Die Bedeutung und Auswirkungen der Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit im Libanon

Von Dr. Issam Sleiman

In seinem dritten Artikel über die Bedeutung und die Auswirkungen der Verfassungsrechtsprechung im Libanon untersucht Dr. Issam Sleiman, ehemaliger Präsident des libanesischen Verfassungsrates, den Prozess der Konstitutionalisierung verschiedener Rechtsgebiete.

Die Zeitschrift für Verfassungsrecht im Nahen Osten und Nordafrika

Mit 5 Fachbeiträgen ist am 1. Dezember 2020 die Erstausgabe des Online Journal of Constitutional Law in the Middle East and North Africa erschienen.

Die Bedeutung und Wirkung der Verfassungsrechtsprechung im Libanon

Von Dr. Issam Sleiman

In seinem zweiten Artikel über die Bedeutung und die Wirkungen der Verfassungsrechtsprechung untersucht Dr. Issam Sleiman, ehemaliger Präsident des libanesischen Verfassungsrates, die Entwicklung der Verfassungsrechtsprechung durch Verfassungsgerichte und – räte im Libanon und in anderen arabischen Ländern.

Who Will Foot The Bill?

Unfair Game Lebanons Rigged Markets Are Killing Competition

For decades, Lebanon’s economy has overwhelmingly served the interests of certain economic actors, who preside over widespread monopolies and oligopolies.

Die Bedeutung und Auswirkungen der Verfassungsrechtsprechung im Libanon

von Dr. Issam Sleiman

As guardians of the constitution, constitutional courts and councils play a critical role in promoting and institutionalizing the rule of law. The creation and development of constitutional courts and councils and the expansion of constitutional jurisprudence have led to profound changes in the reality of constitutional law. Constitutional jurisprudence contributes, indeed, to the development of constitutional principles and norms, making them more intelligible and comprehensible. For this reason, constitutional jurisprudence has become indispensable for the understanding and development of constitutional law. Despite of the existence of constitutional courts and councils in most Arab countries, still too little importance is given to constitutional law and constitutional jurisprudence has not yet received the attention it deserves in the MENA region. In this context, Dr. Issam Sleiman, Former President of the Lebanese Constitutional Council and Former Professor of the Doctoral School of Law at the Lebanese University wrote a series of research papers on the importance and effects of constitutional jurisprudence in Lebanon. Dr. Sleiman’s first paper draws light upon constitutional law and constitutional jurisdiction, depicting the scope and hierarchy of constitutional norms, the development of constitutional law in general and more specifically in the Arab world.

REVISITING THE PATH OF LEBANON OVER THE PAST 100 YEARS

Analysis of Different Constitutional Aspects of the State

The Lebanese State, with its multi-confessional and pluralistic society looks back at a rich and diverse history that has been shaped by alternating periods of political stability and turmoil, all too often building a fertile arena for internal strife and external interventions. Lebanon’s Constitution of 1926, although amended on several occasions, is still in force today. Subsequent constitutional amendments and agreements, such as the National Pact, the Taef and Doha agreements only reinforced and expanded the the most distinctive feature of the Lebanese state: an overall framework of power-sharing between the different religious communities. While Lebanon is often considered a model of plural democracy in the Middle East assuring equal political representation in a multi-ethnic and pluri-religious society through its confessional framework, others argue that the consociational arrangements have led to institutional instability, clientelism, and state frailty. In this light, the Rule of Law Programme Middle East and North Africa in cooperation with the Notre Dame University-Louaize initiated in November 2017 a series of roundtables on key aspects in Lebanon’s constitutional history and state building. In the course of one year and four roundtables, legal scholars and representatives of governmental institutions were brought together to exchange their expertise, and to revisit and evaluate the achievements and challenges of the past 100 years in Lebanon. The idea of revisiting the path of Lebanon over the past 100 years has resulted in the publication of this book. We wish to thank the Notre Dame University-Louiaze, and especially the authors Dany Ghsoub, Elie El Hindi, Chady Al Hajal, Georges Sharaf as well as all those who shared their expertise and experience for their inspiring input and their willingness and commitment in producing this book. Today, a hundred years after the proclamation of the State of Greater Lebanon, the country is going through an unprecedented economic and sociopolitical crisis. As a result, more and more voices are calling for a new social contract in Lebanon. It is our hope that this publication will stir more discussions and provide a vital contribution to much needed structural reforms in Lebanon.

The Legal System of Morocco

An Overview

The history of Morocco shows a divide between the rigid and enforceable nature of the French civil code and the traditional Amazigh informal justice system as well as Sharia law that focuses more on custom than strict adherence to text. Thus, there is a strong basis for access to justice and the legal system generally, but with room to follow a less legally principled path. This overview further considers the way these primary influences coexist in the context of legal pluralism.

Administrative Justice: Who protects the State? Who defends it?

Special Issue in L'Orient le Jour / 15.06.2020

The Legal Agenda, together with the Rule of Law Programme Middle East / North Africa published a special issue on the administrative judiciary in Lebanon and its reform potentials in L'Orient le Jour on 15 June 2020.

Impartiality of Judges and Social Media

Approaches, Regulations and Results

In March 2019, the Rule of Law Programme Middle East / North Africa organized an international expert meeting in Cadenabbia, Italy, on Impartiality of Judges and Social Media: Approaches, Regulations and Results. In the course of the event, legal scholars, law professors, lawyers and judges from the US, Canada, Germany, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Morocco traced, compared and evaluated different approaches that may be or already have been implemented to deal with the challenges resulting from statements made by judges on media - especially social media. Among the key topic of discussion was the question of how a judge’s freedom of expression and the requirement of impartiality should be balanced. We have tried to adopt a comparative approach, including experts from countries that differ in legal traditions and regulatory concepts and shed light on systematic differences and the variety of approaches on the relatively new phenomenon of social media and its impact on the judicial function. The results of this expert meeting have been assembled in this publication.

The Weimar Constitution

Germany’s first Democratic Constitution, its Collapse, and the Lessons for Today

On 14 August 1919, Germany’s first democratic constitution came into force. The Constitution of the German Reich, soon known as Weimar Constitution marked the end of the German Empire and introduced a legal framework that was ambitious for its time - maybe too ambitious: Only 14 years later, the Weimar Republic collapsed into Nazi Germany, an authoritarian state with its dictator as untouchable center of the law. The question of whether or not Hitler’s rise to power had been predetermined by the flaws and weaknesses inherent to the Weimar Constitution was heavily discussed throughout the second half of the 20th century. The legacy of the 1919 constitution, however, reaches far beyond its failure: Germany’s post-World War II constitution, the Basic Law of 1949 was largely drafted in reflection of the Weimar Republic but also incorporated certain of its constitutional provisions, acknowledging their progressive design. Today, the Weimar experience provides the potential of critical reflection for constitution-building in young democracies as well as for established democratic states, whose foundations are more and more subject to illiberal and populist attacks.