John Laws

Is the High Court the Guardian of fundamental constitutional rights

tag=1 data=Is the High Court the Guardian of fundamental Constitutional Rights? by The Hon Mr Justice Sir John Laws. tag=2 data=Laws, Justice John tag=3 data=Commonwealth Law Bulletin, tag=4 data=18 tag=5 data=4 tag=6 data=October 1992 tag=7 data=1385-1396. tag=8 data=CONSTITUTION%CIVIL RIGHTS%COURTS tag=10 data=In our own jurisdiction [UK], it is commonplace to hear calls for a Bill of Rights or a written constitution. tag=11 data=1993/5/7 tag=12 data=93/0400 tag=13 data=CAB

THE GOOD CONSTITUTION

The “good Constitution” in a democratic country seeks to balance the morality of law and the morality of government. The good Constitution can be considered at the levels of abstraction of the relationship to human rights or of the progression from parliamentary to constitutional supremacy. But this article suggests that the level of the balance between the two moralities is more fruitful. The morality of law focuses on individual rights, the morality of government on the public interest. The constant task of the Constitution is to achieve an accommodation by restraint on the part of both the judges and the executive.