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Full-Text Articles in Law
On The Uneven Journey To Constitutional Redemption: The Malaysian Judiciary And Constitutional Politics, Yvonne Tew
On The Uneven Journey To Constitutional Redemption: The Malaysian Judiciary And Constitutional Politics, Yvonne Tew
Washington International Law Journal
This article explores the Malaysian judiciary’s approach toward interpreting the Federal Constitution of Malaysia and situates it within the context of the nation’s political and constitutional history. It traces the judiciary’s movement toward a more rights-oriented approach followed by its more recent retreat, which has been marked by strict formalism and insularity in several appellate court decisions. This article argues that the Malaysian courts’ journey toward constitutional redemption has been uneven so far. In order to reclaim its constitutional position as a co-equal branch of government, the Malaysian judiciary must be willing to uphold its constitutional duty to assert its …
Constitutional Fig Leaves In Asia, Po Jen Yap
Constitutional Fig Leaves In Asia, Po Jen Yap
Washington International Law Journal
Constitutional landscapes in Asia are littered with fig leaves. These proverbial fig leaves are legal principles, doctrines, and theories of interpretation that judges appeal to when resolving constitutional disputes. This article uncovers and examines three constitutional fig leaves that are prevalent and flourishing in Asia: 1) formalism and its conceptual variants; 2) the exercise of judicial review that is merely symbolic; and 3) the invocation of vacuous constitutional doctrines. This article further argues that judicial recourse to fig leaves is not intended to deceive anyone about what courts are doing; the fig leaves are on public display merely to demonstrate …
The Rise And Fall Of Historic Chief Justices: Constitutional Politics And Judicial Leadership In Indonesia, Stefanus Hendrianto
The Rise And Fall Of Historic Chief Justices: Constitutional Politics And Judicial Leadership In Indonesia, Stefanus Hendrianto
Washington International Law Journal
In the decade following its inception, the Indonesian Constitutional Court has marked a new chapter in Indonesian legal history, one in which a judicial institution can challenge the executive and legislative branches. This article argues that judicial leadership is the main contributing factor explaining the emergence of judicial power in Indonesia. This article posits that the newly established Indonesian Constitutional Court needed a strong and skilled Chief Justice to build the institution because it had insufficient support from political actors. As the Court lacked a well-established tradition of judicial review, it needed a visionary leader who could maximize the structural …
Moving Towards A Nominal Constitutional Court? Critical Reflections On The Shift From Judicial Activism To Constitutional Irrelevance In Taiwan's Constitutional Politics, Ming-Sung Kuo
Washington International Law Journal
The Taiwan Constitutional Court (TCC, also known as the Council of Grand Justices) has been regarded as a central player in Taiwan’s transition to democracy in the late twentieth century. Transforming from a rubberstamp under the authoritarian regime into a facilitator of political dispute settlement, the TCC channelled volatile political forces into its jurisdiction. Thanks to the TCC’s judicial activism, the judicialization of constitutional politics was characteristic of Taiwan’s democratization in the last two decades of the twentieth century. The TCC scholarship asserts that the TCC has continued to play a pivotal role in Taiwan’s constitutional politics in the twenty-first …
Globalization, Rights, And Judicial Review In The Supreme Court Of India, Manoj Mate
Globalization, Rights, And Judicial Review In The Supreme Court Of India, Manoj Mate
Washington International Law Journal
This article examines the broader and evolving role of the Supreme Court of India in an era of globalization by examining the Court’s decisionmaking in rights-based challenges to economic liberalization, privatization, and development policies over the past three decades. While the Court has been mostly deferential in its review of these policies and projects, it has in many cases been active and instrumental in remaking and reshaping regulatory frameworks, bureaucratic structures, accountability norms, and in redefining the terrain of fundamental rights that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other litigants have invoked in challenges to these policies. This article argues that the …
The "Chaudhry Court": Deconstructing The "Judicialization Of Politics" In Pakistan, Moeen H. Cheema
The "Chaudhry Court": Deconstructing The "Judicialization Of Politics" In Pakistan, Moeen H. Cheema
Washington International Law Journal
The Supreme Court of Pakistan underwent a remarkable transformation in its institutional role and constitutional position during the tenure of the former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (2005–2013). This era in Pakistan’s judicial history was also marked by great controversy as the court faced charges that it had engaged in “judicial activism,” acted politically, and violated the constitutionally mandated separation of powers between institutions of the state. This article presents an in-depth analysis of the judicial review actions of the Chaudhry Court and argues that the charge of judicial activism is theoretically unsound and analytically obfuscating. The notion …
The Politics Of Constitutional Common Law In Hong Kong Under Chinese Sovereignty, Eric C. Ip
The Politics Of Constitutional Common Law In Hong Kong Under Chinese Sovereignty, Eric C. Ip
Washington International Law Journal
This article studies how the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal has come to develop a sophisticated judicial gloss on the provisions of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s constitutional document, in ways unforeseen by the Chinese National People’s Congress that enacted it. The ascendancy of constitutional common law in Hong Kong after the end of British rule is remarkable when considered in light of the continuing denial of democratic self-rule by China’s authoritarian Party-state. This article argues that the profusion of political transaction costs due to the fragmentation of the ruling elite and state-society discord consequent to the resumption of …
Identity Laws And Privacy Protection In A Modern State: The Legal History Concerning Personal Information In Taiwan (1895-2015), Yung-Hua Kuo, Po-Liang Chen
Identity Laws And Privacy Protection In A Modern State: The Legal History Concerning Personal Information In Taiwan (1895-2015), Yung-Hua Kuo, Po-Liang Chen
Washington International Law Journal
This article investigates the continuity and transformation of the personal identity and identification legal systems in Taiwan. From 1895 to 2015, Japan and subsequently the Republic of China (ROC) ruled Taiwan and transplanted different legal systems of personal information to Taiwan. This article analyzes how these systems were applied to and impacted Taiwanese society in three periods: the Japanese rule period (1895–1945), the period of strict control by the ROC government (1945–1992), and the rise and evolution of the privacy period (1993–2015). When Taiwan was ruled by the Qing Empire (1683–1895), there was no precise personal information database in Taiwan. …
Translation, Codification, And Transplantation Of Foreign Laws In Taiwan, Tay-Sheng Wang
Translation, Codification, And Transplantation Of Foreign Laws In Taiwan, Tay-Sheng Wang
Washington International Law Journal
Taiwan is an excellent example for rethinking the significance of translation and codification of law in the process of transplantation of modern law in East Asian countries. Regardless of its strangeness to the general public, the translation of Western laws was always codified in Meiji Japan for the purpose of “receiving” modern law. Those Westernized Japanese legal codes also took effect in Taiwan during the later period of Japanese colonial rule, although Japanese colonialists initially applied Taiwanese customary law, created by Western legal terminology, to the Taiwanese to decrease their resistance to the new regime. Using foreign Japanese language to …
"Uniting For Peace" And Humanitarian Intervention: The Authorising Function Of The U.N. General Assembly, Michael Ramsden
"Uniting For Peace" And Humanitarian Intervention: The Authorising Function Of The U.N. General Assembly, Michael Ramsden
Washington International Law Journal
Although the end of the Cold War has seen the functional expansion of the United Nations Security Council, concerns still remain over its legitimacy, driven in part by its failure to address serious and persistent human rights abuses. While this has resurrected arguments in favour of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention outside the U.N. Charter framework, little attention has been paid to how the U.N. General Assembly may authorise such enforcement action under a U.N. mandate through the invocation of the Uniting for Peace mechanism. Some dismiss Uniting for Peace as little more than a relic of the Cold War, …
Legal Analysis: Daesh Control Of Watercourses In Syria And Iraq, Nadim Damluji
Legal Analysis: Daesh Control Of Watercourses In Syria And Iraq, Nadim Damluji
Washington International Law Journal
After years of turmoil, the volatile situation in Iraq and Syria erupted into chaos, setting the stage for the rise of Daesh. Under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi since 2013, Daesh has successfully gained control of territory and influence throughout vast regions of Iraq and Syria to create a new religious caliphate. In the water-scarce region, Daesh has executed a plan to capture the most precious resource available: water. The critical threat Daesh poses to watercourse installations along the Tigris and Euphrates in Syria and Iraq poses a pressing challenge to water security in the Middle East. How might …
Don't Count Your Nest Eggs Before They Vest: A Lack Of Reform Could Leave A Generation Of Retiring Israelis Without A Future, Tomer Vandsburger
Don't Count Your Nest Eggs Before They Vest: A Lack Of Reform Could Leave A Generation Of Retiring Israelis Without A Future, Tomer Vandsburger
Washington International Law Journal
Israel’s pension system has changed drastically since the mid-1990s, when it faced an underfunding crisis. The transition to defined contribution plans permitted a wider range of investments and shifted the burden of income-replacement from the government to the individual pension plan participant. This shift required increased protections for pension plans, which led to the creation of the Capital Market Insurance and Savings Division (CMISD) to oversee and regulate pension management entities. In comparison to post-Soviet nations that experienced similar transitions from socialist to market economies, Israel’s pension system is significantly healthier and more regulated. However, the CMISD must enact measures …
Large-Scale Land Acquisitions And Applying A Gender Lens To Supply Chain Reform, Mina Manuchehri
Large-Scale Land Acquisitions And Applying A Gender Lens To Supply Chain Reform, Mina Manuchehri
Washington International Law Journal
In recent years, multinational corporations, in particular food and beverage companies, have committed to “zero tolerance for land grabs” throughout their supply chains. To achieve this end, companies have also committed to international legal norms, including Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Although these commitments were unprecedented, no company explicitly requires the consideration of women’s use of and rights to land when remedying land grabs or acquiring land. To guarantee that women are included and consulted throughout land acquisition processes, companies should explicitly require the application of a …
Real-Name Registration Rules And The Fading Digital Anonymity In China, Jyh-An Lee, Ching-Yi Liu
Real-Name Registration Rules And The Fading Digital Anonymity In China, Jyh-An Lee, Ching-Yi Liu
Washington International Law Journal
China has implemented comprehensive online real-name registration rules, which require Internet users to disclose their identities. Chinese national law has required most online service providers to implement real-name registration since 2012. This article uses the real-name registration rules to illustrate the supremacy and limitations of the Network Authoritarian Model (NAM), an approach leveraging corporate resources for political surveillance and occasionally adopted by the Chinese party-state. By addressing the evolution of real-name registration rules in China, this article illustrates the party-state’s gradual efforts in both eliminating cyberspace anonymity and etching Chinese characteristics on the architecture of the Internet. Although the Chinese …
The Laws Of Asian International Business Transactions, Gilles Cuniberti
The Laws Of Asian International Business Transactions, Gilles Cuniberti
Washington International Law Journal
The purpose of this article is to assess the preferences of parties to Asian international business transactions when they choose the law governing their contracts. To that end, I conducted an empirical analysis of unpublished data of the four main arbitral institutions active in Asia (outside Mainland China) for the years 2011 and 2012. I found that three laws dominate the Asian market for international contracts: English law, U.S. law, and, to a lesser extent, Singapore law. This article makes three contributions. First, it documents the regional variations in parties’ preferences: the laws which are successful in Asia are different …
Explaining Comparative Administrative Law: The Standing Of Positive Political Theory, Benjamin Minhao Chen, Zhiyu Li
Explaining Comparative Administrative Law: The Standing Of Positive Political Theory, Benjamin Minhao Chen, Zhiyu Li
Washington International Law Journal
The principal-agent model of administrative law sees bureaucrats as imperfectly supervised agents of their political principals and courts as a tool used by the latter to monitor and check the former. This paper compares how the class of plaintiffs authorized to bring suit against governmental bodies has been defined in three countries where one should expect to find significant barriers to administrative litigation—Japan, Singapore, and the People’s Republic of China. Although these three Asian countries have traditionally been one-party dominated states, we do observe substantial differences in how legislatures and courts have addressed the issue of standing over time. It …
Interpretation Of The Supreme People's Court On Several Issues Concerning The Application Of "Administrative Ligitation Law Of The People's Republic Of China", Benjamin Minhao Chen, Zhiyu Li
Interpretation Of The Supreme People's Court On Several Issues Concerning The Application Of "Administrative Ligitation Law Of The People's Republic Of China", Benjamin Minhao Chen, Zhiyu Li
Washington International Law Journal
For the proper application of the “Administrative Litigation Law of the People’s Republic of China” amended at the 11th session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress, in consideration of the actual circumstances of the people’s courts, the interpretation on the application of the relevant provisions is hereby issued as follows:
Supreme People's Court Annual Report On Intellectual Property Cases (2015) (China), Xiaohan Lou, Mingyuan Song, Chao Yu
Supreme People's Court Annual Report On Intellectual Property Cases (2015) (China), Xiaohan Lou, Mingyuan Song, Chao Yu
Washington International Law Journal
The Supreme People’s Court of China began publishing its Annual Report on Intellectual Property Cases in 2008. The annual reports, published in April each year, summarize and review new intellectual property cases. This translation includes all 32 cases and 38 legal issues of the 2015 Annual Report. It addresses various areas of law related to intellectual property, including patent law, trademark law, copyright law, unfair competition law, antitrust law, new plant product patent law, and laws related to procedural and evidentiary issues in intellectual property cases. While China is not a common law country, these cases serve as guidelines for …
Trial By One's Peers: The Need To Expand Japan's Lay Judge System, Harrison L.E. Owens
Trial By One's Peers: The Need To Expand Japan's Lay Judge System, Harrison L.E. Owens
Washington International Law Journal
As a civil law-based country, Japan’s legal system has historically placed a strong emphasis on the formalistic application of code provisions to cases by professional judges without a jury. Within the criminal justice system, prosecutors have played a highly significant role in all cases. They exclusively make the decision to indict an alleged criminal, conduct investigation of crimes, initiate a criminal case, and they also control and supervise enforcement of a conviction. In addition, the Prosecutors Office of Japan has historically emphasized the need to obtain a high rate of convictions to maintain the Japanese public’s trust in, and high …