Interpreting Bills of Rights: The Value of a Comparative Approach

• Main Author: LEE, Jack Tsen-Ta
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2007
• Subjects: Bills of rights; comparative law; constitutional law; human rights; statutory interpretation; Public Law and Legal Theory
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/524; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/1523/viewcontent/2007_5_ICON_122_ComparativeApproach_prepub.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In certain jurisdictions, among them Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States, the practice of consulting comparative legal materials in interpreting domestic bills of rights has been criticized as illegitimate. This article examines four main concerns: (1) the texts of bills of rights -- the argu...