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Full-Text Articles in Constitutional Law

Ideologia E Utopias Nas Mais Recentes Constituintes Brasileira E Portuguesa: Algumas Linhas De Leitura, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha Nov 2009

Ideologia E Utopias Nas Mais Recentes Constituintes Brasileira E Portuguesa: Algumas Linhas De Leitura, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Based upon a political compromise, in which « democratic socialists » and « social democrats » were the main protagonists, the ideology of Portuguese Constitution of 1976 was discrete, subtle. And ulterior constitutional revisions confirmed that fondamental aspect. Of course, utopia was present. But, even more present was the « hope principle ». We believe that the Brazilean constituent assembly, with the original importance of popular contributions, also had hope principle’s decisive influence. But the dinamics of the constituent assembly moderated, since the very beggining, the verbal signs of less discret ideologies. Utopia, neverthless, is very present in the aim …


Why Justice Scalia Should Be A Constitutional Comparativist ... Sometimes, David Gray Aug 2009

Why Justice Scalia Should Be A Constitutional Comparativist ... Sometimes, David Gray

David C. Gray

The burgeoning literature on transjudicialism and constitutional comparativism generally reaffirms the familiar lines of contest between textualists and those more inclined to read the Constitution as a living document. As a consequence, it tends to be politicized, if not polemic. This article begins to shift the debate toward a more rigorous focus on first principles. In particular, it argues that full faith to the basic commitments of originalism, as advanced in Justice Scalia's writings, opinions, and speeches, requires domestic courts to consult contemporary foreign sources when interpreting universalist language found in the Constitution. While the article does not propose a …


O Que É Uma Universidade?, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha May 2009

O Que É Uma Universidade?, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Pouca gente sabe hoje o que é uma Universidade, a sério. Confunde-se muito Universidade e super-mercado de aulas, ou fábrica de « investigação » ou « pesquisa », assim como se confunde serviço público com negócio, vocação com interesse pessoal, etc. É a própria essência da Universidade que está em causa. A confusão é grande no público, que vê a Universidade sobretudo como uma forma de promoção social, pelos diplomas. A confusão não é menor na própria Universidade. Os universitários mais responsáveis interrogam-se sobre a sua função, o sentido do trabalho que fizeram e fazem, e a sua sorte na …


Equality, Conscience, And The Liberty Of The Church: Justifying The Controversiale Per Controversialius, Patrick Mckinley Brennan Mar 2009

Equality, Conscience, And The Liberty Of The Church: Justifying The Controversiale Per Controversialius, Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Patrick McKinley Brennan

This paper considers the central normative claim of Martha Nussbaum’s Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America’s Tradition of Religious Equality, viz., that the U.S. Constitution’s religion clauses should be construed to provide equal (and extensive) protection to the vulnerable human faculty called conscience. The paper argues that Nussbaum’s argument from Rawlsian political liberalism that leads to her normative constitutional claim amounts, perversely, to an attempt to justify the controversial by the more controversial. The paper goes on to argue that while equality and conscience are concepts that are reasonably contested, Nussbaum illegitimately gives them priority over the also reasonably …


The Case Against National Security Courts, Stephen I. Vladeck Mar 2009

The Case Against National Security Courts, Stephen I. Vladeck

Stephen I. Vladeck

Since September 11, calls for a hybrid national security court to handle special terrorism cases have taken on a new-found prominence, as courts and policymakers alike have struggled with the complex series of legal and logistical problems posed by the U.S. government's detention of enemy combatants, especially the hundreds of non-citizens so detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. National security courts are, for many, an increasingly attractive compromise solution to the seemingly irreconcilable division between those who believe that terrorism suspects are not entitled to the traditional criminal process and those who believe not only that they are, but that any …


Original Intention And Public Meaning In Constitutional Interpretation, Richard Kay Dec 2008

Original Intention And Public Meaning In Constitutional Interpretation, Richard Kay

Richard Kay

In recent years academic explanations of the originalist approach to constitutional interpretation have shifted the relevant inquiry from the subjective intent of the constitution-makers to the "original public meaning" of the Constitution's words. This article is a critical analysis of that development. In the actual course of adjudication by honest and competent judges either method should usually yield the same result. The reliance on public meaning, however, distracts the interpreter from the connection between the normative force of the Constitution and the founding events, a link that is essential to the legitimacy of constitutional judicial review. In the hands of …


The Unexceptionalism Of Evolving Standards, Corinna Barrett Lain Dec 2008

The Unexceptionalism Of Evolving Standards, Corinna Barrett Lain

Corinna Lain

Conventional wisdom is that outside the Eighth Amendment context, the Supreme Court does not engage in the sort of explicitly majoritarian state nose-counting for which the “evolving standards of decency” doctrine is famous. Yet this impression is simply inaccurate. Across a stunning variety of civil liberties contexts, the Court routinely—and explicitly—bases constitutional protection on whether a majority of states agree with it. This Article examines the Supreme Court’s reliance on the majority position of the states to identify constitutional norms, then turns to the qualifications, explanations, and implications of state polling as a larger doctrinal phenomenon. While the past few …


Loneliness And The Law: Solitude Action And Power In Law And Literature, Marc L. Roark Dec 2008

Loneliness And The Law: Solitude Action And Power In Law And Literature, Marc L. Roark

Marc L. Roark

How do our thoughts and attitudes impact the law? Is there a correlation between the way the law is decided and the way we as lawyers and scholars approach law? These questions are the ultimate indicators of the direction of law. Traditionally, we assume that law develops artificially--that is, without direct correlation to any particular individual's contribution thereto--with few exceptions. We attribute broader forces to the development of legal movements; social movements and historical moments that ascend to the law. [FN1] In such scenarios, the individual is lost to the broader panoply of thought, rendered as little more than a …


The Rights Of Women And Role Of Superior Judiciary In Pakistan With Special Reference To Family Law Case From 2004-2008, Muhammad Munir Dr. Dec 2008

The Rights Of Women And Role Of Superior Judiciary In Pakistan With Special Reference To Family Law Case From 2004-2008, Muhammad Munir Dr.

Dr. Muhammad Munir

Granting and protecting the rights of women in the domain of family law remains one of the most important areas of legislation in Pakistan. The role of judiciary is vital to ensure that the rights of women are protected because decisions of the superior judiciary are binding on the lower courts under the doctrine of precedent. This work focuses on cases decided by the superior judiciary in Pakistan over the period of five years to know the various remedies sought by helpless women. This article finds that legislation in the area of family law protects women to a greater degree …


Desejo, Necessidade, Vontade: O Estado Como Garante Das Potencialidades Humans, Haradja L. Torrens Dec 2008

Desejo, Necessidade, Vontade: O Estado Como Garante Das Potencialidades Humans, Haradja L. Torrens

Haradja L Torrens

The author broaches the subject of the social state democratic promise in the scope of each citizen’s equalities and peculiarities. She outlines the conflict between constitutional rights and circumstantial limitations based on the analysis of economic, juridical and philosophical theories inspired in Ralws, Perelman, Härbele, Verdú and Dworkin. She points out its similiarity to the Brazilian Doctrine followed by Paulo Bonavides, stressing, at last, the post-positivist response to the legal principles for addressing political court trials through case law analysis.


Politeia And Arete. Archeology Of Senses And Hellenic Legacy, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha Dec 2008

Politeia And Arete. Archeology Of Senses And Hellenic Legacy, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

The idea of the Republic and its value is again the order of the day, not only due to Neorepublican theorists, but also because of many current debates, such as multiculturalism, the laicity of states and societies, transparency and corruption, etc. Along with Republican constitutional rules, principles and values, some proclaimed during the French Revolution (such as Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité), the debate shows the importance of an even deeper question: the importance of virtues, and the Greek legacy of Republican virtues. In this paper, among other points, we remember Pericles’ funereal speech in Thucydides’ History of Peloponnesian War, and some …


Hermenêutica Constitucional Entre Savigny E O Neoconstitucionalismo, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha Dec 2008

Hermenêutica Constitucional Entre Savigny E O Neoconstitucionalismo, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Apontar para os novos rumos jurisfilóficos mas também práticos do Neoconstitucionalismo contrastando as suas aportações hermenêuticas com o legado de Savigny nesta matéria.


Neoconstitucionalismo: De Espectro A Realidade, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha Dec 2008

Neoconstitucionalismo: De Espectro A Realidade, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Prefácio da obra "Neoconstituionalismo", chamando a atenção para o papel desta nova perspectiva, novo paradigma da juridicidade, chamado a reforçar a centralidade do Direito Constitucional no mundo jurídico, e a desempenhar um papel de relevo no plano hermenêutico e da superação (?) de algumas querelas jurisfilosóficas.


Ripe Standing Vines And The Jurisprudential Tasting Of Matured Legal Wines – And Law & Bananas: Property And Public Choice In The Permitting Process, Donald J. Kochan Dec 2008

Ripe Standing Vines And The Jurisprudential Tasting Of Matured Legal Wines – And Law & Bananas: Property And Public Choice In The Permitting Process, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

From produce to wine, we only consume things when they are ready. The courts are no different. That concept of “readiness” is how courts address cases and controversies as well. Justiciability doctrines, particularly ripeness, have a particularly important role in takings challenges to permitting decisions. The courts largely hold that a single permit denial does not give them enough information to evaluate whether the denial is in violation of law. As a result of this jurisprudential reality, regulators with discretion have an incentive to use their power to extract rents from those that need their permission. Non-justiciability of permit denials …