The Alchemists: Questioning our Faith in Courts as Democracy-Builders

396 Pages·2018·5.2 MB·English

by  Tom Gerald Daly

THE ALCHEMISTS
Cancourtsreallybuilddemocracyinastateemergingfromauthoritarian
rule?Thisbookpresentsasearchingcritiqueofthecontemporaryglobal
modelofdemocracy-buildingforpost-authoritarianstates,arguingthatit
placesexcessiverelianceoncourts.Since1945,bothconstitutionalcourts
and international human rights courts have been increasingly perceived
as alchemists, capable of transmuting the base materials of a nascent
democracyintothegoldofafunctioningdemocraticsystem.Bycharting
the development of this model and critically analysing the evidence
and claims for courts as democracy-builders, this book argues that the
decades-long trend toward ever greater reliance on courts is based as
much on faith as fact, and can often be counter-productive. Offering a
sustained corrective to unrealistic perceptions of courts as democracy-
builders, the book points the way toward a much needed rethinking of
democracy-buildingmodelsandare-evaluationofhowweemploycourts
inthisrole.
   is a Fellow of Melbourne Law School, Associate
Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law at Edinburgh
Law School, and a consultant on public law, human rights, and
democracy-building. He has previously clerked for the Chief Justice of
Ireland, and has worked at the Judicial Studies Institute and Edinburgh
University’sGlobalJusticeAcademy.Asaconsultant,hehasworkedon
Council of Europe, European Union, International IDEA (Institute for
DemocracyandElectoralAssistance),andIrishgovernmentprojects.
CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
Theaimofthisseriesistoproduceleadingmonographsinconstitutional
law.Allareasofconstitutionallawandpubliclawfallwithintheambitof
the series, including human rights and civil liberties law, administrative
law,aswellasconstitutionaltheoryandthehistoryofconstitutionallaw.
Awidevarietyofscholarlyapproachesisencouraged,withthegoverning
criterion being simply that the work is of interest to an international
audience. Thus, works concerned with only one jurisdiction will be
included in the series as appropriate, while, at the same time, the series
will include works which are explicitly comparative or theoretical – or
both. The series editor likewise welcomes proposals that work at the
intersectionofconstitutionalandinternationallaw,orthatseektobridge
the gaps between civil law systems, the USA, and the common law
jurisdictionsoftheCommonwealth.
SeriesEditor
DavidDyzenhaus
ProfessorofLawandPhilosophy,UniversityofToronto,Canada
EditorialAdvisoryBoard
T.R.S.Allan,Cambridge,UK
DamianChalmers,LSE,UK
SujitChoudhry,Berkeley,USA
MonicaClaes,Maastricht,Netherlands
DavidCole,Georgetown,USA
K.D.Ewing,King’sCollegeLondon,UK
DavidFeldman,Cambridge,UK
CoraHoexter,Witwatersrand,SouthAfrica
ChristophMoellers,Humboldt,Germany
AdrienneStone,Melbourne,Australia
AdamTomkins,Glasgow,UK
AdrianVermeule,Harvard,USA
BooksintheSeries
Australia’sConstitutionafterWhitlamBrendanLim
BuildingtheConstitution:ThePracticeofConstitutionalInterpretationin
Post-ApartheidSouthAfricaJamesFowkes
DimensionsofDignity:TheTheoryandPracticeofModernConstitutional
LawJacobWeinrib
ReasonofState:Law,Prerogative,EmpireThomasPoole
BillsofRightsintheCommonLawRobertLeckey
TheGuardianoftheConstitution:HansKelsenandCarlSchmitton
theLimitsofConstitutionalLawTranslatedbyLarsVinx,withan
introductionandnotesbyLarsVinx
ParliamentaryBillsofRights:TheExperiencesofNewZealandandthe
UnitedKingdomJanetL.HiebertandJamesB.Kelly
LawyeringfortheRuleofLaw:GovernmentLawyersandtheRiseof
JudicialPowerinIsraelYoavDotan
BalancingConstitutionalRights:TheOriginsandMeaningsofPostwar
LegalDiscourseJaccoBomhoff
JudgesonTrial:TheIndependenceandAccountabilityoftheEnglish
JudiciaryShimonShetreetandSophieTurenne
ProportionalityandConstitutionalCultureMosheCohen-Eliyaand
IddoPorat
ThePoliticsofPrinciple:TheFirstSouthAfricanConstitutionalCourt,
1995–2005TheunisRoux
TheNewCommonwealthModelofConstitutionalism:TheoryandPractice
StephenGardbaum
SearchingfortheStateinBritishLegalThought:CompetingConceptionsof
thePublicSphereJanetMcLean
JudgingSocialRightsJeffKing
Proportionality:ConstitutionalRightsandtheirLimitationsAharonBarak
ParliamentarySovereignty:ContemporaryDebatesJeffreyGoldsworthy

THE ALCHEMISTS
Questioning Our Faith in Courts
as Democracy-Builders
TOM GERALD DALY
UniversityofMelbourne
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108417945
DOI:10.1017/9781108283731
©TomGeraldDaly2017
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2017
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Daly,TomGerald,author.
Title:TheAlchemists:QuestioningOurFaithinCourtsasDemocracy-Builders/
TomGeraldDaly,UniversityofMelbourne.
Description:Cambridge[UK];NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,2017.|
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2017018753|ISBN9781108417945(hardback:alk.paper)|
ISBN9781108406086(printback:alk.paper)
Subjects:LCSH:Courts.|Constitutionalcourts.|Internationalhuman
rightscourts.|Democratization.|Democracy.
Classification:LCCK2100.D3552017|DDC321.8–dc23LCrecord
availableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2017018753
ISBN978-1-108-41794-5Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracy
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For Grandad, Mama, Emma and Ger

CONTENTS
Detailed Table of Contents xi
List of Illustrations xvii
Preface: Our Court Obsession xix
Acknowledgements xxiii
Table of Cases xxvi
List of Abbreviations xxx
Introduction: An Onerous Role for Courts as
Democracy-Builders 1
1 The Core Concept: Democratisation 27
2 The Rise and Limits of Constitutional Courts as
Democracy-Builders 67
3 The Rise and Limits of Human Rights Courts as
Democracy-Builders 106
4 ‘Democratisation Jurisprudence’: Framing Courts’
Democracy-Building Roles 139
5 Domestic Democratisation Jurisprudence in Action:
Brazil Since 1988 183
6 Regional Democratisation Jurisprudence: Shaping
Democracy from Outside 216
7 What Should Courts Do in a Young Democracy?
Rethinking Our Approach 246
Concluding Thoughts: Moving Beyond Our Court
Obsession 302
Bibliography 304
Index 343
ix