Rights as trumps and order as counter-trumps: re-examining free speech theory in an era of fear, hate and lies

• Main Author: Li-ann, Thio
• Other Authors: Asian constitutional law recent developments and trends : Vietnam, Hanoi, 6th and 7th December 2019. Volume 1
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: Vietnamese
• Published: Đại học Quốc Gia Hà Nội 2020
• Subjects: the constitutional order; free speech rightism
• Online Access: http://repository.vnu.edu.vn/handle/VNU_123/94793
• Institution: Vietnam National University, Hanoi

The constitutional order embodies an arena where interests compete; in interpreting constitutional liberties, relevant interests are identified, weighed and accorded value; these may be optimalised, in ensuring no interest is overridden, such as through subjecting rights to reasonable or proportionate restrictions, as opposed to statist criteria such as expediency which may render a right nugatory. Although this process encounters difficulties in identifying relevant interests and in constructing the metric for assigning weight to them, this method of balancing rights and competing interests is viewed as a rational form of decision-making.