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Newton Spence and Peter Hughes V the Queen
SAINT VINCENT & THE GRENADINES IN THE COURT OF APPEAL CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 20 OF 1998 BETWEEN: NEWTON SPENCE Appellant and THE QUEEN Respondent and SAINT LUCIA IN THE COURT OF APPEAL CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 14 OF 1997 BETWEEN: PETER HUGHES Appellant and THE QUEEN Respondent Before: The Hon. Sir Dennis Byron Chief Justice The Hon. Mr. Albert Redhead Justice of Appeal The Hon. Mr. Adrian Saunders Justice of Appeal (Ag.) Appearances: Mr. J. Guthrie QC, Mr. K. Starmer and Ms. N. Sylvester for the Appellant Spence Mr. E. Fitzgerald QC and Mr. M. Foster for the Appellant Hughes Mr. A. Astaphan SC, Ms. L. Blenman, Solicitor General, Mr. James Dingemans, Mr. P. Thompson, Mr. D. Browne, Solicitor General, Dr. H. Browne and Ms. S. Bollers for the Respondents -------------------------------------------- 2000: December 7, 8; 2001: April 2. -------------------------------------------- JUDGMENT [1] BYRON, C.J.: This is a consolidated appeal, which concerns two appellants convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Saint Vincent and Saint Lucia respectively who exhausted their appeals against conviction and raised constitutional arguments against the mandatory sentence of death before the Privy Council which had not previously been raised in the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal. Background [2] The Privy Council granted leave to both appellants to appeal against sentence and remitted the matter to the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal to consider and determine whether (a) the mandatory sentence of death imposed should be quashed (and if so what sentence (including the sentence of death) should be imposed), or (b) the mandatory sentence of death imposed ought to be affirmed. -
The Fundamentals of Constitutional Courts
Constitution Brief April 2017 Summary The Fundamentals of This Constitution Brief provides a basic guide to constitutional courts and the issues that they raise in constitution-building processes, and is Constitutional Courts intended for use by constitution-makers and other democratic actors and stakeholders in Myanmar. Andrew Harding About MyConstitution 1. What are constitutional courts? The MyConstitution project works towards a home-grown and well-informed constitutional A written constitution is generally intended to have specific and legally binding culture as an integral part of democratic transition effects on citizens’ rights and on political processes such as elections and legislative and sustainable peace in Myanmar. Based on procedure. This is not always true: in the People’s Republic of China, for example, demand, expert advisory services are provided it is clear that constitutional rights may not be enforced in courts of law and the to those involved in constitution-building efforts. constitution has only aspirational, not juridical, effects. This series of Constitution Briefs is produced as If a constitution is intended to be binding there must be some means of part of this effort. enforcing it by deciding when an act or decision is contrary to the constitution The MyConstitution project also provides and providing some remedy where this occurs. We call this process ‘constitutional opportunities for learning and dialogue on review’. Constitutions across the world have devised broadly two types of relevant constitutional issues based on the constitutional review, carried out either by a specialized constitutional court or history of Myanmar and comparative experience. by courts of general legal jurisdiction. -
ONE the SUPREME COURT and the MAKING of PUBLIC POLICY in CONTEMPORARY CHINA Eric C. Ip
ONE THE SUPREME COURT AND THE MAKING OF PUBLIC POLICY IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA Eric C. Ip Post-Mao China saw profound social, economic and legal changes. This paper analyzes an often neglected aspect of these transformations: the evolution of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) into an increasingly influential political actor in national law and policy-making. The SPC has self-consciously redefined its mandate to manage state-sponsored legal reforms by performing an expansive range of new functions such as issuing abstract rules, tightening control over lower courts and crafting out a constitutional jurisprudence of its own at the expense of other powerful state actors. It is more assertive than ever its own vision of how law should develop in the contemporary People’s Republic of China (PRC)SPC action can be broadly consistent with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) interests, autonomous and expansive at the same time. However, the SPC’s reform initiatives are inevitably constrained by the vested interests of major bureaucratic players as well as the Party’s insistence on maintaining the Court as an integral administrative agency of its public security system. Eric C. Ip is working towards a doctorate at Oxford University's Centre for Socio- Legal Studies. A student of the political science subfields of comparative constitutional design and judicial politics, he earned his undergraduate degree in Government and Laws from The University of Hong Kong, and an LL.M. (distinction) degree from King's College, University of London. He is an Academic Tutor in Law and Politics at St. John's College, The University of Hong Kong; an Academic Fellow at The Institute of Law, Economics, and Politics; and a member of the American Political Science Association and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. -
When the Dust Settles
WHEN THE DUST SETTLES Judicial Responses to Terrorism in the Sahel By Junko Nozawa and Melissa Lefas October 2018 Copyright © 2018 Global Center on Cooperative Security All rights reserved. For permission requests, write to the publisher at: 1101 14th Street NW, Suite 900 Washington, DC 20005 USA DESIGN: Studio You London CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS: Heleine Fouda, Gildas Barbier, Hassane Djibo, Wafi Ougadeye, and El Hadji Malick Sow SUGGESTED CITATION: Junko Nozawa and Melissa Lefas, “When the Dust Settles: Judicial Responses to Terrorism in the Sahel,” Global Center on Cooperative Security, October 2018. globalcenter.org @GlobalCtr WHEN THE DUST SETTLES Judicial Responses to Terrorism in the Sahel By Junko Nozawa and Melissa Lefas October 2018 ABOUT THE AUTHORS JUNKO NOZAWA JUNKO NOZAWA is a Legal Analyst for the Global Center on Cooperative Security, where she supports programming in criminal justice and rule of law, focusing on human rights and judicial responses to terrorism. In the field of international law, she has contrib- uted to the work of the International Criminal Court, regional human rights courts, and nongovernmental organizations. She holds a JD and LLM from Washington University in St. Louis. MELISSA LEFAS MELISSA LEFAS is Director of Criminal Justice and Rule of Law Programs for the Global Center, where she is responsible for overseeing programming and strategic direction for that portfolio. She has spent the previous several years managing Global Center programs throughout East Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, the Sahel, and South Asia with a primary focus on human rights, capacity development, and due process in handling terrorism and related cases. -
Elements of Sociology of the Supreme People's Court
Paper presented at the Conference ”Constitutionalism and Judicial Power in China” (December 12-13 2005, Sciences Po) HIGH TURNOVER AND LOW REPUTATION? ELEMENTS OF SOCIOLOGY OF THE SUPREME PEOPLE’S COURT GRAND JUSTICES (Summary) Hou Meng Department of Sociology, Beijing University This presentation about the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) Grand Justices of the PRC consists of two papers. The first one discusses the high turnover of Grand Justices and the underlying reasons, while the second focuses on the reputation of Grand Justices. Actually, high turnover and low reputation have intrinsic connections. Leaving the Supreme People’s Court: the Turnover of SPC Grand Justices In recent years, SPC has applied judge’s professionalization to all the Courts of China so as to ensure the stabilization of judge group. On the contrary, three Grand Justices have left SPC since 2003. The first one is Zhu Mingsha, the Grand Justice of the first rank and Vice President of SPC, who left for the Committee for Internal and Judicial Affairs of Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (SCNPC) and took the position as its Vice President. The second one is Zhang Jun, the Grand Justice of the second rank, from the Vice President of SPC to Vice Minister of Justice (he came back to SPC in Aug, 2005). The third one is Jiang Bixin, the Grand Justice of the second rank, from the Vice President of SPC to the President of the Higher People’s Court of Hunan Province. What leads to the above inconsistent phenomena? Continual Turnover Leaving the Court is one type of judge turnover. -
Constitutional Courts Versus Supreme Courts
SYMPOSIUM Constitutional courts versus supreme courts Lech Garlicki* Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/icon/article/5/1/44/722508 by guest on 30 September 2021 Constitutional courts exist in most of the civil law countries of Westem Europe, and in almost all the new democracies in Eastem Europe; even France has developed its Conseil Constitutionnel into a genuine constitutional jurisdiction. While their emergence may be regarded as one of the most successful improvements on traditional European concepts of democracy and the rule of law, it has inevitably given rise to questions about the distribution of power at the supreme judicial level. As constitutional law has come to permeate the entire structure of the legal system, it has become impossible to maintain a fi rm delimitation between the functions of the constitutional court and those of ordinary courts. This article looks at various confl icts arising between the higher courts of Germany, Italy, Poland, and France, and concludes that, in both positive and negative lawmaking, certain tensions are bound to exist as a necessary component of centralized judicial review. 1 . The Kelsenian model: Parallel supreme jurisdictions 1.1 The model The centralized Kelsenian system of judicial review is built on two basic assu- mptions. It concentrates the power of constitutional review within a single judicial body, typically called a constitutional court, and it situates that court outside the traditional structure of the judicial branch. While this system emerged more than a century after the United States’ system of diffused review, it has developed — particularly in Europe — into a widely accepted version of constitutional protection and control. -
Judicial Review and the Conseil D'etat George D
Boston College Law School Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School Boston College Law School Faculty Papers January 1966 DeGaulle's Republic and the Rule of Law: Judicial Review and the Conseil d'Etat George D. Brown Boston College Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/lsfp Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons Recommended Citation George D. Brown. "DeGaulle's Republic and the Rule of Law: Judicial Review and the Conseil d'Etat." Boston University Law Review 46, (1966): 462-492. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College Law School Faculty Papers by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact [email protected]. :DE GAULLE'S REPUBLIC AND THE RULE OF LAW: JUDICIAL REVIEW AND THE CONSEIL D'ETAT GEORGE D. BROWN* Americans tend to regard France as a somewhat despotic country where drivers' licenses are summarily revoked by roadside tribunals, political opponents are treated badly, and in general the rule of law is lightly regarded.' From time to time disgruntled Frenchmen come forward to reinforce this picture.2 Against such a background of illiber- alism, the lack of judicial review of legislation in France does not seem surprising. And it has become a commonplace to present the French hostility to judicial review as a polar example of attitudes toward this institution.3 Yet there are ample signs that this generalization needs to be reexamined. -
The Seychelles Law Reports
THE SEYCHELLES LAW REPORTS DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT, CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AND COURT OF APPEAL ________________ 2017 _________________ PART 2 (Pp i-vi, 269-552) Published by Authority of the Chief Justice i (2017) SLR EDITORIAL BOARD Chief Justice – ex officio Attorney-General – ex officio Mr Kieran Shah of Middle Temple, Barrister Mr Bernard Georges of Gray’s Inn, Barrister CITATION These reports are cited thus: (2017) SLR Printed by ii THE SEYCHELLES JUDICIARY THE COURT OF APPEAL Hon F MacGregor, President Hon S Domah Hon A Fernando Hon J Msoffe Hon M Twomey THE SUPREME COURT (AND CONSTITUTIONAL COURT) Hon M Twomey,Chief Justice Hon D Karunakaran Hon B Renaud Hon M Burhan Hon G Dodin Hon F Robinson Hon E De Silva Hon C McKee Hon D Akiiki-Kiiza Hon R Govinden Hon S Govinden Hon S Nunkoo Hon M Vidot Hon L Pillay Master E Carolus iii (2017) SLR iv CONTENTS Digest of Cases ................................................................................................ vii Cases Reported Amesbury v President of Seychelles & Constitutional Appointments Authority ........ 69 Benstrong v Lobban ............................................................................................... 317 Bonnelame v National Assembly of Seychelles ..................................................... 491 D’Acambra & Esparon v Esparon ........................................................................... 343 David & Ors v Public Utilities Corporation .............................................................. 439 Delorie v Government of Seychelles -
MOROCCO: Human Rights at a Crossroads
Human Rights Watch October 2004 Vol. 16, No. 6(E) MOROCCO: Human Rights at a Crossroads I. SUMMARY................................................................................................................................ 1 II. RECOMMENDATIONS...................................................................................................... 4 To the Government of Morocco ........................................................................................... 4 To the Equity and Reconciliation Commission ................................................................... 6 To the United Nations............................................................................................................. 7 To the U.S. Government.........................................................................................................8 To the European Union and its member states................................................................... 8 To the Arab League.................................................................................................................. 9 III. INTRODUCTION: ADDRESSING PAST ABUSES................................................... 9 The Equity and Reconciliation Commission......................................................................14 Limits of the New Commission ...........................................................................................16 2003 Report of the Advisory Council for Human Rights ................................................23 IV. HUMAN RIGHTS AFTER THE -
Private Prosecutions in Mauritius: Clarifying Locus Standi and Making the Director of Public Prosecutions More Accountable
African Journal of Legal Studies 10 (2017) 1–34 brill.com/ajls Private Prosecutions in Mauritius: Clarifying Locus Standi and Making the Director of Public Prosecutions more Accountable Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi University of the Western Cape, South Africa [email protected] Abstract Case law shows that private prosecutions have been part of Mauritian law at least since 1873. In Mauritius there are two types of private prosecutions: private prosecutions by individuals; and private prosecutions by statutory bodies. Neither the Mauritian consti- tution nor legislation provides for the right to institute a private prosecution. Because of the fact that Mauritian legislation is not detailed on the issue of locus standi to insti- tute private prosecutions and does not address the issue of whether or not the Director of Public Prosecutions has to give reasons when he takes over and discontinues a pri- vate prosecution, the Supreme Court has had to address these issues. The Mauritian Supreme Court has held, inter alia, that a private prosecution may only be instituted by an aggrieved party (even in lower courts where this is not a statutory requirement) and that the Director of Public Prosecutions may take over and discontinue a private prosecution without giving reasons for his decision. However, the Supreme Court does not define “an aggrieved party.” In this article the author takes issue with the Court’s findings in these cases and, relying on legislation from other African countries, recom- mends how the law could be amended to strengthen the private prosecutor’s position. Keywords private prosecutions – Mauritius – Locus Standi – Director of Public Prosecutions – aggrieved party – supreme court © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi �0.��63/�7087384-��3400Downloaded�6 from Brill.com10/03/2021 04:36:42PM via free access 2 Mujuzi I Introduction Private prosecutions have been part of Mauritian law for a long period of time.1 In Mauritius there are two types of private prosecutions: private pros- ecutions by individuals; and private prosecutions by statutory bodies. -
The Seychelles Law Reports
THE SEYCHELLES LAW REPORTS DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT, CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AND COURT OF APPEAL ________________ 2017 _________________ PART 1 (Pp i-xii, 1-268) Published by Authority of the Chief Justice (2017) SLR EDITORIAL BOARD Chief Justice – ex officio Attorney-General – ex officio Mr Kieran Shah of Middle Temple, Barrister Mr Bernard Georges of Gray’s Inn, Barrister CITATION These reports are cited thus: (2017) SLR Printed by ii THE SEYCHELLES JUDICIARY THE COURT OF APPEAL Hon F MacGregor, President Hon S Domah Hon A Fernando Hon J Msoffe Hon M Twomey THE SUPREME COURT (AND CONSTITUTIONAL COURT) Hon M Twomey,Chief Justice Hon D Karunakaran Hon B Renaud Hon M Burhan Hon G Dodin Hon F Robinson Hon E De Silva Hon C McKee Hon D Akiiki-Kiiza Hon R Govinden Hon S Govinden Hon S Nunkoo Hon M Vidot Hon L Pillay Master E Carolus iii (2017) SLR iv CONTENTS Digest of Cases ................................................................................................ vii Cases Reported Amesbury v President of Seychelles & Constitutional Appointments Authority ........ 69 Benstrong v Lobban ............................................................................................... 317 Bonnelame v National Assembly of Seychelles ..................................................... 491 D’Acambra & Esparon v Esparon ........................................................................... 343 David & Ors v Public Utilities Corporation .............................................................. 439 Delorie v Government of Seychelles -
Classifying Systems of Constitutional Review: a Context-Specific Analysis
Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design Volume 5 Article 1 4-13-2020 Classifying Systems of Constitutional Review: A Context-Specific Analysis Samantha Lalisan Indiana University Maurer School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ijcd Part of the Common Law Commons, Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, Conflict of Laws Commons, Constitutional Law Commons, Courts Commons, Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons, Jurisdiction Commons, Jurisprudence Commons, Law and Politics Commons, and the Supreme Court of the United States Commons Recommended Citation Lalisan, Samantha (2020) "Classifying Systems of Constitutional Review: A Context-Specific Analysis," Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design: Vol. 5 , Article 1. Available at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ijcd/vol5/iss1/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design by an authorized editor of Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Classifying Systems of Constitutional Review: A Context-Specific Analysis SAMANTHA LALISAN* “Access to the court is perhaps the most important ingredient in judicial power, because a party seeking to utilize judicial review as political insurance will only be able to do so if it can bring a case to court.”1 INTRODUCTION Europe’s experience with democratically elected fascist regimes leading to World War II is perhaps one of the most important developments for the establishment of new constitutional democracies. Post-war constitutional drafters sought to establish fundamental constitutional rights and to protect those rights through specialized constitutional courts.2 Many of these new democracies entrenched first-, second-, and third-generation rights into the constitution and included provisions to allow individuals access, direct or indirect, to the constitutional court to protect their rights through adjudication.