scholarly journals Rule of Law and the Doctrine of Proportionality; Appraisal, Rational and Validation

sjesr ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 222-229
Author(s):  
Hidayat Ur Rehman ◽  
Dr. Syed Raza Shah Gilani ◽  
Dr. Ilyas Khan

In Germany, many researchers – including judges – believe that the idea of proportionality should stem from the notion of Rechsstaat.  The term, when translated into English, is Rule of Law, and “Etat de Droit” in French. Applying the rule of law as a reason for adopting proportionality as a factor for limiting constitutional rights via the constitutionality of sub-constitutional law has also been implemented by other legal organizations. To understand the liaison connecting the rule of law and the doctrine of proportionality, it is essential to determine whether the proportionality could have a harmony with the values of rule of law in five steps. First, it is necessary to enquire whether the rule of law principle has a constitutional position. Next, it must be determined whether the rule of law as a principle of the constitution includes a feature of Human Rights. Third, we must ascertain whether the rule of law, as a principle of the constitution, is based upon an equilibrium amid constitutional rights and their limitations.  Fourth, it must be determined that such a balance is conducted through the use of limitation clauses (statutes or the common law). Fifth, it is essential to establish an opinion on whether limitation clauses, which advance the standard of the rule of law, are based on proportionality.

2015 ◽  
Vol 79 (5) ◽  
pp. 330-343
Author(s):  
Catherine Elliott

The Crime and Courts Act 2013 has amended s. 76 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 on the amount of force a person can use in self-defence. The amended provision poses a dilemma for the courts: it states that only reasonable force can be used by a householder against a trespasser, but adds that force is unreasonable if it is grossly disproportionate. Until now, the courts have treated reasonable force and proportionate force as synonyms. This article suggests that the amended s. 76 should be interpreted to comply with the rule of law, incorporating the idea of equality before the law and legality. The courts should respect the traditional common law concept of reasonableness which is an impartial, objective concept that plays an important role across the whole of the criminal legal system. In addition, the article points out that the Act must be interpreted, where possible, in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights to avoid the problems that arose with the defence of lawful chastisement.


Author(s):  
Matthew Williams

This chapter examines whether the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) has been able to correct indeterminacies in other laws. It first provides an overview of the underlying theory of the HRA and traces its development since October 2000 before discussing its impact on the feasibility and desirability of indeterminate legislation. It also considers whether the HRA has provided means for agents of Parliament, particularly judges, to construct a logic of communication — that is, whether the HRA's new rules of construction filled the various gaps identified in contemporary law. The results show that the HRA has not considerably enhanced either the feasibility or the desirability of legislative language. Furthermore, the HRA has made explicit what had been implicit: that the common law was underpinned by the principles of individual rights; these principles clarified the rule of law where statutory language is indeterminate.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-68
Author(s):  
Ellada Balayan

Introduction. In modern legal science, the category of “legal certainty” is understood and interpreted in different ways. Opinions and approaches of scientists differ in designating the type, nature, elements, regulatory burden and the full content of the idea of legal certainty. The significance of the principle of legal certainty in the context of the protection of human rights cannot be considered without taking into account the influence of Roman law on it. The idea of establishing the rule of law for the “expulsion of all injustice” and contradictions is relevant in modern law. Without a broad interpretation of the principle of res judicata, human rights violations cannot be avoided. Purpose. The purpose of the research is to analyze the nature, content of the normative burden of the category “legal certainty”, various theories and approaches to determining its place in the doctrine of constitutional law, in general, in the context of protecting human rights and freedoms, in particular. Methodology. The methodological basis of the study is scientifically developed and applied in practice, the main scientific methods, such as the dialectical method of cognition, which allows you to analyze all phenomena and processes in their development, the relationship and interdependence, as well as general scientific and private scientific methods, analysis, specific historical, logical historical, systemic, comparative legal and other methods. The theoretical basis of the study is the work of domestic and foreign experts of constitutional law, the theory of state and law, international law, as well as other areas of legal science. The material of a scientific article is based on the study of various scientific sources: monographs, dissertations, scientific articles, materials of scientific and practical conferences, etc. Results. The category of “legal certainty” in the doctrine is considered in different contexts. The unity of opinion in the legal doctrine exists solely to indicate the important role and significant place of the principle of legal certainty in law-making and law enforcement activities of the state. The normative burden of legal certainty is interpreted more meaningfully, since it covers not only the elements of the supposed stability and clarity of the current legal regulation or the essence of the principle of res judicata, but also the consistency, clarity of the entire system of law, the constancy of law enforcement, the practice of the activities of the judiciary, the integrity and compliance of prescriptions law and legal culture and consciousness of all subjects of legal relations to these requirements. Conclusion. To avoid violations of the constitutional rights and freedoms of man and citizen, as well as non-compliance with the constitutional guarantees of their state, including judicial, defense, to ensure the most harmonious state of legal stability of the individual, society and the rule of law is possible only with the application of this approach.


Author(s):  
Hoolo 'Nyane

The Constitution of Lesotho has a supremacy clause which ordinarily empowers the judiciary to review the actions of other branches of government. However, the judiciary in Lesotho seems to treat the legislative process with deference. This deference seems to be based on the old common law notion of the non-intervention of the judiciary in the legislative process. The notion has its roots in the British constitutional system. The Constitution of Lesotho, 1993 has even protected this doctrine through a constitutional ouster clause in section 80(5). The main question which this paper seeks to answer is whether indeed the common law notion of non-intervention in the legislative process is part of the constitutional law of Lesotho. In the end, the paper uses South African jurisprudence on the review of the legislative process to make a case that Lesotho can use the supremacy clause in the constitution and other constitutional doctrines such as the rule of law and legality to break with the common law notion of non-interventionism.


2019 ◽  
pp. 75-90
Author(s):  
Henk Addink

The concept of the rule of law has different—common law and continental—historical roots and traditional perspectives. The common law tradition is more focused on limiting the powers of the state, whereas the continental tradition focuses on not just to limit but also to empower the government. But both systems have a focus on the rule of law. The rule of law in the classical liberal tradition is based on four elements: legality, division and balance of powers, independent judicial control, and protection of fundamental rights. The differences between rule of law and rechtsstaat are: different concepts of the state, mixed legal systems and different approaches of a constitution, and different perspectives on human rights. There are two levels of development: a model in which law is a way of structuring and restricting the power of the state, the second level is more subjective and has important individual positions. The concept of good governance related to these developments makes clear the need to broaden the concept of the rule of law.


2021 ◽  
pp. 528-578
Author(s):  
Ian Loveland

This chapter analyses some of the leading cases in which the courts addressed different aspects of the Human Rights Act 1998, and draws out the constitutional implications of the courts’ initial conclusions. The discussions cover the interlinked issues of the extent to which the courts have recognised a distinction between Convention articles and Convention Rights, the approach taken to statutory interpretation mandated by s 3, and the use of Declarations of Incompatibility under s 4; the doctrine of judicial ‘deference’ to legislative policy decisions; the ‘horizontality’ of the Act and its impact on the development of the common law; and the status of proportionality as a ground of review of executive action. The chapter concludes with an assessment of whether the Act has triggered a shift in understandings on the proper scope of the doctrines of the sovereignty of Parliament and the rule of law within the modern constitutional order.


2003 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 595-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles F. Abernathy

Most European and American attorneys and judges think the U.S.A. has its legal roots in English common law, and that is probably true for the many areas of U.S. law that are still controlled by the traditional common-law process of simultaneously making and applying law. Yet, with respect to constitutional law – America's greatest legal contribution to modern respect for the rule of law, the roots of the U.S. legal system are firmly planted in Europe, not England. The U.S. Constitution was inspired by French revolutionary ideas of rationalism in law; it was intended as an integrated document just like codes; and it has been interpreted by American judges to be not just a political document but binding law – law that is binding on all three branches of government, legislative, executive, and judiciary. In fact that was the holding in Marbury v. Madison, the case decided exactly two hundred years ago.


2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 477-483
Author(s):  
Jamie Cameron

What the rule of law means and how it constrains the exercise of state power raise issues which have been debated-without resolution-over the ages. Times of emergency bring fresh energy to the discussion, and David Dyzenhaus is one of many who have entered the fray to debate the balance between liberty and national security in the post 9/11 period. It has not been easy for those who place their trust in written constitutions to account for the way textual guarantees are diluted when the state is under threat. Rather than address that dilemma, Dyzenhaus sets his ideas apart by proposing a theory which maximizes the protection of rights in emergency circumstances, without straining the institutional capacities or legitimacy of the judiciary. This theory invokes the pedigree of the common law-and “common law constitutionalism”-and is grounded in the constitutive properties of the rule of law, or principle of legality. Dyzenhaus may not have answered the questions readers will want to ask, but he has opened up the middle ground between the competing supremacies yet more, by drawing common law constitutionalism and its rule-of-law pedigree into constitutional theories of review. More to the point, he has challenged the judiciary to draw on the moral resources of the law to make executive and legislative action as accountable as possible at all times, in emergencies as well as in normal times. Readers can and should engage, at many levels, with the complexity of his thought in this important book.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Nyoman Satyayudha Dananjaya ◽  
Fuchikawa Kazuhiko

This paper aims to examine the protection of the environment in Indonesia which is part of the realization of a law state that guarantees the constitutional rights of its citizens. It is a legal research that reviews Indonesian constitutional and statutory provisions, besides adding a comparative perspective from a Japanese Constitution and legal system. It is found that the concept of a law state in Indonesia does not specifically follow the concept of a law state like what is meant in “rechtsstaat” or “the rule of law”. It has peculiar characteristics which indeed seem to adopt the noble values ??of those two concepts which clearly confesses in the constitution along with the elements and characters stated in it. One of the most prominent characteristics of a law state is the recognition and protection of human rights. In the Indonesian Constitution 1945, human rights as the fundamental rights of human beings have been arranged and compiled which is legally legitimized become constitutional rights. Among human rights, rights related to the environment include essential rights in array of international human rights formulations. Article 28 letter H of the Indonesian Constitution 1945 expressly states the rights to habitable and wholesome environment for citizen. The protection form can be a normative arrangement in the constitution or in a formal juridical through legislation. Protection of citizens' constitutional rights related to the environment is faced with due process of environmental protection that requires consistency in order to achieve the intention and direction of the Indonesian law state itself.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (29) ◽  
pp. 273-281
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Batanov ◽  
Natalia Verlos ◽  
Olga Lotiuk ◽  
Olena Sinkevych

In the search for optimal ways of improving the normative foundations and organizational-legal forms of human rights protection, the problem of institutional support of relevant processes is actualized. The protection of human rights is inherently linked to all public-power structures of the mechanism of state power and is possible only in the context of optimal implementation of the principles of the rule of law, separation of powers, democratic, social, rule of law. In Ukraine, in the context of constitutional modernization, the problem of improving the organizational-legal mechanism of human rights protection remains urgent. For this purpose, the Institute of the Ombudsman operates in Ukraine. Its implementation fully meets the tendencies existing in the modern democratic world and is a reaction to those conflicts and contradictions that exist in the field of human rights protection. Nevertheless, the social insecurity of certain sections of the population (children, pensioners, persons with disabilities, servicemen, migrants, internally displaced persons, ethnic minorities, persons belonging to the LGBTI community, entrepreneurs, patients and other categories of citizens) is an indicator of the relevance of the problem and the functioning of national human rights protection mechanisms, including the strengthening of the relevant oversight functions of the Ombudsman. The subject of the research is the problems of reception in the constitutional law of the basic models of organization of the Ombudsman Institute in the mechanism of functioning of the rule of law. The object of the study is the public relations that delve into the human rights protection process and the ombudsman's exclusivity in the relevant processes. The methodological basis of the study are general scientific methods, such as dialectical, comparative-legal, formal-legal, historical, and logical methods of cognition, as well as special and private-law methods. The history of development, the causes, the processes of institutionalization and constitution of the ombudsman services in the modern world, the permanent transformation of their functions and the differentiation of their specialization are evidence of the improvement of the classical system of separation of powers and the constitutional mechanism of its organization. It is argued that the functional isolation, independence, and organizational diversity of the control bodies, first of all, the Ombudsmen, is a testament to the formation of control power, the conceptual idea of which is the existence of a system of measures to ensure control over public authority.


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