Two Competing Views on Formal Principles
- 1 Law School of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
- 2 Law School of the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
- 3 Law School of the Federal University of Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, Brazil
Abstract
This article presents two different proposals concerning the role that formal principles play in judicial review. Its methodology consists first in presenting the concept of formal principles and the models of formal principles that have been developed within principles’ theory. Then it compares the existing models and, after that, it presents two different and new views, which are not comprised within the existing models. The first view, proposed by the first author, defends that formal principles can appropriately reconstruct judicial review insofar as they can embody both deviance (to a certain extent) and uncertainty that are present when authorities create the law. The second view, which is defended by the second author, does not understand formal principles as a necessary complement of principles’ theory. According to this view, the only thing principles’ theorists needed to do to answer the criticism that affirms that principles theory transforms the parliamentary democracy into a judicial state was explaining the institutional background of the theory, which is established by German’s Fundamental Law concerning judicial review.
- Aguiar de Oliveira, J. (2015). Extreme Injustice and the Concept of Law. In A. Travessoni Gomes Trivisonno, J. Aguiar de Oliveira, & S. L. Paulson (Eds.), Alexy’s Theory of Law (pp. 163-177). Stuttgart.
- Alexy, R. (2002a). A Theory of Constitutional Rights (Translated by Julian Rivers). Oxford University Press.
- Alexy, R. (2002b). Postscript. In R. Alexy (Ed.), A Theory of Constitutional Rights (Translated by Julian Rivers. pp. 388-425). Oxford University Press.
- Alexy, R. (2003). Die Gewichtsformel. In J. Jickeli, P. Kreutz, & D. Reuter (Eds.), Gedäc htnisschrift für Jürgen Sonnenschein (pp. 771-792). de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110907926.771
- Alexy, R. (2014). Formal Principles—Some Replies to Critics. International Journal of Constit utional Law , 12, 511-524. https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/mou051
- Azevedo Palu, G. A. (2022). Sopesamento e Discricionariedades Decisórias. In A. Travessoni Gomes Trivisonno, & M. Borowski (Eds.), O Debate Sobre a Teoria dos Princípios Formais de Robert Alexy (pp. 309-350). Marcial Pons.
- Böckenförde, E.-W. (1991). Grundrechte als Grundsatznormen. In E.-W. Böckenförde (Ed.), Staa t, Verfassung, Demokratie (pp. 159-199). Suhrkamp.
- Borowski, M. (1998). G rundrechte als Prinzipien . Nomos.
- Borowski, M. (2009). Die Bindung an Festsetzungen des Gesetzgebers in der grundrechtlichen Abwägung. In L. Clérico, & J.-R. Sieckmann (Eds.), Grundrechte, Prinzipien und Argumentation (pp. 99-128). Nomos. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783845218311-99
- Borowski, M. (2010). The Structure of Formal Principles. In M. Borowski (Ed.), On the Nature of Legal Principles (pp. 19-35). Franz Steiner Verlag.
- Borowski, M. (2013). Formelle Prinzipien und Gewichtsformel. In M. Klatt (Ed.), Prin zi pienthe orie und Theorie der Abwägung (pp. 151-199). Mohr Siebeck.
- Borowski, M. (2015). Robert Alexy’s Reconstruction of Formal Principles. In A. Travessoni Gomes Trivisonno, J. Aguiar de Oliveira, & S. L. Paulson (Eds.), Alexy’s Theory of Law (pp. 95-110). Franz Steiner Verlag.
- Borowski, M. (2017). Alexys drittes Modell formellen Prinzipien. In M. Borowski, S. L. Paulson, & J.-R. Sieckmann (Eds.), Rechtsphilosophie und Grundrechtstheorie. Robert Alexys System (pp. 449-476). Mohr Siebeck.
- Borowski, M., & Travessoni Gomes Trivisonno, A. (2022). Os Modelos de Princípios Formais. In A. Travessoni Gomes Trivisonno, & M. Borowski (Eds.), O Debate Sobre a Teoria dos Princípios Formais de Robert Alexy (pp. 23-36). Marcial Pons.