Lawlessness in Russia? Rethinking the Narratives of Law

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Hendley
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Institutions ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Law ◽  
Fundamental Value ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
Willingness To Use ◽  
At Will

This book examines how ordinary Russians experience the law and the legal system. Russia consistently ranks near the bottom of indexes that measure the rule of law, an indication of the country's willingness to use the law as an instrument to punish its enemies. The book considers whether the fact that the Kremlin is able to dictate the outcome of cases seemingly at will—a phenomenon known as “telephone justice”—deprives law of its fundamental value as a touchstone for society. Drawing on the literature on “everyday law,” it argues that the routine behavior of individuals, firms, and institutions can tell us something more about the role of law in Russian life than do sensationalized cases. Rather than focusing on the “supply” of laws, the book concentrates on the “demand” for law. This introduction discusses the perceived lawlessness in Soviet Russia and the dualism that lies at the heart of Russians' attitudes toward law and legal institutions. It also provides an overview of the book's chapters.

scholarly journals Burning the Rechtsstaat: legal institutions and protection of the rule of law

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-131
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Hartwell ◽  
Mateusz Urban
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Economic Outcomes ◽  
Legal Institutions ◽  
Economic Literature ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Past

AbstractThe economic literature is clear that transparent and impartial rule of law is crucial for successful economic outcomes. However, how does one guarantee rule of law? This paper uses the idea of ‘self-reinforcing’ institutions to show how political institutions may derail rule of law if associated judicial institutions are not self-reinforcing. We illustrate this using the contrasting examples of Estonia and Poland to frame the importance of institutional context in determining both rule of law and the path of legal institutions. Although starting tabula rasa for a legal system is difficult, it worked well for rule of law in Estonia in the post-communist transition. Alternately, Poland pursued a much more gradualist strategy of reform of formal legal institutions; this approach meant that justice institutions, slow to shed their legacy and connection with the past, were relatively weak and susceptible to attack from more powerful (political) ones. We conclude that legal institutions can protect the rule of law but only if they are in line with political institutions, using their self-reinforcing nature as a shield from political whims of the day.

scholarly journals The Internal Limits on Fiduciary Loyalty

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-82
Author(s):  
Andrew S Gold
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Compliance ◽  
Internal Constraints ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
Judicial Reasoning ◽  
Correct Understanding ◽  
Conceptual Possibility

Abstract: In the abstract, the limits on a lawyer’s loyalty obligations could take several forms. For example, constraints on a fiduciary’s loyalty obligations may be derived from a correct understanding of that fiduciary’s loyalty itself. Indeed, violations might count as a form of disloyalty to the client. Alternatively, such constraints could stem from obligations owed to parties other than a lawyer’s client, or even something more abstract like the rule of law. Notably, such constraints could be derived from legal principles that have nothing to do with fiduciary law. Each of these options is a conceptual possibility, contingent on the choices made by a given legal system. Constraints on a loyalty obligation that are implications of that loyalty obligation itself are defined here as internal. Constraints imposed from outside a given fiduciary loyalty obligation are defined as external. This paper seeks to deepen our understanding of a particular type of fiduciary loyalty (the loyalty owed by lawyers) by focusing on the role of such internal constraints, and in the process to elaborate on the scope of loyalty obligations more generally. This paper will also indicate why we should care about the internal/external distinction. Among other things, this distinction helps determine whether lawyers are better seen as private or public fiduciaries, and in practice it may bear on both judicial reasoning and legal compliance.

The Chinese Legal System: Continuing Commitment to the Primacy of State Power

1999 ◽  
Vol 159 ◽  
pp. 673-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pitman B. Potter
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
50Th Anniversary ◽  
State Power ◽  
Legal Requirements ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Political Relationships

On the 50th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, the legal system plays an increasingly significant role in social, economic and even political relationships. Legal norms drawn largely from foreign experiences have been selected and applied through a plethora of newly established institutions. The role of law as a basis for government authority has become a legitimate and significant issue in the broader political discourse. Despite these achievements, law in China remains dependent on the regime's policy goals. Particularly where political prerogatives are at stake, legal requirements appear to pose little restraint on state power. In this sense, the ten years that have passed since Tiananmen appear to have had little impact on the willingness of the party-state to dispense with legal requirements in pursuit of political expediency. If we are to rely upon Dicey's dictum on the rule of law being in effect when the state becomes just another actor, the rule of law in China still seems a distant prospect indeed.

scholarly journals ПОКРЕТАЊЕ ПОСТУПКА НОРМАТИВНЕ КОНТРОЛЕ ПРАВА У РЕПУБЛИЦИ СРБИЈИ

TEME ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 1419
Author(s):  
Bálint Pásztor
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Institutional Values ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The One

The author of the article analyzes the specificities of the normative control of the law, i.e. the procedure of assessing the constitutionality and legality of the law in the Republic of Serbia, with the aim of detecting historical and legal preconditions of the effective functioning of the rule of law. The historical perspective of the development of the constitutional judiciary in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia, as well as the analysis of the experiences of various systems of control of constitutionality and legality, open the contextual, scientific-historical and pragmatic dimensions of understanding. The specificity of the system of normative control is reflected in its triplicity, meaning that three institutes are known that characterize different procedural possibilities (to initiate the process of assessing the constitutionality and legality of general acts). The paper is written in order to point out the dichotomy of the proposal and initiative of the procedure of the assessment of constitutionality and legality, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the ex officio procedure. Furthermore, the author wanted to point out the essential and procedural differences between the proposal, the initiative and the constitutional complaint, especially analyzing the purpose of retaining the institute of the initiative in the light of the existence of the constitutional complaint and the fact that the initiative does not imply the automation of the initiation of proceedings. The dilemma that the article opens concerns the possibility that in the case of abolishing the initiative as an institution accessible to all, is it possible to preserve the democratic culture and the participation of citizens, furthermore is it possible to abolish the fundamental institutional values and freedoms of a legal state and the rule of law? The paper opens other issues of importance for the establishment of an effective constitutional architecture that concern: the width of the circle of authorized proposers of normative control before the Constitutional Court; the dual role of the constitutional judiciary: on the one hand protection of the Constitution, constitutionality and legality, on the other hand effective protection of human and minority rights and freedoms.

scholarly journals Transformasi Madzhab Qouli Menuju Madzhab Manhaji Jama`iy dalam Bahtsul Masa`il

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-29
Author(s):  
Imam Syafi`i
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Decision ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
Legal Instrument ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Way

Among the forums to solve the problem are collectively known as 'bahtsul masa'il'. the legal decision is collective, derived from the consensus of the participants. His method of searching references (maraji ') to find answers regarding the existing problems, known as Madzhab Qauli, madzhab which is understood as the opinion or fatwa of a Mujtahid or Mufti in deciding fiqhiyyah law. However, not infrequently stagnation (maukuf) in the termination of the law. Because there are no references or books that explain the problem. As a result, if enforced (laws with existing references) result in unfair decisions and other issues for the community.From this manifestation of schools began to be considered important to be developed. That is a way to answer the problems faced by following the way of thinking and the rule of law which has been drawn up by the madzhab priest as described above. This last method is actually an attempt to decide the law by directly returning al-Qur'an, al-Hadits and so on by using tools qawa'id ushuliyyah and qawa'id fiqhiyyah. Everyone can not run this method individually. because the legal instrument of the legal system must be completely mastered. Therefore this Manhaji Method can be developed by means of ijtihad Jama'i that is the hard effort of some experts in their respective fields maximally in exploring the law of syar'i which is dhanni by using the method of istimbat. The decision is based on the agreement of the ulama or by acclamation, which is to take the most votes from the results of the deliberations. Keyword: Madzhab Qouli, Madhab Manhaji, Bahtsul Masa`il

The Paradigm of Originalism: Israeli Constitutional Law and Legal Thought

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 427-454
Author(s):  
Hassan Jabareen
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Review Essay ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Thought ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Right ◽  
Normative Justification

This review essay challenges three main claims about originalism in American legal thought. While it affirms that originalism could be the Law of a legal system, it first challenges the mainstream idea that American originalism is the paradigmatic case in theory and in practice. Second, the essay confronts the normative justification that originalism ensures democracy based on the rule of law. Third, it interrogates the dichotomy between living constitutionalism and originalism regarding the use of history by arguing that originalism is a form of hegemony. The case study analysed in this article is Israeli legal thought and practice after the enactment of the 1992 Basic Laws, with the focus on the right of equality.

Putin-Style “Rule of Law” & the Prospects for Change

Daedalus ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 146 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Popova
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Evolutionary Change ◽  
Legal Institutions ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Positive Shift ◽  
Negative Change ◽  
The Law

In Putin's Russia, the regime uses the law and legal institutions to fulfill political goals, to communicate them to society, and to manage the authoritarian coalition that helps the president govern. As a result, the law is highly consequential and important, but its use tends to be arbitrary, expedient, and instrumental, rather than predictable and principled. Can we expect any major shifts in the role of law and the courts over the next ten years? Russia's legal regime is unlikely to undergo major evolutionary change and may outlive Putin's tenure: both foreign and domestic pressures for change toward constitutionalism are limited. If a positive shift were to take place, Russia would inch toward authoritarian constitutionalism. But negative change is also possible. If Putin's regime weakens, the politicized use of the courts against both dissidents and political competitors within the authoritarian coalition will increase.

scholarly journals Problems of application of state coercion in the interpretation of local lawyers in the late XIX – early XX century

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (2) ◽  
pp. 96-105
Author(s):  
Никита Тарасов ◽  
Nikita Tarasov
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
The State ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
State Coercion ◽  
Qualitative Characteristics

The questions relating to the interpretation of the Russian lawyers of the late XIX – early XX century of the role of state compulsion in ensuring the rule of law are considered in article. The interrelation between the state of legality and qualitative characteristics of state coercion is emphasized. The author draws attention to the problem of state coercion in the legal and doctrinal aspects. His attention focuses on the development of the idea of the nature, purpose and limits of state coercion in the domestic police-legal theory of the late XIX – early XX century. The author considers that legal scholars thought of state coercion as an exclusive, extreme means, the use and application of which is permissible only on the basis of legal norms in order to ensure the security and stability of its socio-political and political-legal system, in compliance with the rule of law.

scholarly journals Constitutional Justice

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (33) ◽  
pp. 135-142
Author(s):  
Anca-Florina Moroșteș ◽  
Narcisa-Mihaela Stoicu
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Constitutional Justice ◽  
The Law

Abstract The paper with the title “Constitutional Justice” aims to analyse a topic of urgent actuality and of particular importance in the contemporary society. We have tried to show in this paper the importance of the Constitutional control in the rule of law. Starting from the idea of necessity of existence of a Constitution in a democratic State and, implicitly, of a body to follow-up the compliance with its provision, we have tried to highlight in this paper the role of Romanian Constitutional Court and not only, by presenting one of its most important attributions which is the control of the law constitutionality.

scholarly journals LAW POLITIC OF ADMINISTRATIVE COURT JUDICATURE IN INDONEESIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Wahyu Mukti Beny Setiyawan ◽  
Fitriya Desi Wulandari
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
The State ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The People ◽  
The Law ◽  
Administrative Courts ◽  
Administrative Justice

Law politic present at the point of encounter between living realism and the demands ofidealism. Political law concerns on an ideal or hope, then there is a legal vision that is setin advance, then the form and content of the law are built to realize that vision. Theurgency existence of administrative justice in realizing the rule of law encourages thegovernment to establish a legal system in the field of administrative justice through theestablishment of Law Number 51986 about State Administrative Courts, which is thefoundation for the establishment of a State Administrative Court in Indonesia. In theexplanation of Law Number 5 of 1986 stated that the State Administrative Court was heldin order to provide protection to the people seeking justice, which felt themselves to beharmed by a State Administrative Decision. Principly, a country is expected to giveprotection for the human rights of its citizens

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document