Activism as defence: The role of courts in shaping the relationship between constitutions and international law: A comparison of the apex courts of Switzerland, Germany and Austria

Schlegel, Stefan (2022). Activism as defence: The role of courts in shaping the relationship between constitutions and international law: A comparison of the apex courts of Switzerland, Germany and Austria. In: Belov, Martin (ed.) Courts and Judicial Activism under Crisis Conditions. Comparative Constitutional Change (pp. 43-60). Abingdon: Routledge

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More and more creativity is needed to argue away the fact that international law is increasingly of a binding and enforceable nature, even when it conflicts with constitutional norms. In some cases, where the friction surface between those bodies of norms is especially extended, like in Switzerland, courts had to admit this straightforwardly. Against that background, this chapter attempts a critical approach to the relationship between constitutional law and treaties. This approach distrusts the sophisticated arguments given by apex courts for granting primacy to treaties in specific cases while insisting on the principle of the supremacy of the constitution over treaty law in principle. My approach sets out from the presumption that courts have to give in to political realities and improved mechanisms of enforcement of international treaties and organise their jurisprudence around these constraints.

Item Type:

Book Section (Book Chapter)

Division/Institute:

02 Faculty of Law > Department of Public Law > Institute of Public Law

UniBE Contributor:

Schlegel, Stefan

Subjects:

300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 340 Law
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 350 Public administration & military science

ISBN:

9781032060828

Series:

Comparative Constitutional Change

Publisher:

Routledge

Language:

English

Submitter:

Stefan Schlegel

Date Deposited:

24 Nov 2021 09:37

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:53

Additional Information:

ISBN hardback: 9781032060927
ISBN E-Book: 9781003200666

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/160342

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/160342

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