22130713_covr
Rss

Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy

About this journal  

Subscribe to the email alerts for this journal here to receive notifications when a new issue is at your disposal.

Issue 2, 2010 Expand all abstracts
Editorial

Access_open Juridische bescherming ‘by design’?

Authors Mireille Hildebrandt
Author's information

Mireille Hildebrandt
Mireille Hildebrandt is associate professor of Jurisprudence at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Senior Researcher at the Centre for Law Science Technology and Society, Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
Article

Access_open Constitutionele toetsing in een democratie zonder volk

Een kelseniaanse rechtvaardiging voor het Europees Hof van Justitie

Keywords Kelsen, Democracy, Legitimacy, European Union, European Court of Justice
Authors Quoc Loc Hong
AbstractAuthor's information

    This article draws on Hans Kelsen’s theory of democracy to argue that, contrary to conventional wisdom, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the democratic legitimacy of either the European Union (EU) or the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The legitimacy problems from which the EU in general and the ECJ in particular are alleged to suffer seem to result mainly from our rigid adherence to the outdated conception of democracy as popular self-legislation. Because we tend to approach the Union’s political and judicial practice from the perspective of this democracy conception, we are not able to observe what is blindingly obvious, that is, the viability and persistence of both this mega-leviathan and the highest court thereof. It is, therefore, imperative that we modernize and adjust our conception of democracy in order to comprehend the new reality to which these bodies have given rise, rather than to call for ‘reforms’ in a futile attempt to bring this reality into accordance with our ancient preconceptions about what democratic governance ought to be. Kelsen is the democratic theorist whose work has enabled us to venture into that direction.


Quoc Loc Hong
Quoc Loc Hong was a FWO Postdoctoral Fellow from 2007 to 2009 at the University of Antwerp. He is currently an independent researcher.
Article

Access_open Is de vrijheid van godsdienst in de moderne multiculturele samenleving nog een hanteerbaar recht?

Keywords freedom of religion, human rights, human dignity, traditional religion, unequal treatment
Authors Koo van der Wal
AbstractAuthor's information

    There are two fundamental problems with regard to the freedom of religion. The first concerns the content and scope of the right; the second, a possible unequal treatment between population groups. The first problem can only be dealt with by a preliminary analysis of the religious phenomenon, which precedes a legal definition. It turns out that there is a range of different types of religion, with on the one hand traditional forms of religion which are narrowly interwoven with the culture in question (all kinds of ‘cultural’ practices possessing a religious dimension), and on the other forms of religion which loosen to a considerable extent the ties between culture and religion. Evidently, the former types of religion cause problems in modern society. An additional problem is that freedom of religion as a modern basic right rests on a view of human being – including the idea of the inherent dignity and autonomy of the human person – which is at odds with the symbolic universe of traditional religion. The conclusion of the article is that in the modern pluralist society freedom of religion is on its way to becoming, or already has become, an unmanageable right. So the problems arising around this right (including that of unequal treatment) can only be solved in a pragmatic, not really satisfactory way. In that context, modern humanitarian standards should be observed in the implementation of the right of freedom of religion because fundamental human rights are connected with a specific concept of humanity.


Koo van der Wal
Koo van der Wal is emeritus professor of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and the Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Article

Access_open De droom van Beccaria

Over het strafrecht en de nodale veiligheidszorg

Keywords Beccaria, criminal law, nodal governance, social contract
Authors Klaas Rozemond
AbstractAuthor's information

    Les Johnston and Clifford Shearing argue in their book, Governing Security, that the state has lost its monopoly on the governance of security. Private security arrangements have formed a networked governance of security in which the criminal law of the state is just one of the many knots or ‘nodes’ of the security network. Johnston and Shearing consider On Crimes and Punishment, written by Cesare Beccaria in the 18th century, as the most important statement of the classical security program which has withered away in the networked governance of the risk society. This article critizes the way Johnston and Shearing analyze Beccaria’s social contract theory and it formulates a Beccarian theory of the criminal law and nodal governance which explains the causes of crime and the rise of nodal governance and defends the central role of the state in anchoring security arrangements based on private contracts and property rights.


Klaas Rozemond
Klaas Rozemond is associate professor at the Department of Criminal Law, Faculty of Law, VU University Amsterdam.
Book Review

Access_open Marc de Wilde, Verwantschap in extremen

Politieke theologie bij Walter Benjamin en Carl Schmitt

Authors Jerker Spits
AbstractAuthor's information

    Jerker Spits, book review of Marc de Wilde, Verwantschap in extremen. Politieke theologie bij Walter Benjamin en Carl Schmitt


Jerker Spits
Jerker Spits, PhD at Leiden University, publications on German literature (Ernst Jünger, Thomas Bernhard, Martin Walser) and philosophy in Oxford German Studies, Monatshefte and Academische Boekengids.
Book Review

Access_open B.C. van Beers, Persoon en lichaam in het recht

Menselijke waardigheid en zelfbeschikking in het tijdperk van de medische biotechnologie

Authors Martin Buijsen
AbstractAuthor's information

    Martin Buijsen’s book review of B.C. van Beers, Persoon en lichaam in het recht. Menselijke waardigheid en zelfbeschikking in het tijdperk van de medische biotechnologie


Martin Buijsen
Martin Buijsen is professor of Health Law at Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Book Review

Access_open Pierre Legendre, L’autre bible de l’occident

Le monument romano-canonique, Étude sur l’architecture dogmatique des sociétés, Leçons IX

Authors Thom Holterman
AbstractAuthor's information

    Thom Holterman’s book review of Pierre Legendre, L’autre bible de l’occident: le Monument romano-canonique, Étude sur l’architecture dogmatique des sociétés, Leçons IX


Thom Holterman
Thom Holterman is Doctor of Laws and lives in Urciers, France.
Book Review

Access_open Luuk van Middelaar, De passage naar Europa

Geschiedenis van een begin

Authors Bertjan Wolthuis
AbstractAuthor's information

    Bertjan Wolthuis’ book review of Luuk van Middelaar, De passage naar Europa. Geschiedenis van een begin


Bertjan Wolthuis
Bertjan Wolthuis is assistant professor at the Department of Legal Theory, VU University Amsterdam
Book Review

Access_open Wilbert Mennings, Wouter Veraart en Pieter Edelman (red.), Voorlopig ben ik humanist

Teksten en voordrachten van Jan van Zijverden (1928-2003)

Authors Jaap Zwart and Femke Storm
AbstractAuthor's information

    Jaap Zwart and Femke Storm, book review of Wilbert Mennings, Wouter Veraart en Pieter Edelman (red.), Voorlopig ben ik humanist. Teksten en voordrachten van Jan van Zijverden (1928-2003)


Jaap Zwart
Jaap Zwart is lecturer at the Department of Legal Theory, VU University Amsterdam.

Femke Storm
Femke Storm is a law student at the VU University Amsterdam.