scholarly journals A Review of the Thesis by A.A. Adamyan Constitutional Law Bases of Securing Law and Order by Local Self-Government Authorities: On the Way towards Comparative Law Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 80-82
Author(s):  
Andrey V. Bezrukov ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Dann ◽  
Michael Riegner ◽  
Maxim Bönnemann

This introductory chapter argues for and conceptualizes a ‘Southern turn’ in comparative constitutional law. It takes stock of existing scholarship on the Global South and comparative constitutional law, situates the volume in this context, and seeks to move the debate forward. Its argument has three elements: the first is that the ‘Global South’ has already become a term used productively in various disciplines and in legal scholarship, even though in very different and sometimes under-theorized ways. Secondly, we argue that the ‘Global South’ is a useful concept to capture and understand a constitutional experience that is distinct from, and at the same time deeply entangled with, constitutionalism in the Global North. Thirdly, we contend that the Southern turn implies a specific epistemic, methodological, and institutional sensitivity that has implications for comparative constitutional scholarship as a whole. This sensitivity embraces epistemic reflexivity, methodological pluralism, as well as institutional diversification, collaboration, and ‘slow comparison’ and thus points the way towards an understanding of the discipline as ‘world comparative law’.


Author(s):  
ALEXANDRA A. TROITSKAYA

The two main approaches to the use of the comparative method in legal research, functional and cultural, have some "predetermined" considerations regarding the results that will (or should) be discovered by comparing various legal phenomena — should the emphasis be on similarities or differences between these phenomena. These considerations are based on the vision of, respectively, the universal or pluralistic nature of law of various societies, and in fact they are able to correct substantially the process of cognition of legal phenomena using the comparative method, adjusting it to the desired result. In the case of similarities, we can talk about artificially narrowing the circle of countries under investigation. In the case of differences, the isolation of systems and the uniqueness of their cultural characteristics are unreasonably exaggerated. The alternative assumptions presented in the theory of comparative law regarding the existence of universal principles of law or the fundamental uniqueness of each legal system require a critical rethinking of constitutional provisions and practice in comparative studies. The use of the comparative method in constitutional law is not reducible to the implementation of the ideas of political philosophy, and objective conclusions should not be replaced by predetermined normative guidelines. The similarities and differences revealed by the researcher of constitutional ideas, norms and practices can be considered as a result of comparison of independent value.Constitutional law is associated with a variety of substantial constructs existing in the world, not excluding, however, their intercommunication. Understanding these constructions requires attention to both the similarities and the differences in specific legal orders (as well as the reasons for their functioning in this, and not another form). The use of the comparative method in the absence of striving for predetermined results is simultaneously aimed at understanding the laws of development of constitutional institutions and maintaining the horizon of their diversity as an important component of this development. Each time, the researcher should distance himself from his prejudices regarding the similarities or differences between the institutes under study, rechecking whether the obtained results are really the results of applying the comparative method, and not the initial constructions.The logic of a comparative study corresponds to the construction of theories of "middle level", aimed at forming the theoretical model of a particular legal in-stitution, taking into account the practice of implementing this institution in specific states. The focus on middle-level theories within the framework of the comparative method allows one to go beyond the description of single systems, formulate conclusions at the level of generalization that ensure the comparability of the studied objects, and at the same time maintain an understanding of the diversity of constitutional models.


Author(s):  
Jean Galbraith

Over its constitutional history, the United States has developed multiple ways of joining, implementing, and terminating treaties and other international commitments. This chapter provides an overview of the law governing these pathways and considers the extent to which comparative law has influenced them or could do so in the future. Focusing in particular on the making of international commitments, the chapter describes how, over time, the United States came to develop alternatives to the process set out in the U.S. Constitution’s Treaty Clause, which requires the approval of two-thirds of the Senate. These alternatives arose partly from reasons of administrative efficiency and partly from presidential interest in making important international commitments in situations where two-thirds of the Senate would be unobtainable. These alternatives have had the effect of considerably increasing the president’s constitutional power to make international commitments. Nonetheless, considerable constraints remain on presidential power in this context, with some of these constraints stemming from constitutional law and others from statutory, administrative, and international law. With respect to comparative law, the chapter observes that U.S. practice historically has been largely but not entirely self-contained. Looking ahead, comparative practice is unlikely to affect U.S. constitutional law with respect to international agreements, but it might hold insights for legislative or administrative reforms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (75) ◽  
pp. 11-19
Author(s):  
Pierre Legrand

Taking its cue from a remarkable institutional initiative owing to the Georgetown University Law Center, this essay contests some of the key assumptions that have informed liberalism’s cosmopolitan turn. In particular, the argument addresses the way in which liberal legal thought has handled a doctrine widely known as “the rule of law”. The text challenges the universalizing drive having informed the dissemination of “the rule of law” and the attendant marginalization of culture in the form of the decredibilization of local knowledge. The paper suggests that “comparative law” can offer a valuable opportunity for the liberal self to revisit its uniformizing ideological commitments  — although not “comparative law” of the mainstream brand.


Author(s):  
Leyre Escajedo San Epifanio

Recurriendo a García Pelayo, son bastantes los elementos de los actuales sistemas democráticos en los que cabría hallar, sobre todo en lo formal, una cierta homogeneidad armónica con sus precedentes históricos o referentes de Derecho comparado. De todos ellos, sin embargo, parece que la inviolabilidad regia es uno de los pocos —sino el único— de los elementos en los que se duda si las previsiones constitucionales deben interpretarse dentro del marco sistemático que les da cobijo o si, por el contrario, cabe la posibilidad de eludir ese marco y basarse en antecedentes históricos o referentes comparados para proceder a su interpretación. Pareciera que, al menos respecto del estatuto regio, se defiende no sólo una cierta suprapositividad sino, incluso, la supuesta existencia anclaje preconstitucional inamovible, ubicado lejos del alcance de la soberanía que reside en el pueblo. Desde la perspectiva del Derecho constitucional, aunque sin perder de vista la historiografía y, hasta cierto punto, la Psicología política, este trabajo aborda el estudio de dicho fenómeno, procediendo a una revisión histórica de la inviolabilidad regia y al análisis de las interpretaciones contemporáneas de la misma.Recalling García Pelayo, there are quite a few elements of the current democratic systems in which it would be possible to find, especially in formal terms, a certain harmonic homogeneity with their historical precedents or comparative law references. Of all of them, however, it seems that royal inviolability is one of the few —if not the only one— of the elements in which it is doubted whether the current constitutional provisions should be interpreted within the systematic framework that shelters them or whether, on the contrary, it is possible to circumvent this framework and rely on historical antecedents or comparative references to proceed with its interpretation. It would seem that, at least with respect to the royal statute, not only a certain suprapositive nature is defended, but even the supposed existence of an immovable pre-constitutional anchor, situated far from the reach of the sovereignty that resides in the people. From the perspective of Constitutional law, although without losing sight of historiography and, to a certain extent, Political psychology, this work addresses the study of this phenomenon, proceeding to a historical review of royal inviolability and an analysis of contemporary interpretations of it.


Asian Survey ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 222-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rounaq Jahan

The year did not bring any improvement in the way government and politics function in Bangladesh. Murder, intimidation, suppression, and harassment of political opponents worsened the atmosphere of vendetta and violence that has marked the country's politics in the past few decades. To tackle the deteriorating law and order situation, the government called in the army in October. The administration appeared to be adrift, caught in factional feuds within the ruling coalition. There were also signs of dynastic succession within the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party. The economy did not register any significant improvements. Relations with Pakistan improved but Indo-Bangladesh relations hit their lowest point in decades. Citizen disenchantment with political leaders continued to grow.


Global Jurist ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gürkan Çapar

Abstract Despite the clear clue given by Kim L. Scheppele as to the shortcomings of governance checklists, it is surprising that comparative constitutional lawyers have not yet followed it up. In fact, what Scheppele hinted at is that the methodologies we have used so far fall short of detecting the interaction effect of the particular components; this is why we need new methodologies and new ways of seeing. To address this, this article will incorporate some tools, having already taken hold in legal philosophy, into the methods discussions in comparative constitutional law in particular and comparative law in general. Upon benefiting from the distinction between internal and external points of view and showing how hermeneutical one differs from the others, the article will make a discursive analysis of the 2010 constitutional amendment in Turkey through the lenses of these three points of view.


Author(s):  
Max Felker-Kantor

The LAPD’s postwar model of policing routinely served as a standard for departments across the country. Backed by federal Law Enforcement Assistance Administration funds and support from newly elected law-and-order governor Ronald Reagan, the LAPD led the way in bolstering its paramilitary function through riot control plans, the use of helicopters, and the invention of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams, which was quickly adopted by other departments. At the same time, the department sought to legitimize the iron fist with the velvet glove of community relations and improved officer training. As this chapter shows, the LAPD engaged in a process of militarization and enhanced its martial capacity while expanding its reach through community relations programs.


1967 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 391-409
Author(s):  
Robert Friedmann

In the middle of May, 1527, a religious debate took place at the castle of the manorial Lords of Liechtenstein at Nicolsburg, Moravia, which aroused widest attention and strong passions. On the one side was Dr. Baithasar Hubmaier, highly respected by the Lords of Liechtenstein and by a large section of the city of Nicolsburg which Hubmaier not so long ago had congregated into a peculiar Anabaptist (mass-) church of his own creation. He was supported by his fellow believers Martin Göschl, formerly auxiliary bishop in Moravia, and Hans Spittlemayer, previously Catholic clergyman but now a coworker with Hubmaier.On the other side of the debate was Hans Hut, the outstanding Anabaptist missioner-apostle of South Germany and Austria, his friends and fellow-believers Oswald Glaidt, Hans Nadler, and several more, all of whom disagreed strongly with the way Hubmaier had guided the “radical reformation” in the city of Nicolsburg. We do not know exactly the topic of this debate and most likely will never know it with certainty. The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren claims that the topic had been the issue of the “sword,” that is, the question whether or not a Christian may serve as a soldier or as a civic magistrate who, too, is bound to use the “sword” to enforce law and order. It is said that Hubmaier defended the sword even for “radical” Christians while Hut was passionately opposed to it.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidana Bakytova ◽  
Bolat Kushkaliyev

The article analyzes the principle of legal certainty, the constitutional presumption of knowledge of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan and laws, and the obligation to comply with them. The contribution of constitutional law scholars to the development of the constitutional theory is emphasized. The author studies the political, legal, and social essence of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan as a kind of legal and cultural phenomenon that determines the development of Kazakhstan's society and state after independence. The full constitutional and legal characteristics of the sovereignty of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the significance of the Constitution in its strengthening and development are given. As criteria of constitutional law called the supremacy and direct action of the Constitution; effective work of state bodies in order to create favorable conditions for the development of society and the rights and freedoms of citizens and their associations, the performance of their legal responsibilities; ensure the inevitability of bringing perpetrators to legal liability. Attention is drawn to the fact that the principle of the supremacy of the Constitution, which ensures constitutional law and order, can be understood in two aspects: material and formal; their content is revealed. It is concluded that even the ideal text of the Constitution cannot guarantee its supremacy without its implementation in the constitutional legal order. The author substantiates the conclusion that the constitutional law and order presupposes the stability of the Constitution and the inadmissibility of its frequent amendments that are not objectively necessary.


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