Toward a Study of the Ecology of Judicial Activism?

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Reitz
Keyword(s):  
Judicial Activism

Toward a Progressive Realisation of Socio-economic Rights in Ghana: A Socio-legal Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-113
Author(s):  
Nana Tawiah Okyir
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
State Policy ◽  
National Development ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Judicial Activism ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
The Supreme Court

This article argues for the strengthening and entrenchment of socio-economic rights provisions in Ghana's jurisprudence. The purpose of this entrenchment is to engender judicial activism in promoting more creative pathways for enforcing socio-economic rights in Ghana. The article traces the development of socio-economic rights in Ghana's jurisprudence, especially the influence of the requirements of the international rights movement, particularly of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The article delves into the constitutional history of Ghana and its impact on the evolution of rights in the country. Of particular historical emphasis is the emergence of socio-economic rights under the Directive Principles of State Policy in the 1979 Constitution. However, the significance of the socio-economic rights only became profound with the return to democratic rule under the 1992 Constitution, again under a distinct chapter on Directive Principles of State Policy. However, unlike its counterpart, the chapter on the Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, which is directly enforceable, the Directive Principles of State Policy were not. It took the Supreme Court of Ghana a series of landmark decisions until finally, in 2008, it arrived at a presumption of justiciability in respect of all of the provisions in the 1992 Constitution. It is evident that prior to this, the Supreme Court was not willing to apply the same standards of adjudication and enforcement as it ordinarily applies in respect of rights under the chapter on Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms. Having surmounted the non-justiciability hurdle, what is left is for the courts to begin to vigorously pursue an agenda that puts socio-economic rights at the centre of Ghana's rights adjudication framework. The article draws on comparative experiences from India and South Africa to showcase the extent of judicial creativity in rights adjudication. In India, the courts have been able to work around provisions restricting the enforcement of Directive Principles by often connecting them to Fundamental Freedoms. In South Africa, there is no hierarchy between civil and political rights on the one hand and socio-economic rights on the other; for that reason, the courts give equal ventilation to both sets of rights. The article further analyses these examples in the light of ongoing constitutional reforms in Ghana. It argues that these reforms fall short of the activism required to propel socio-economic rights adjudication to the forefront in Ghana's jurisprudence. In this regard, the article proposes social movements as a viable tool for socio-economic rights advocacy by recounting its success in previous controversial issues in Ghana. The article also connects this to other important building blocks like building socio-economic rights into a national development blueprint. Overall, the article calls for an imaginative socio-economic rights enforcement approach that is predicated on legislation, judicial activism, social movements and a national development blueprint aimed at delivering a qualitative life for the Ghanaian.

Parens Patriae Jurisdiction in the Medico-Legal Context: The Vagaries of Judicial Activism

1999 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graeme T Laurie
Keyword(s):  
Judicial Activism ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
Parens Patriae

Italy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delia Ferri
Keyword(s):  
Significant Influence ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Reasonable Accommodation ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Judicial Activism ◽  
Legal Capacity ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Indirect Discrimination ◽  
Legal Concepts ◽  
Domestic Law

Italy was among the first countries to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2007, and ratified it in 2009 by Law 18/2009. Since then, the Convention has displayed significant influence on case law, and provoked a degree of judicial activism. This chapter provides an overview of how Italian courts have used and interpreted the CRPD. It highlights how Italian lower and higher courts, including the Constitutional Court and the Court of Cassation, have attempted to overcome the gap between domestic law and the CRPD, by ‘rethinking’ legal concepts in light of the Convention. This is evident with regards to the field of legal capacity and the domestic provisions of the civil code on the ‘administration of support’, but also to non-discrimination legislation, the scope of which has been evidently enlarged to encompass the failure to provide reasonable accommodation as a form of indirect discrimination.

Roe v. Wade Is Constitutionally Unprincipled and Logically Incoherent: A Brief in Support of Judicial Restraint

1989 ◽  
Vol 15 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 222-226
Author(s):  
Jules B. Gerard
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Judicial Activism ◽  
Federal Judiciary ◽  
Judicial Studies ◽  
Roe V Wade

The Center for Judicial Studies is the only educational and public policy organization in the United States that focuses exclusively on the problem of judicial activism. It seeks to confine the power of the federal judiciary to the bounds envisioned by the Framers of the Constitution. The Center's brief was signed by fifty-six members of Congress who were concerned that Roe v. Wade “has expanded federal judicial powers into areas that are within the rightful legislative domain of Congress and the states.”

Chapter 11. The Rehnquist Court and “Conservative Judicial Activism”

2009 ◽  
pp. 199-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Judicial Activism ◽  
Rehnquist Court

Toward Increased Judicial Activism: The Political Role of the Supreme Court.

1983 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 730
Author(s):  
Robert J. Harris ◽  
Arthur Selwyn Miller
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
The Political ◽  
Judicial Activism ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The Supreme Court

Governing with the Charter: Legislative and Judicial Activism and Framers' Intent

2006 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 343
Author(s):  
Michael D. Behiels ◽  
James B. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Judicial Activism

Judicial Activism in the Name of the Nation: Reneging on the Integration of Immigrants in Greece

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 596-618
Author(s):  
Dia Anagnostou
Keyword(s):  
Judicial Activism ◽  
Integration Of Immigrants
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