Judicial Review in Greater China: Activism and Deference of Four Apex Courts

This book examines the judicial review systems in the four areas of Greater China - China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau - and uncovers judicial review activities of the apex courts of each region. It provides a comparative assessment of judicial activism and deference. The development of modern judicial review is one of the key elements of the twentieth century’s legal heritage. By enforcing the principles of constitutionalism, the rule of law, and human rights protection, many courts have been vested with unprecedented powers and have played an essential role in supervising the exercise of government power through constitutional and administrative review. This work investigates the most up-to-date aspects of judicial review in Greater China and reflects on the modern theory regarding the judicialization of politics in different political regimes: democratic, authoritarian, and hybrid. The volume collects all substantive judicial review decisions delivered in the past twenty years by the four apex courts: the China’s Supreme People’s Court, the Taiwan Constitutional Court, the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong, and the Court of Final Appeal of Macau. This comprehensive dataset includes some 800 judicial review decisions, presenting a comprehensive resource of fundamental baseline data for evaluating judicial review in Greater China. The book will be an invaluable companion for scholars and researchers working in the areas of Comparative Public Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, Constitutional Politics, and Asian Studies.

Shiling Xiao is a Lecturer in Public Law at the University of Manchester.