Legitimate punishment of blasphemy: Contestation between the legal system and popular justice

Authoritarian regimes sometimes professionalize their legal systems to govern more effectively. Yet when quasi-autonomous courts rule in contradiction to popular conceptions of right and wrong—popular morality—it might threaten citizens’ trust in the regime. We use the case of contemporary China to investigate this “moral-legal dilemma”—the competing needs of legal development and the satisfaction of popular justice concerns. Four case studies demonstrate that when court rulings conflict with popular morality, the party-state selectively alters decisions, so long as intervention does not significantly jeopardize the integrity of the legal system. Two online survey experiments then assess citizens’ reactions to moral-legal conflict in court rulings. We find that people are more likely to experience “moral dissonance” when legal decisions conflict with popular morality. We do not find that moral-legal conflict in court rulings significantly undermines individuals’ trust in the regime. Our analysis underscores the need for more attention to the moral foundations of authoritarian rule.

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The Reception Process in Poland and Slovakia

A Europe of Rights ◽

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199535262.003.0009 ◽

2008 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Magda Krzyżanowska-Mierzewska

Keyword(s):

Civil Society ◽

International Law ◽

Legal System ◽

Case Law ◽

Similar Role ◽

Popular Justice ◽

Domestic Courts ◽

National Legal System ◽

The Status ◽

Legal Advocacy

This chapter discusses the reception of the ECHR in Poland and Slovakia. Topics covered include the accession and ratification of the ECHR in both countries, the status of ECHR in national law, the implementation of international law by domestic courts, an overview of case law, and the European Court's case law and its effects on the national legal system. It is shown that despite the similar historical situation of both countries, the patterns of reception of the ECHR differ considerably. In Poland, the ECHR became immensely popular and gained the status of an instrument of popular justice, resorted to by individuals in a spontaneous and unorganized manner. In Slovakia, it plays a similar role in so far as it is used extremely rarely by organized civil society institutions as a legal advocacy instrument.

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