Public employees and the possibility of the constitutional protection of their speech to supervisor

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K01302
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 05020:Public law-related
• Research Institution: Osaka City University
• Principal Investigator: Watanabe Masaru 大阪市立大学, 大学院法学研究科, 教授 (50201231)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 公務員法 / 公務員の意見具申 / 表現の自由 / 全体の奉仕者

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study focuses on the possibility of public officials offering their opinions to their superiors as a mechanism for reconciling the demands for democratic legitimacy in the civil service system with the demands for political neutrality in the performance of duties by public officials and the demands for expertise that are considered to derive from such neutrality. The study also examined how the law can be positioned in the constitutional context, with reference to the development of case law in the United States. As a result, this study concluded that in Japan, the "servant of the whole" nature of Article 15, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution, which is linked to Article 21 of the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression, can be used as a basis for guaranteeing such freedom.

Free Research Field

憲法学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

公務員の意見具申と憲法との関係については、これまで憲法15条2項の「全体の奉仕者性」を根拠に公務員の意見具申権の保障を認める説と、憲法15条2項は権利制約規定であることからこれを否定する説が提示されていた。本研究は、公務員の意見具申が表現の自由により保障されるか否かをめぐり展開されている合衆国における論争状況を参照しつつ、公務員の勤務関係では制約と保障の両面からの考察を要するとする近似のわが国における学説の指摘も踏まえ、憲法15条2項は、憲法21条と結びつく形で、公務員の勤務関係における保障のひとつとして、公務員の意見具申の保障を認めるものであるとの新たな見解を展開する。