The Impact of the Judicial Precedents on the Normative Content of Human Rights

Tadeusz Biernat

Abstract


The major objective of this article is to emphasise the importance and the role of precedent – understood in broad terms – in forming the normative reality, exerting an impact on the content of normative elements, including human rights, particularly women’s rights. Being an essential part of the normative reality, precedents are a particular kind of normative messages of a considerable power. Taken into account their narrative form, comprehensiveness of the content, media hype and possibilities of a mass broadcasting, precedents constitute an important element and play a significant role in forming the normative reality, which is characteristic for the present-day society. Being a phenomenon characteristic for a post-modernist society, the normative reality is understood in contrast to static conceptions of a normative or axionormative order, which have a given structure and distinct boundaries. The analysis of precedent rulings, stemming from various law orders, regarding women’s equal rights in the employment process, aims at highlighting their importance both in forming the content of human rights and their impact on law and law enactment.


Keywords


precedent; normative approach; human rights; women’s rights

Full Text:

PDF

References


Beaumont P., Israeli airline can’t make women move seats for religious reasons, court rules, “The Guardian”, www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/22/israeli-airline-cant-make-women-move-seats-for-religious-reasons-court-rules [access: 10.02.2018].

Begum A., Implementing Women’s Equal Right to Employment in Bangladesh: A Comparative Judicial Approach With Special Reference to India, Canada and Australia, “Canberra Law Review” 2012, Vol. 11(1).

Berger C.G., Equal Pay, Equal Employment Opportunity and Equal Enforcement of the Law for Women, “Valparaiso University Law Review” 1971, Vol. 5.

Di Viggiano P.L., Evolutionary Forms of Law and Social Systems, “Curentul Juridic. The Juridical Current. Le Courant Juridique” 2011, Vol. 45.

Donlan S.P., To Hybridity and Beyond: Reflections on Legal and Normative Complexity, www.academia.edu/2078759/To_Hybridity_and_Beyond_Reflections_on_Legal_and_Normative_Complexity [access: 10.02.2018].

Gizbert-Studnicki T., Klinowski M., Complexity of the Social Sphere and the Judicial Decision-Making Process, “Archivum Iuridicum Cracoviense” 2009, Vol. 42.

Hallward-Driemeier M., Hasan T., Empowering Women: Legal Rights and Economic Opportunities in Africa, World Bank Publications, 2012, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-9533-2.

Mandhani A., Women’s Day Special: 15 Supreme Court judgments that made India a better place for women, www.livelaw.in/womens-day-special-15-judgments-that-made-india-a-better-place-for-women [access: 11.02.2018].

Peczenik A., The binding force of precedents, [in:] Interpreting Precedents: A Comparative Study, eds. D.N. MacCormick, R.S. Summers, Dartmouth, 1997.

Report on application of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (‘Employment Equality Directive’) (2015/2116 (INI)) A8-0225/2016, point 92.

Selected Supreme Court Decisions, www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/35th/thelaw/supreme_court.html [access: 11.02.2018].

Sharon J., Israeli Court: Haredi Calls for Women to Move Seats on El Al Now Illegal, “The Jerusalem Post”, www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Court-Illegal-to-ask-women-to-move-seats-on-flights-due-to-haredi-demands-497608 [access: 10.02.2018].

Women’s Rights are Human Rights, United Nations Publication, HR/PUB/14/2, New York and Geneva 2014.

Zirk-Sadowski M., Flexible Normative Space. Between the European Law and the Member State Law as a Source of Constitutional Identity, [in:] Towards Recognition of Minority Groups. Legal and Communication Strategies, eds. M. Zirk-Sadowski, B. Wojciechowski, K.M. Cern, Ashgate 2014.

Zych T., W poszukiwaniu pewności prawa, Toruń 2017.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/sil.2018.27.1.45
Date of publication: 2018-05-02 07:55:20
Date of submission: 2018-02-07 22:56:57


Statistics


Total abstract view - 1152
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 0

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2018

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.