State of Emergency and Theories of Evil Law

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25380006
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Fundamental law
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Nakayama Ryuichi 大阪大学, 法学(政治学)研究科(研究院), 教授 (00257958)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 緊急事態 / 悪法 / リスク / 法哲学 / 思想史

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the name of maintaining public order, the emergency law restricts, or suspends, basic rights and civil liberties, democratic decision-making processes, and other legal procedures. The objective of this study was to explore the institutional safeguards that prevent the legislations from degrading themselves to the “evil laws” during “state of emergency”. In this respect, the resilient civil culture that embraces the Rule of Law and Constitutionalism should be deeply rooted in people’s mentality before any emergency situations, either severe disasters or security threats, take place. However, in East Asia, the traditional politico-legal culture of instrumentalism stands in the way as an obstacle. Furthermore, especially in the post 9.11 era, the detrimental pressures from international politics should also be taken into consideration.

Free Research Field

法理学/法哲学