Contributions by ‘Richard Stacey’

In his latest contribution to the theoretical literature on rights adjudication and the rule of law, Professor Francisco Urbina adds to the chorus of criticism levelled against the principle of proportionality and methods of judicial decision-making that rely on the balancing of constitutional rights and competing interests. To those unfamiliar with the background of this long-running jurisprudential debate, the principle of proportionality offers a heuristic for judges and lawmakers to determine whether the statutory limitation of a constitutionally protected right is justified by the benefits the rights-limiting measure produces. A court should uphold rights-limiting legislation if the extent to which the measure limits the affected right is proportionate to the good it produces, or, in other words, if the good achieved by limiting the right outweighs the harm it causes.