structures, sought to resolve their conflicts, and developed their law. The state has even been taken, in much of this writing, as the exclusive source of law. There are indications, however, that this theoretical preoccupation with state structures, state institutions, and state laws may now be in decline. This would be a significant development, a historical shift in emphasis in the conceptualization of Western law. It would not, however, mean the end of states or of state law, but rather their contextualization. States and state law would exist in a larger field of normativity. This would entail recognition of a wider range of sources of law and a wider range of relations between laws and between peoples. To attempt to understand these processes, and the extent of their progression, this article examines what we know, or think we know, of the relations between law and the state, before turning to current efforts to develop a transnational concept of law.

scholarly journals SOCIOLINGUISTIC STATUS OF THE MODERN IRANIAN LANGUAGES

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Э.Б. Сатцаев
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Development ◽  
The State ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Office Work ◽  
Persian Literature ◽  
Persian Language ◽  
The Status ◽  
Middle Persian ◽  
Sociolinguistic Status ◽  
Official Status

На иранских языках говорили многочисленные племена и народности, сыгравшие важную роль в мировой истории. К основным иранским языкам относятся персидский, таджикский, дари, афганский (пушту), осетинский, курдский, белуджский и др. Наиболее распространенным и статусным иранским языком в настоящее время является персидский. Предок современного персидского языка древнеперсидский сформировался еще в середине I тыс. до н.э. на территории западной части Иранского нагорья в области Фарс. После подчинения Александром Македонским царства Ахеменидов в нем официальным языком стал греческий, функционировавший долгие столетия, и лишь в III в. н.э. с установлением гегемонии Сасанидов официальным языком в государстве стал персидский. В результате завоевания Ирана арабами в 637-652 гг. н.э. официальное функционирование среднеперсидского языка надолго прекратилось. Официальным языком арабского Халифата стал арабский. Это продолжалось до IX в. С начала X в. началось бурное развитие новоперсидского языка и персидской литературы. В настоящее время персидский является государственным языком большого и многонационального государства Иран. Персы доминирующий этнос в государстве. На персидском происходит обучение и в школах, начиная с 1-го класса. Делопроизводство также осуществляется исключительно на персидском. Другие языки в официальной сфере не используются. Исторически персидский язык оказал огромное влияние не только на иранские, но и на многие тюркские и индийские языки. На базе классического персидского языка сформировались современный персидский, таджикский и дари. Высоким является и статус таджикского языка. Он полностью используется во всех сферах деятельности. Объем научных исследований таджикского языка не уступает персидскому. Дариязычное население проживает в Афганистане. Оно составляет около 40 жителей страны. Афганцы (пуштуны) являются одним из крупнейших ираноязычных этносов. Они живут в Афганистане и Пакистане. В Афганистане язык пушту является официальным наряду с дари. Другой иранский народ осетины живет в центральной части Кавказа по обеим сторонам Главного Кавказского хребта. В результате ассимиляционных процессов численность осетиноговорящего населения имеет тенденцию к сокращению. Крупными иранскими языками являются также курдский и белуджский. Несмотря на многочисленность курдоговорящего населения, этот язык не имеет высокого официального статуса. Лишь в Ираке в курдских районах курдский был объявлен официальным наряду с арабским. Другой крупный иранский язык белуджский ни в одном государстве не имеет официального статуса. Однако белуджи хорошо чувствуют и охраняют языковую норму. The Iranian languages were spoken by numerous tribes and nationalities, which played an important role in world history. The main Iranian languages include Persian, Tajik, Dari, Afghan (Pashto), Ossetian, Kurdish, Balochi, etc. The most common and status Iranian language is currently Persian. The ancestor of the modern Persian language ancient Persian was formed in the middle of the first millennium BC in the western part of the Iranian highlands in the region of Fars. After Alexander the Great had subjugated the Achaemenid kingdom, Greek became an official language there, functioning for centuries, and only in the 3rd c. AD with the establishment of hegemony of the Sassanids, Persian became the official language in the state. As a result of the conquest of Iran by the Arabs in 637-652 AD the official functioning of the Middle Persian language ceased for a long time. The official language of the Arabic Caliphate is Arabic. This continued until the 9th century. The rapid development of the New Persian language and Persian literature began in the early 10th century. It is currently the state language of the large and multinational state of Iran. Persians are the dominant nation in the state. It takes place in schools, starting from the 1st grade. Office work is also carried out exclusively in Persian. Other languages are not used in the official sphere. Historically, the Persian language has had a huge impact not only on Iranian, but also on many Turkic and Indian. On the basis of the classical Persian language, modern Persian, Tajik and Dari were formed. The status of the Tajik language is also high. It is fully used in all fields of activity. The volume of scientific studies of the Tajik language is not inferior to the Persian. Daria-speaking population lives in Afghanistan. It makes up about 40 of the countrys population. Afghans (Pashtuns) are one of the largest Iranian-speaking ethnic groups. They live in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Afghanistan, the Pashto language is an official language alongside with Dari. Another Iranian people, the Ossetians, live in the central part of the Caucasus, on both sides of the Main Caucasian Range. As a result of assimilation processes, the Ossetian-speaking population tends to decline. The major Iranian languages are also Kurdish and Balochi. Despite the large Kurdish-speaking population, this language does not have a high official status. Only in Iraq in Kurdish areas Kurdish was declared official alongside with Arabic. The other major Iranian language, Balochi, has no official status in any state. However, the Baluchis feel and properly preserve the linguistic norm.

scholarly journals LEGAL INSTITUTION FOR DEMOCRATIC CIVIL CONTROL OVER ACTIVITY OF SECURITY AND DEFENSE SECTOR OF UKRAINE: STATE-OF-THE-ART OF NORMATIVE LEGAL REGULATION

2021 ◽  
pp. 39-44
Author(s):  
V.L. Zolka
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
The State ◽  
Legal Institution ◽  
Military Organizations ◽  
Military Administration ◽  
The Status ◽  
Control Institution ◽  
Public Monitoring

The article is dedicated to study the status of legal regulation of legal institution “Democratic civil control over activity of security and defense sector of Ukraine” and to substantiate the theoretical recommendation as regards improvement of military and security legislation. It has been proved that uncontrollable military organizations and law enforcing bodies of the state bring potential danger both individuals and society’s humanistic values. They are dangerous because of unbalanced mechanism of the democratic civil control. Disruption of containment mechanism and counterbalance in the power separation system in the state, usurpation of power by one person or group of people can paralyze not only power itself but other institutions of society. Subjects of state segments for democratic civil control turn to be the attendant bodies of political will by one person, the certain cover-up and justification of unlawful violation. Under those conditions the civil monitoring of institutions in the security and defense sector of Ukraine becomes inefficient. Their subjects experience limitations: such as access to information of law-enforcement authorities and military formations; implementation of freedom of expression.   Most of substantial reactions are left unattended by state jurisdiction and military administration. Their legal status also remains imperfect and deprived of real impact gears on the objects under control. It has been proved that in order to ensure efficiency of openness and transparency in activity of Security and Defense Sector it is required to implement the complex of organizational and legal measures such as an active elucidative campaign for the purpose of bringing to essentiality, goal, form and tools of public control over SDS and to consolidate new philosophy where the civil control will take leading place. The certain declaratory of the most mechanisms of civil control institution have been deduced herein. The means to improve situation in this field are proposed to be developed by participation of interested subjects both public administration, members of public monitoring and subsidiary objects of new special law. By its developing the negative and positive experience of civil control has to be taken into consideration. The other way to secure the effective mechanism of democratic civil control over SDS is to specify statutory norms for SDS in the law of Ukraine.  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document