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Seventy years on : the Taiwan constitutional court and judicial activism in a changing constitutional landscape
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Lin, Tzu-Yi, Kuo, Ming-Sung and Chen, Hui-Wen (2018) Seventy years on : the Taiwan constitutional court and judicial activism in a changing constitutional landscape. Hong Kong Law Journal, 48 (3). pp. 995-1027. ISSN 0378-0600.
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Official URL: https://www.law.hku.hk/hklj/2018-Vol-48.php
Abstract
In comparative work on judicial review in new democracies, the Taiwan Constitutional Court (TCC) has been portrayed as an instance of judicial activism in light of the process of democratisation. In this article, we shed new light on the theme of judicial activism and democratisation. Situated in the TCC’s 70-year-old institutional continuity, its journey to an activist court turns out to be a story of judicial bootstrapping. We start with the accidental rebirth of the TCC on Taiwan, which lent timely constitutional cover to a struggling constitutional dictatorship in the 1950s. Through judicial bootstrapping in the mid-1980s, the TCC eventually redeemed itself as an activist constitution guardian. The article suggests that even a semblance of judicial review under a nominal constitution can be an asset to the political transition to democracy. We conclude with reflections on the TCC’s new challenges and its future role in post-democratisation Taiwan.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Subjects: | K Law [Moys] > KT Asia and Pacific | ||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law | ||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | China (Republic : 1949- ). Xian fa, Constitutional law -- Taiwan, Constitutions -- Taiwan, Political questions and judicial power -- Taiwan, Jurisdiction -- Taiwan | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Hong Kong Law Journal | ||||||
Publisher: | Hong Kong Law Journal Ltd. | ||||||
ISSN: | 0378-0600 | ||||||
Official Date: | December 2018 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 48 | ||||||
Number: | 3 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 995-1027 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 11 February 2019 | ||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 18 February 2019 |
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