The Invisible Constitution in Comparative Perspective



Download 4,63 Mb.
Pdf ko'rish
bet342/366
Sana18.08.2021
Hajmi4,63 Mb.
#150519
1   ...   338   339   340   341   342   343   344   345   ...   366
Bog'liq
The Invisible Constitution in Comparative Perspective by Rosalind Dixon (editor), Adrienne Stone (editor) (z-lib.org)

Schwarzschild (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1949) 57.

113 


Justice Lebel, who co-wrote the dissent in Quebec v. Canada, is now retired. See discussion of 

his views in Mark Walters, “Federalism in its Biggest Sense: Justice Louis LeBel and the Feder-

al Idea in Canadian Constitutional Law” in Dwight Newman and Malcolm Thorburn (eds.), 

 

The Dignity of Law: The Legacy of Justice Louis LeBel (Markham, ON: Lexis Nexis, 2015).




540 

David Schneiderman

role to play, for these reasons, in future constitutional litigation. The worry is 

that it provides easy cover for contestable constitutional maneuvers, imposing 

a rule of political morality where there may be little consensus.

The contestable nature of unwritten principles, I surmise, helps to 

explain the Court’s reluctance to robustly endorse them since the Secession 

Reference. The justices, instead, are aware that there is much work that legal 

federalism can do (as in the Securities Act Reference). The Court can answer 

constitutional questions with some jurisprudential specificity using more con-

ventional resources.

When it departs from its more traditional methods and refers to unwritten 

principles, this signals the Court is being attentive to the institutional con-

text in which it operates. Though this context will be present in many cases

overt departures from conventional legal methods entail risks for the Court. 

Presumably, the justices will embark on such a course only when other tradi-

tional legal methods fail to generate reasons consistent with their preferred out-

comes. With its reputation hanging in the balance, the members of the Court 

were willing to take such a risk in the high stakes Secession Reference so as to 

generate an unwritten constitutional duty to negotiate. No such reputational 

risk was at play in Quebec v. Canada, and so nothing more was required. The 

majority of the justices could proceed along a more conventional path even 

though the outcome threatened to unleash a backlash, of a sort, from Quebec 

elite opinion. Then again, that opinion could have been attentive to the fact 

that an unwritten principle of federal loyalty worked in both directions – that 

it could hamper the Quebec National Assembly should it disrespect its federal 

partner sometime in the future. Sticking to conventional judicial methods 

turns out to have been the shrewder, and more cautious, course of action. 

Canada’s unwritten constitution could safely be cabined until the next occa-

sion when members of the Court need to get creative.



541

In its first landmark judgment, in 1990, the Constitutional Court of Hungary 

abolished the death penalty.

1

 The interpretation on human dignity, both a 



moral value and a constitutional right, served as an example for the Ukrainian

Lithuanian, Albanian, and South African constitutional courts.

2

 But this is not 



the only reason why the judgment has been echoed in a number of studies 

and judgments. Chief Justice Sólyom expressed in obiter dicta that he was 

applying the invisible constitution:

The Constitutional Court must continue its effort to explain the theoret-

ical bases of the Constitution and the rights included in it and to form a 

coherent system with its decisions in order to provide a reliable standard of  

constitutionality – an “invisible Constitution” – beyond the Constitution

which is often amended nowadays by current political interests; and 

because of this “invisible Constitution” probably will not conflict with 

the new Constitution to be established or with future Constitutions. The 

Constitutional Court enjoys freedom in this process as long as it remains 

within the framework of the concept of constitutionality.

3

On the face of it, the early message about the Hungarian variety of invis-



ible constitution may appear to correspond to the renowned concept from 

Laurence Tribe. The fact is, however, that this innovation did not exert influ-

ence on Tribe’s book in any way. Indeed, the notion of the invisible consti-

tution has never been adopted explicitly per curiam in Hungary. In spite of 

Judgment 23/1990 (X. 31.) HCC.






Download 4,63 Mb.

Do'stlaringiz bilan baham:
1   ...   338   339   340   341   342   343   344   345   ...   366




Ma'lumotlar bazasi mualliflik huquqi bilan himoyalangan ©hozir.org 2024
ma'muriyatiga murojaat qiling

kiriting | ro'yxatdan o'tish
    Bosh sahifa
юртда тантана
Боғда битган
Бугун юртда
Эшитганлар жилманглар
Эшитмадим деманглар
битган бодомлар
Yangiariq tumani
qitish marakazi
Raqamli texnologiyalar
ilishida muhokamadan
tasdiqqa tavsiya
tavsiya etilgan
iqtisodiyot kafedrasi
steiermarkischen landesregierung
asarlaringizni yuboring
o'zingizning asarlaringizni
Iltimos faqat
faqat o'zingizning
steierm rkischen
landesregierung fachabteilung
rkischen landesregierung
hamshira loyihasi
loyihasi mavsum
faolyatining oqibatlari
asosiy adabiyotlar
fakulteti ahborot
ahborot havfsizligi
havfsizligi kafedrasi
fanidan bo’yicha
fakulteti iqtisodiyot
boshqaruv fakulteti
chiqarishda boshqaruv
ishlab chiqarishda
iqtisodiyot fakultet
multiservis tarmoqlari
fanidan asosiy
Uzbek fanidan
mavzulari potok
asosidagi multiservis
'aliyyil a'ziym
billahil 'aliyyil
illaa billahil
quvvata illaa
falah' deganida
Kompyuter savodxonligi
bo’yicha mustaqil
'alal falah'
Hayya 'alal
'alas soloh
Hayya 'alas
mavsum boyicha


yuklab olish