Limitations on fundamental freedoms in Sri Lanka: majoritarian influence of constitutional practice

IF 0.6 4区 社会学 Q2 LAW International Journal of Law in Context Pub Date : 2023-05-25 DOI:10.1017/s1744552323000113
G. Gunatilleke
{"title":"Limitations on fundamental freedoms in Sri Lanka: majoritarian influence of constitutional practice","authors":"G. Gunatilleke","doi":"10.1017/s1744552323000113","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n Sri Lanka’s Constitution authorises the state to limit certain fundamental freedoms on the grounds of specific public interests. This article examines how this constitutional limitation regime has become vulnerable to majoritarian influence. It uses a case study approach, supplemented by key informant interviews, to delve into Sri Lanka’s constitutional practice with respect to limitations on fundamental freedoms such as the freedom of religion or belief, and the freedom of expression. The article illustrates how organs of the Sri Lankan state have equated notions of ‘public interest’ with the majority community’s conceptions of ‘security’, ‘order’, ‘health’ and ‘morals’. It argues that this practice reflects a cleavage between the moral legitimacy and the legal claimability of fundamental freedoms of minorities and satirists in Sri Lanka. It concludes that legal regimes designed to guarantee fundamental freedoms offer very little protection to minorities when the underlying politics driving the application of law is majoritarian.","PeriodicalId":45455,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Law in Context","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6000,"publicationDate":"2023-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Law in Context","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1744552323000113","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"LAW","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Sri Lanka’s Constitution authorises the state to limit certain fundamental freedoms on the grounds of specific public interests. This article examines how this constitutional limitation regime has become vulnerable to majoritarian influence. It uses a case study approach, supplemented by key informant interviews, to delve into Sri Lanka’s constitutional practice with respect to limitations on fundamental freedoms such as the freedom of religion or belief, and the freedom of expression. The article illustrates how organs of the Sri Lankan state have equated notions of ‘public interest’ with the majority community’s conceptions of ‘security’, ‘order’, ‘health’ and ‘morals’. It argues that this practice reflects a cleavage between the moral legitimacy and the legal claimability of fundamental freedoms of minorities and satirists in Sri Lanka. It concludes that legal regimes designed to guarantee fundamental freedoms offer very little protection to minorities when the underlying politics driving the application of law is majoritarian.
查看原文
分享 分享
微信好友 朋友圈 QQ好友 复制链接
本刊更多论文
斯里兰卡对基本自由的限制:宪法实践的多数主义影响
斯里兰卡宪法授权国家基于特定的公共利益限制某些基本自由。本文探讨了这种宪法限制制度如何变得容易受到多数主义的影响。报告采用个案研究的方法,辅以对主要举报人的访谈,深入研究斯里兰卡在限制宗教或信仰自由和言论自由等基本自由方面的宪法实践。这篇文章说明了斯里兰卡国家机关如何将“公共利益”的概念与多数社区的“安全”、“秩序”、“健康”和“道德”概念等同起来。它认为,这种做法反映了斯里兰卡少数民族和讽刺作家的基本自由的道德合法性和法律可索求性之间的分裂。它的结论是,当推动法律适用的根本政治是多数主义时,旨在保障基本自由的法律制度对少数群体的保护微乎其微。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 去求助
来源期刊
CiteScore
1.60
自引率
12.50%
发文量
47
期刊最新文献
Socio-legal instabilities in Ukraine’s wartime Compensation Law for damaged and destroyed residential property Fault Lines in the Rule of Law: Europe’s Present and the Presence of its Past The Role of Judicial Associations in Resisting Rule of Law Backsliding: Hidden Pathways of Protecting Judicial Independence Amidst Rule of Law Decay Hidden rule of law discontinuities: A theoretical framework for studying rule of law backsliding Backsliding Democracy and the Slippery Slope of Conceptual Weakness
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
现在去查看 取消
×
提示
确定
0
微信
客服QQ
Book学术公众号 扫码关注我们
反馈
×
意见反馈
请填写您的意见或建议
请填写您的手机或邮箱
已复制链接
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
×
扫码分享
扫码分享
Book学术官方微信
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术
文献互助 智能选刊 最新文献 互助须知 联系我们:info@booksci.cn
Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。
Copyright © 2023 Book学术 All rights reserved.
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号 京ICP备2023020795号-1