Comparative Constitutional Justice

List of Abbreviations xiii

1 Defining Comparative Constitutional Justice 1
1.1 Demarcating Constitutional Justice: Between Didactics and Research 1
1.2 Defining Constitutional Justice: From Form to Function 4
1.3 Comparative Constitutional Justice: Some Methodological Issues 6
1.4 Comparing Constitutional Justice: Taxonomies 8
1.5 From Dichotomic to FuzzyClassifications:ARenovatedMethodological Approach to Comparative Constitutional Justice 11
1.6 Devising a New Classification: Review of Legislation v. Constitutional Review 12
1.7 Taxonomies, Models and Typologies 14
1.8 Litigating Human Rights: Treaty-Based Judicial Review as a Form of Constitutional Review 16
1.9 Survey of the Volume 18

Part I Constitutional Review: The Legality of Norms
2 Prototypes of Constitutional Litigation 23
2.1 History and Comparative Law: The Onset of the Judicial Review of Legislation 23
2.2 Historical Precedents: Ancient and Mediaeval Constitutionalism 25
2.3 Judicial Review of Legislation and Its Mediaeval English-Law Background 28
2.4 Bonham’s Case: An Early Form of Judicial Review of Legislation 31
2.5 Judicial Review of Legislation and Its Migration to the American Colonies 34
2.6 From ‘Concentrated’ to ‘Diffuse’. Birth and Evolution of the US System of Constitutional Review 37
2.7 Parliamentary Supremacy or Judicial Review of Legislation? The Constitutional Dilemma in Revolutionary France and Nineteenth Century Europe 40
2.8 The UK Case: Parliamentary Sovereignty at Home and Constitutional Review Overseas 44
2.9 Early Cases of Constitutional Review in Norway 46
2.10 Before Kelsen: Experimenting with Judicial Review in Latin America 48
2.11 Constitutionalism ‘Fin de Siècle’ and ‘Entre Deux Guerres’ Kelsen 51
2.12 MimickingKelsen: The Tribunal of Constitutional Guarantees and the 1931 Spanish Constitutionalism 53

3 Dissemination, Alteration and Deformation of Constitutional Justice 55
3.1 The Aftermath of World War II: From Nomocratic to Pantocratic Review 55
3.2 Incidental Access to Concentrated Adjudication: Italy and Germany as a Third Genus? 56
3.3 Revisiting the U.S. Exemplary Model: India and Japan 58
3.4 Austria and Switzerland 61
3.5 From Political to Judicial Review: France, 1958-2008 63
3.6 Political Review in Marxist Theory and Practice: Soviet Law 65
3.7 Chinese Constitutional Litigation? 68
3.8 Constitutional Reforms and Transplants in Latin America 69
3.9 Decolonizing Constitutional Justice. French Legacies in Maghreb and Lebanon 70
3.10 British Colonies and the JCPC Jurisdiction: The Global North … 72
3.11 … And the Global South. Eurocentric Attitudes in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa 74
3.12 The JCPCJurisdiction: British OverseasTerritories andCommonwealth Caribbean 76
3.13 Nordic Adjudication 78
3.14 Mixed Systems: Greece and Portugal 80
3.15 Concentrated Adjudication in the 1978 Spanish Constitution 82
3.16 Constitutional Review on Islamic Grounds: Iran 82
3.17 Concentrated Adjudication and Its Variants in the 1980s: Turkey and Belgium 84
3.18 New Constitutional Cycles in the 1990s 86
3.18.1 Judicial Review in Israel 86
3.18.2 Latin American Experiments: The Nuevo Constitucionalismo 87
3.18.3 Post-Socialist Patterns of Judicial Review 90
3.18.4 South Africa 91
3.19 The New Commonwealth Model of Constitutionalism as a Form of Reverse Colonisation 94
3.20 Exporting Democracy and Constitutional Review: Iraq, Afghanistan and Myanmar 96
3.21 Populism and Constitutional Justice in Eastern Europe: Hungary and Poland 98

4 Variables of Constitutional Justice 101
4.1 The Variables of Nomocratic Review 101
4.2 Access to Constitutional Litigation 101
4.2.1 Access Upon Direct Application 102
4.2.2 Challenging Legislation: Prior or After Its Entry into Force 103
4.2.3 Right to Standing or Right to Access? 104
4.2.4 Incidental Access 106
4.2.5 Common-Law Access to Constitutional Litigation 108
4.3 The Object of Review 110
4.4 Constitutional Yardsticks 112
4.5 Constitutional Jurisdictional Procedure 114
4.5.1 Composition of the Bench 115
4.5.2 Parties to the Proceedings and Third Parties 116
4.5.3 Evidentiary Rules in Constitutional Litigation 117
4.5.4 Deliberation and Decision-Making Processes 118
4.5.5 Interim Measures 119
4.6 Opinions: Interpretative … 120
4.7 … and Manipulatory Judgements 123
4.8 Effects of Decisions in Constitutional Issues 125
4.9 Enforcement of Judgements 128

Part II Pantocratic Review and the Distribution of Sovereign Powers
5 Judicial Review on Federal Grounds 135
5.1 Federalism, Quasi-Federalism and Judicial Review 135
5.2 Binary Classifications and Judicial Review on Federal Grounds 138
5.3 Prevention as a Form of Resolution of Federal Disputes 140
5.4 A Priori Federal Review: Pre-Enactment Scrutiny and Certification 143
5.5 Nomocratic Judicial Review 147
5.6 Settling Federal Disputes by Way of Arbitration 151

6 Judicial Review and Sovereign Powers 153
6.1 From Ancillary Powers to Pantocratic Review 153
6.2 Electoral Disputes 154
6.3 Banning Political Parties 156
6.4 Legislative Initiative and Referenda 157
6.5 Constitutional Arbitration Related to Legal Pluralism 160
6.6 Constitutional Litigation Related to Local Government 162
6.7 Individual Constitutional Complaints in Human Rights Litigation: Origins 164
6.8 Trends of ‘Centralisation’ in Constitutional Complaint Jurisdictions 166
6.9 Trends of ‘Diffusion’ in Amparo Proceedings 169
6.10 Redress Clauses in Common Law 171
6.11 Challenging Constitutional Omissions 173
6.12 Litigating Emergency Proclamations 175
6.13 Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments 177

7 Constitutional Adjudicators and Frame of Government 181
7.1 Pantocratic Review and State Institutions 181
7.2 Impeachment 182
7.3 Disputes between Organs of State and Scrutiny of Decision-Making Processes 185
7.4 Ex-Ante Scrutiny on International Treaties 187
7.5 Reference Jurisdiction 189

Part III Human Rights Protection and Democratic Difficulties
8 Varieties of Judicial Review: Constitutional, Treaty-Based and Transnational 197
8.1 Supranational Judicial Review and Constitutional Justice 197
8.2 The Incorporation of International Law into Domestic Law 198
8.3 Treaty-Based Judicial Review as the ‘Armed Branch’ of Transnational Constitutionalism 201
8.3.1 The Inter-American System of Human Rights Protection and Domestic Judicial Review 203
8.3.2 The European System of Human Rights Protection and Domestic Judicial Review 208
8.3.3 National Judges and Direct Application of EU Law 210
8.4 Transnational, Treaty-Based Judicial Review:AnAutonomous System of Human Rights Protection? 211

9 Almighty Judges? The Legitimacy of Constitutional Review 213
9.1 Introduction 213
9.2 Constitutional Justice and Democratically Consented Power 215
9.3 Tensions Between Courts and Legislatures 218
9.4 Giving Reasons: Dissenting Opinions in a Comparative Perspective 222
9.4.1 Foreign and Comparative-Law Arguments in Constitutional Adjudication 222
9.4.2 Dissenting Opinions: A Transparent Tool in Judicial Lawmaking 225
9.5 Constitutional Review and Deliberative Democracy 226