Critical Analysis of the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2020 (BBI) in Relation to the Doctrine of the Basic Structure of the Constitution and the Doctrine of Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments: What Is the Bills Effect on the ‘Immutable’ or ‘Eternal’ Clauses in the Constitution?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hillary Eshirima
Author(s):  
Richard Albert

Some constitutional amendments are not amendments at all. They are self-conscious efforts to repudiate the essential characteristics of the constitution and to destroy its foundations. They dismantle the basic structure of the constitution while at the same time building a new foundation rooted in principles contrary to the old. Changes on this scale are not properly called constitutional amendments. They are better understood as constitutional dismemberments. A constitutional dismemberment is incompatible with the existing framework of the constitution. It intends deliberately to disassemble one or more of the constitution’s elemental parts by altering a fundamental right, an important structural design, or a core aspect of the identity of the constitution. To use a rough shorthand, the purpose and effect of a constitutional dismemberment are the same: to unmake the constitution. But what, then, is a constitutional amendment? This chapter explains that there are four fundamental features to a constitutional amendment: its subject, authority, scope, and purpose. The most important feature of an amendment is its scope, which at all times must not exceed the boundaries of the existing constitution. This chapter therefore defines a constitutional amendment in terms of what it is and what it is not, with illustrations drawn from around the globe. This chapter considers constitutions from Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Dominica, Guyana, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States.


2020 ◽  
Vol V (IV) ◽  
pp. 152-159
Author(s):  
Bakht Munir ◽  
Um e Noreen

With its restoration in March 2009, the judiciary exceptionally emerged as an independent state organ and sought autonomy from parliament, which embarked on another avenue of confrontation between these two organs. Considering past experience, parliament was committed to imposing modest restraints on the judiciary and ensured its representation in the process of judicial appointments to the Superior Courts in the form of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, which the court considered as an attack on its autonomy. With the help of qualitative research methodology, this research aimed to investigate the post-2009 judicial-legislative transition, which apparently started up with their confrontation and imbalance between these organs. Both state organs are striving to identify their constitutional bounds, which will ultimately lead to equilibrium between these organs.


2021 ◽  
pp. 234-263
Author(s):  
Silvia Suteu

This chapter investigates the possibility of repealing eternity clauses and renouncing doctrines of implicit unamendability. It looks at two case studies from Turkey and India, where backtracking from an eternity clause and basic structure doctrine were debated and ultimately rejected. It also explores the possibility of placing judicial doctrines of unamendability on formal constitutional footing and discusses the impact of this move on constitutional adjudication. This chapter examines the distinctions upon which unamendability repeal rests, such as between constitutional amendment and constitutional revision, between formal and informal amendments, and between amendment and revolution. It shows how pushing back against unamendability is very difficult through formal constitutional change and unlikely through judicial interpretation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 756-786
Author(s):  
Ngoc Son Bui

Abstract Laos, a socialist state in Southeast Asia, adopted an amended Constitution in 2015. This article investigates and explains this experience from the perspective of comparative constitutional amendment, supported by a qualitative empirical methodology: extensive formal interviews with several local constitutional amenders and informal conversations with a local lawyer and several legal scholars. It argues that Laos has introduced progressive constitutional amendments—notably, the redefinition of the position, structure, and functions of state institutions, including the imposition of term limits on executive power holders; strengthened commitment to a market economy; new commitments to human rights protection, judicial independence, and adversarial trials; and the creation of new institutions, namely, the local people’s councils, the state audit, and the election committee—to facilitate the improvement of its socialist constitutional system which in turn will promote the improvement of the material well-being of the living conditions of local people.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-118
Author(s):  
Louise Ravelli

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect on pedagogical strategies which support the teaching of critical analysis of visual and multimodal texts in a tertiary-level course for Arts students. Design/methodology/approach The paper describes strategies which focus on developing students’ abilities to express interpretive critique, as opposed to mere description. These strategies give students strong scaffolding towards success in their interpretive writing. The course in question is a tertiary-level Arts course which teaches Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) approach to “reading images” in relation to contemporary media texts. The basic structure of the course is described, along with the macro steps which underpin the pedagogy. Examples of highly successful and less successful student writing are compared to reveal the key components of effective interpretive answers. Findings In addition to the normal expectations regarding essay structure and style, and in addition to mastery of the technicality of the course, successful and less successful student writing depends on their mastery of a specific set of moves within the essay. These moves integrate textual observations with clear explanations and a strong relation to interpretation. Practical implications While the course and strategies discussed are for tertiary-level students, the strategies described are adaptable to primary and secondary levels also. Multimodal texts are an integral part of the English curriculum, and all teachers need to explore strategies for enabling their students’ critical engagement with such texts. Originality/value Visual and multimodal texts are an exciting and also challenging part of English curricula, and new analytical frameworks and pedagogical strategies are needed to tackle these texts. In particular, the gap between simply describing visual resources (applying the tools) and critical analysis (using the tools) is vast, and specific pedagogical strategies are needed to help students develop the necessary interpretive language.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (18) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Arturo Rivera León

In spite of being formally rigid, the Mexican Constitution is frequently amended. In this article, I analyze the constitutional amendment procedure in order to understand the causes, consequences and potential solutions of the accelerated rhythm of constitutional amendments in Mexico.


elni Review ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 10-17
Author(s):  
Alexandra Aragão

The fight against bureaucracy has been a constitutional goal in Portugal since 1982, when the first constitutional amendments were made. In Article 267(1), the following was included on the organization and goals of the Public Administration: “the Public Administration shall be structured in such a way as to avoid bureaucratisation, bring departments and services closer to local people and ensure that interested parties take part in its effective management, particularly via public associations, residents’ organisations and other forms of democratic representation”. Unfortunately, the mere fact of having a constitutional article dedicated to bureaucracy does not automatically fulfil the intended goal unless there is also the political will, governmental commitment and institutional capacity to achieve the objective. Since 2005 the conditions for serious and systematic simplification have finally been met. In this article, the legal and political context in which the first modernization initiatives occurred, firstly, is briefly explained. Then, the article moves on to a more detailed presentation and critical analysis of the recent legal changes that took place in 2015 and transformed the environmental bureaucracy landscape in Portugal.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 3519
Author(s):  
Lara Côrtes ◽  
Camila Gianella ◽  
Angela M. Páez ◽  
Catalina Vallejo Piedrahíta

In this paper we compare recent efforts towards the constitutionalization of the right to water in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru to understand the opportunities and limitations related to the attempts to enhance access to piped water to the highest normative level. Peru passed a constitutional amendment in 2017 while Brazil and Colombia have seen much right-to-water activism but have not succeeded in passing such reforms. We explore the role of the existing domestic legal frameworks on drinkable water provision and water management towards the approval of constitutional amendments. We find that all three countries have specialized laws, water governing institutions, and constitutional jurisprudence connecting access to water with rights, but the legal opportunity structures to enforce socio-economic rights vary; they are stronger in Colombia and Brazil, and weaker in Peru. We argue that legal opportunity structures build legal environments that influence constitutional reform success. Legal opportunity structures act as incentives both for social movements to push for reforms and for actors with legislative power to accept or reject them. Our findings also show that in some contexts political cost is a key element of constitutional reforms that enshrine the right to water; therefore, this is an element that should be considered when analyzing these processes.


Author(s):  
Sergey P. Kazankov

The article discusses the issue of the procedure for changing the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Examples of norms of foreign constitutions are given, which constitutionalists recognize as rigid constitutions in the order of their amendment. The ways of changing the Constitution of the Russian Federation are considered: revision, adoption of amendments, amendment of Art. 65Identified problems such as the form of the amendment to the Constitution, the moment of entry into force of the amendment, the introduction by the Law of the Russian Federation on the amendment to the Constitution of the Russian Federation of 2020 a nationwide vote as an additional condition for the entry into force of the amendment, as well as additional powers of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation to verify compliance with Chapters 1, 2 and 9 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation of the provisions of the Law of the Russian Federation on the amendment to the Constitution of the Russian Federation that have not entered into force, as well as the procedure for the entry into force of Art. 1 of the Amendment Act. The critical notes are offered. In particular, the author comes to the conclusion that the approval of the constitutional amendment by the parliaments of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is not a moment, but a condition for its entry into force, therefore, the law on the amendment cannot introduce additional conditions for the entry into force of constitutional amendments, since this leads to a violation requirements of Art. 136 of the Constitution, which cannot be amended by the federal parliament in the manner prescribed by chapter 9 of the Constitution.


EDIS ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney L. Clouser

A series of 16 fact sheets by Rodney L. Clouser, inform the public on issues related to statutory and constitutional proposals adopted by the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission (TBRC). Fact sheets FE733 through FE741 address statutory changes and fact sheets FE742 through FE748 address constitutional amendments. Published by the UF Department of Food and Resource Economics, July 2008.


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