The Zuma case - important as the first decision of the Constitutional Court - is primarily concerned with the constitutionality of section 217(l)(b)(ii) of the Criminal Procedure Act. In trying to fmd an answer to this question, the Constitutional Court also addressed other important issues. In this dissertation the Constitutional Court's decision on the constitutionality of section 217(1)(b)(ii) is examined, as well as important general principles laid down by the Court regarding incompetent referrals by the Supreme Court; constitutional interpretation; reverse onus provisions and the right to a fair trial; as well as the application of the general limitation clause. A closer look is taken at adherence to these principles in subsequent Constitutional Court decisions, and finally a conclusion is reached on the value of the Zuma case. / Law / LL.M. (Law)

The dissertation consists of an analysis of the Constitutional Court decision S v Mhlungu 1995(7) BCLR 793 CC. The analysis focuses on the significance of the different interpretative approaches adopted by the members of the Court in analysing section 241(8) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Afii.ca Act 200 of 1993. The theoretical approaches to constitutional interpretation are first briefly discussed. This is followed by a description of the four respective judgments in the decision. The case is then analysed in respect of section 3 5, Chapter 3 and the Constitution itself in order to determine the significance. The jurisprudence of the Court (developed in its first eight decisions) is evaluated to assess the approach of the Constitutional Court to Chapter 3 and the remainder of the Constitution respectively. The conclusion is reached that the Court has endorsed a generous/purposive approach to constitutional interpretation and that this extends to the entire text of the Constitution. / Law / LL.M.

L’histoire a toujours occupé une place singulière au sein des sciences sociales mais qu’en est il de sa place dans le contentieux constitutionnel comparé des démocraties occidentales ? Le présent travail de recherche tendra ainsi à démontrer que la référence à l’histoire est bel et bien présente et qu’elle revêt un impact décisif sur les solutions constitutionnelles effectivement retenues pas le juge comme sur la substance même des droits et libertés fondamentaux. Il apparaîtra, en effet, que l’histoire, jaillissant dans le contentieux constitutionnel sous la forme d’un référent juridique type pouvant faire l’objet d’une systématisation au sein du droit comparé, contribue, par le truchement du juge constitutionnel à l’établissement comme au fonctionnement de l’État de droit contemporain. De la même manière, la symbolique particulière des évènements historiques qui seront mobilisés, c’est à dire leur charge positive ou négative pour l’État de droit, va nourrir la volonté juridictionnelle du juge d’assurer la rupture avec un fait historique tragique ou à l’inverse de conforter un héritage historique glorieux. Juge qui, en dernier analyse, pourra être conduit, conformément au rôle social nouveau que lui confère les démocraties constitutionnelles contemporaines, selon une utilisation soutenue du référent historique, à réparer directement ou plus indirectement les préjudices nés de l’histoire comme à renforcer ou à limiter le sens des droits et libertés fondamentaux devenus historiquement circonstanciés / History has always occupied a singular place within the realm of Social Sciences and the question of its functions in comparative judicial review deserves to be raised. This research intends to demonstrate that the historical argument has a decisive impact on constitutional decisions as well as on the substance of fundamental rights and freedoms. History, being systematized in comparative law, through the form of a standard legal argument, contributes, via constitutional review, to the establishment as well to the operation of the rule oflaw, today. The immediate legal logic of such historical impregnation will be analysed through the work of the judge in the motivation of its decisions. In the same perspective, the singular meaning of historical events and their positive or negative impact, feeds judicial interpretation, either breaking away from a tragic historical event or consolidating a glorious historicalheritage. The judge, in accordance with his new social function recognized in western democracies, is lead to repare directly or indirectly, the damages resulting from historical events as well as to strenghten or limitate the scope of fundamental rights, which appear today, historically situated

A sociedade brasileira aguarda pacientemente e há anos uma real reforma que introduza a ética e a moral no meio político e faça valer a soberania de seu povo. De um lado, observa-se um Poder Legislativo com sérias dificuldades de quebrar sua inércia e cumprir o seu papel de concretizar a lei como expressão da vontade geral. De outro, um Poder Judiciário que busca suprir os anseios sociais dando efetividade aos direitos fundamentais colocados na Constituição Federal da República Brasileira de 1988. O presente estudo almeja analisar como o Estado brasileiro tem convivido com um intenso ativismo judicial ou judicialização da política e suas consequências para a democracia pátria. Para a eficácia de suas conclusões, limitou-se o campo de estudo à matéria eleitoral, dada sua cristalina correlação com o Estado Democrático de Direito. Foram selecionadas, deste modo, as recentes decisões dos Tribunais nacionais em temas eleitorais para averiguar os reflexos desta jurisprudência sobre as bases democráticas de nosso país. E, em assim procedendo, foram trazidos elementos para uma crítica fundamentada à tentativa do Poder Judiciário de moralizar as instituições políticas, buscando fornecer as bases para concluir se esse altivo movimento dos Tribunais logrou, de fato, o aprimoramento do regime democrático vigente, preservando a harmonia entre os Poderes, a unidade do ordenamento jurídico e a legitimidade das instituições da nação ou se, ao contrário, apenas soluções pontuais foram conquistadas, combatendo-se uma doença grave com remédios paliativos ao invés de atacar a real causa das mazelas que assolam o Estado Democrático de Direito brasileiro. / The Brazilian society waits patiently and for many years for a deep change that introduces ethics and moral to politics to renew the sovereignty of its people. On one hand, the Parliament presents serious difficulties in moving forward to fulfill its role of materializing the law as an expression of the general will. On the other hand, the judiciary tries to meet social expectations, providing effectiveness to basic rights constitutionally established. This study aims to analyze how the Brazilian State has been living with an intense judicial activism and a judicialization of its politics and its consequences to democracy. For the effectiveness of its conclusions, the object of the analysis was limited to electoral issue, due to its crystal clear relation with the Rule of Law. In this manner, some recent judicial decisions of the national Courts as regards electoral subjects were chosen to verify the consequences of this jurisprudence on the democratic foundations of our country. And, in so proceeding, many aspects were brought to enable a justified criticism to the judiciary attempt to moralize political institutions, trying to provide the basis for the following questions: have, in fact, this noble movement of the Courts succeeded in improving the current democratic Brazilian system, preserving the harmony between the Powers, the unity of the legal system and the legitimacy of the nation institutions?; or, on the opposite, only few hoc solutions have been conquered, fighting with a serious illness by ministering palliative drugs, instead of solving the real cause of the illness that plagues the State?

Les juridictions constitutionnelles ont sans doute de larges compétences interprétatives. Toutefois, l’ampleur de ces compétences varie dans les différents ordres juridiques selon l’aptitude que les autres organes et autorités de l’Etat peuvent adopter devant ces interprétations. Une juridiction constitutionnelle a une suprématie interprétative dans un Etat en particulier si ses interprétations doivent être obligatoirement respectées et appliquées par tous les autres organes et autorités de l’Etat. Si ses interprétations sont seulement obligatoires pour quelques autorités, cette juridiction constitutionnelle a simplement une compétence interprétative supérieure vis-à-vis de ces autorités. Afin d’identifier les plus larges compétences interprétatives des juridictions constitutionnelles, la démarche comparative est hautement recommandée parce qu’elle permet de distinguer plus facilement les limitations que ces juridictions peuvent rencontrer dans leurs ordres juridiques respectifs. Ainsi, en suivant cette démarche, seront identifiées l’ampleur des compétences interprétatives des juridictions constitutionnelles française et colombienne et leurs répercussions dans chacun de leurs Etats. / Constitutional jurisdictions should have wide interpretative powers. However, the scope of these competences varies in different legal systems depending on the ability of other authorities to adopt such interpretations. A constitutional court has interpretative supremacy in a particular State, if its interpretations are binding for all other departments of the State. If its interpretations are just binding for some authorities, this constitutional court would simply have a superior interpretative competence toward those authorities. In order to determine the broader interpretative powers of the constitutional courts, the comparative approach is highly recommended because it makes easier to distinguish the limitations that these jurisdictions may encounter in their respective legal systems. In this way, the scope of the interpretative powers of the French and Colombian constitutional courts will be identified as well as their repercussions in each of its states.

An important change wrought by the post-1994 South African Constitutions is the attempt to have South Africa recognised as a democratic and sovereign state in the "family of nations." The new Constitutions make extensive reference to the state's international obligations and represent an endeavour to [re]define the status of international law vis-a-vis national law. Some provisions utilise international law in the interpretation and formulation of national jurisprudence and represent an [albeit not totally successful] endeavour to attain greater harmonisation between international and national law. This is an attempt to systematize the various criticisms levelled against these provisions to date, and to highlight certain interpretational difficulties and problems that present themselves in the process. The distinction between the various terminologies and branches of international law is also taken to task. Lastly, this paper attempts to determine the extent to which international law is applied at national level under the post-1994 constitutions. / Jurisprudence / LL. M.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:29:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriano Santana Pedra.pdf: 2337462 bytes, checksum: 0ccc70b392e1af4a53f92e6a06f59606 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-06-29 / The objective of this study is to analyze the informal constitutional changes and to further examine the limitations to which they are submitted. In opposition to what occurs with formal changes (constitutional amendments), informal changes are not foreseen by the Constitution. Nevertheless, constitutional changes occur and are necessary as means of preservation and conservation of the Constitution, purposing its perfection, and seeking, through a dialectical process, to attain harmony with society. This is due to the fact that constitutional norms are not to be considered perfect and complete, but are yet in a constant state of mutual interaction with reality. There is no systematic treatment related to the limitations to which constitutional mutations submit existing in fact a shortage of works that deal specifically with the theme. The proposed hypothesis is that constitutional mutation must occur within the limits set by the normative force and by the supremacy of the Constitution itself. For the development of this work, it is necessary to consider that the constitutional norm does not confound with the Constitution text, but it is the result of a concretion process, methodologically structured. According to the concretion theory, constitutional norms result from the connection between the normative program (Normprogram), that is, its literal expression, and the normative ambit (Normbereich), understood by the surrounding reality, which results in a decision norm. Constitutional mutations occur from the existing alterations in the normative ambit and contained by the concretion process. The followed methodological approach proposes the analysis of legitimate ways for constitutional mutations to occur. Through deductive process, the informal constitutional changes that may be contained by the normative program, by the normative ambit and by the decision norm are analyzed. The applied research technique is the bibliographic research, jurisprudential and legislative. The obtained results with the research enables us to evaluate the limitations that are imposed to constitutional mutations, as well as associating them to the elements that integrate the norm. The identified and analyzed limits in this work are the elasticity of the text, the binding orders of the Constitutional Court, the prohibition of abolition of perpetual clauses, the prohibition retreating to fundamental rights and writs (normative program), the transcending restrictions, the legitimate acceptance by the community (normative ambit), the rationality of the decisions, the authority conferred to another institution and the non-retroactivity of the effects of the new interpretation (decision norm) / Este estudo objetiva analisar as mudanças informais da Constituição e examinar os limites a que elas estão submetidas. Ao contrário do que ocorre com as mudanças formais (reforma e revisão constitucional), as mudanças informais não estão previstas na Constituição. Mas as mudanças constitucionais ocorrem e são necessárias como meio de preservação e conservação da própria Constituição, visando ao seu aperfeiçoamento, e buscando, em um processo dialético, alcançar a harmonia com a sociedade. Isto acontece porque as normas constitucionais não podem ser consideradas perfeitas e acabadas, mas estão em uma constante situação de interação com a realidade. Não existe tratamento sistemático relativo às limitações a que se submetem as mutações constitucionais, pois há carência de trabalhos que enfrentem especificamente o tema. A hipótese proposta é que a mutação constitucional deve ocorrer dentro dos limites traçados pela força normativa e pela supremacia da própria Constituição. Para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho, é necessário considerar que a norma constitucional não se confunde com o texto da Constituição, mas é o resultado de um processo de concretização, metodologicamente estruturado. De acordo com a teoria da concretização, as normas constitucionais resultam da conexão entre o programa normativo (Normprogram), ou seja, a sua expressão literal, e o âmbito normativo (Normbereich), entendido como a realidade circundante, o que resulta na norma de decisão. As mutações constitucionais ocorrem a partir das alterações havidas no âmbito normativo e comportadas pelo processo de concretização. A abordagem metodológica seguida propõe a análise dos meios legítimos para ocorrerem as mutações constitucionais. Através de processo dedutivo, analisam-se quais mudanças informais da Constituição são comportadas pelo programa normativo, pelo âmbito normativo e pela norma de decisão. A técnica de pesquisa utilizada é a documentação indireta, através de pesquisa bibliográfica, jurisprudencial e legislativa. Os resultados obtidos com a pesquisa permitem avaliar as limitações que se impõem às mutações constitucionais, assim como associá-las aos elementos integrantes da norma. Os limites identificados e analisados neste trabalho são a elasticidade do texto, as decisões vinculantes do Tribunal Constitucional, a vedação de abolição de cláusulas pétreas, a vedação de retrocesso para direitos e garantias fundamentais (programa normativo), as restrições transcendentes, a aceitação legítima pela comunidade (âmbito normativo), a racionalidade das decisões, a competência conferida a outro órgão e a irretroatividade dos efeitos da nova interpretação (norma de decisão)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T15:25:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao edson j de s junior.pdf: 836945 bytes, checksum: be97d59eb6330faa0cfc3bdfc15e9218 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-10-28 / This paper proposes a study about the interpretation of legal provisions that establish the new regulatory framework of one of the mean legal institutions of official performance allusive to agrarian reform, that is the expropriation by social interest to the agrarian reform. This reform is also known as agrarian expropriation, especially under the perspective of the consequences of collective occupation of rural property in the process of inspection or administrative assessment, or that is about to judge the respective action of agrarian expropriation. One concern that guided this study was to indicate the list of government initiatives to try to contain conflicts in the field, as well as to check to the most diverse jurisdictional understandings these incursions resulted. As theoretical support of this work, the normativity, the relevance of the principle of human dignity and of the nature protection and the centrality that the principle of social function bears in the current stage of "evolution" of parental rights were analyzed. This occurred without forgetting that there was an expansion of the content, inserted in a context of class struggle, a process of flows and inflows, advances and setbacks. We sought to accomplish an interpretation more in line with the normativity of the constitutional provisions, in view of the binding and normative force of the constitutional principles, especially of the social function of property. The intention was to resolve the apparent conflict between fundamental rights, since the balance between the respective constitutional values, aiming to achieve the right to access to land as social right, therefore, fundamental right. / O presente trabalho propõe um estudo sobre a interpretação dos dispositivos legais que constituem o novo marco normativo de um dos principais institutos jurídicos de atuação oficial alusivo à reforma agrária, que é a desapropriação por interesse social para fins de reforma agrária. Esta também é conhecida por desapropriação agrária, notadamente sob o prisma das consequências da ocupação coletiva do imóvel rural em vias de vistoria ou avaliação administrativa, ou que está por ajuizar a respectiva ação de desapropriação agrária. Uma preocupação que norteou o presente trabalho foi indicar o rol de iniciativas governamentais na tentativa de conter os conflitos no campo, bem como verificar os mais diversos entendimentos jurisdicionais que estas incursões ocasionaram. Como suporte teórico do trabalho, analisaram-se a normatividade, a relevância do princípio da dignidade da pessoa humana e da proteção à natureza e a centralidade que o princípio da função social ostenta no atual estágio de evolução do direito pátrio. Isso sem desprezar que houve uma ampliação do conteúdo, inserido num contexto de luta de classe, num processo de fluxos e influxos, avanços e retrocessos. Buscou-se realizar uma interpretação mais consentânea com a normatividade das disposições constitucionais, numa perspectiva da força vinculante e normativa dos princípios constitucionais, notadamente da função social da propriedade. A intenção foi solucionar a aparente colisão entre direitos fundamentais, a partir da ponderação entre os respectivos valores constitucionais, visando concretizar o direito ao acesso à terra como direito social, portanto, o direito fundamental.

Constitutionalizaton of Law’s different areas is a phenomenon gradually more ingrained in our cultural and legal framework. Maybe the best demonstration is the increasingly prominent role of the Constitutional Court (TC) – Constitution’s Supreme Interpreter – in defining and redefining concepts, rights and legal principles touching a range of subjects, from TaxLaw to Human Rights. This is relevant to understand the Law and its current effects whether it is valued positively or negatively. / La constitucionalización de las distintas áreas del Derecho es un fenómeno cada vez más arraigado en nuestra cultura y contexto jurídicos. Tal vez la forma más evidente en que se haya manifestado sea el creciente protagonismo del Tribunal Constitucional (TC), supremo intérprete de la Constitución, en la significación y resignificación de conceptos, derechos y principios jurídicos que, a través de sus sentencias, han afectado desde el derecho tributario hasta los derechos humanos. Sea que esto se valore positiva o negativamente, su relevancia para comprender el derecho y sus efectos en la actualidad es innegable.

An important change wrought by the post-1994 South African Constitutions is the attempt to have South Africa recognised as a democratic and sovereign state in the "family of nations." The new Constitutions make extensive reference to the state's international obligations and represent an endeavour to [re]define the status of international law vis-a-vis national law. Some provisions utilise international law in the interpretation and formulation of national jurisprudence and represent an [albeit not totally successful] endeavour to attain greater harmonisation between international and national law. This is an attempt to systematize the various criticisms levelled against these provisions to date, and to highlight certain interpretational difficulties and problems that present themselves in the process. The distinction between the various terminologies and branches of international law is also taken to task. Lastly, this paper attempts to determine the extent to which international law is applied at national level under the post-1994 constitutions. / Jurisprudence / LL. M.