Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
7-2022
Abstract
Written constitutions often include generalized guarantees of equal protection which imply a proscription on unconstitutional differential treatment. This paper will examine what the analytical focus ought to be when evaluating challenges to executive action based on such rights, a particularly relevant issue given recent developments in Hong Kong’s and Singapore’s equal protection jurisprudence. These developments suggest that there are three possible analytical focal points, each of which takes a different perspective on the relevance of the executive’s purpose in utilizing differential treatment: (1) the connection between the chosen differentiation and the specific purpose of the challenged executive action; (2) the connection between the differentiation and the broad purpose for which power was conferred upon the authority to perform the challenged action; and (3) a generalized assessment of the action’s rationality independent of purpose. This paper will critically evaluate each of these possibilities. It will argue that a specific purpose approach (namely (1)) is to be preferred, and that such an approach should be substantiated through a structured proportionality framework. © 2022 School of Law, City University of Hong Kong.
Keywords
Equal protection, Executive action, Hong Kong, Judicial review, Singapore
Discipline
Comparative and Foreign Law | Public Law and Legal Theory
Research Areas
Public Law
Publication
Asia Pacific Law Review
Volume
30
Issue
2
First Page
203
Last Page
220
ISSN
1019-2557
Identifier
10.1080/10192557.2022.2073708
Publisher
City University of Hong Kong
Citation
CHNG, Wei Yao, Kenny.
The relevance of purpose in constitutional equal protection challenges to executive action. (2022). Asia Pacific Law Review. 30, (2), 203-220.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4037
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1080/10192557.2022.2073708
