普通法权限中的宪法解释

普通法发源于英国,但法学体系中的宪法解释学却是在美国起源并在普通法体系中发展到最高水平的。美国的宪法司法审查实践引发了三个紧密联系的问题,即法官宣告由民主选举产生的立法机构(包括国会和州立法机构)制定的法律无效是否合法,法官如何解释宪法,法官如何发挥能动性从而在审查立法行为时能做到多大程度的自我控制。通过分析可知,司法审查的合法性正在得到国际社会的广泛认可,并且目前也存在着许多解释宪法的理论、方法和方式,而对于司法能动性适合于何种情况却仍然是美国宪法辩论的中心问题。

The Constitutional Interpretation in Common Law

Although England is the home of the common law,it is in the USA that the jurisprudence of constitutional interpretation originated and reached the highest level of development within the common law family of legal systems.The American practice of constitutional judicial review has generated three questions that are inextricably linked to one another:(a) Is it legitimate for courts to strike down laws that have been enacted by democratically elected legislature(including the Congress and state legislatures)?(b) How should courts interpret the Constitution?(c) How activist should courts be,or to what extent should they practise self-restraint,in reviewing legislative acts? The legitimacy of constitutional judicial review of legislation is widely gaining international acceptance.At present there are many theories of,approaches to and methods for interpreting a constitutional instrument such as the US constitution,however,how to practise judicial activism is still a core problem of American constitutional debate.