Alternative Title

https://doi.org/10.1017/asjcl.2024.9

Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

5-2024

Abstract

In the past, Malaysian courts performing constitutional rights review played a merely clerical role, applying a test that was trivially easy for legislation to pass. Then a more rigorous proportionality test took root. However, the Federal Court in the 2020 case of Letitia Bosman whittled the test down again, and the courts once more played a minimal role in checking state action. The reasons for this cannot be explained merely by diversity in judicial philosophy or political contextual factors. Rather, the near-demise of proportionality (and, with it, robust constitutional review) was made possible by a lack of a clear sense of the doctrinal foundations of proportionality (and, indeed, of constitutional rights review generally), and the relative roles of the courts and the legislature therein. As a result, there is a risk that the courts’ important role in safeguarding constitutional rights has been minimised to near vanishing point. This article aims, through an analysis of the case law and its foundations, to explain how this came to be, and hence highlight important issues which Malaysian constitutional law must grapple with if meaningful rights review is to take place.

Discipline

Asian Studies | Public Law and Legal Theory

Research Areas

Asian and Comparative Legal Systems; Public Law

Areas of Excellence

Growth in Asia

Publication

Asian Journal of Comparative Law

First Page

1

Last Page

39

ISSN

2194-6078

Identifier

10.1017/asjcl.2024.9

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Comments

No volume/page numbers available yet, as this is advance online access only. Thanks.

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1017/asjcl.2024.9

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