Towards Better Protection of
Fundamental Rights in Mongolia:
Constitutional Review andInterpretation
Munkhsaikhan Odonkhuu

Nagoya University
CALE Books 4Munkhsaikhan Odonkhuu

Towards Better Protection of
Fundamental Rights in Mongolia:
Constitutional Review andInterpretation

Nagoya University
CALE Books 4Center for Asian Legal Exchange&
Graduate School of Law

Nagoya University
Towards Better Protection of Fundamental Rights in Mongolia:
Constitutional Review and Interpretation
Munkhsaikhan Odonkhuu
Published March, 2014
Printed by
the Nagoya University Consumers’ Co-operative Association, Nagoya, Japan

Copyright © 2014
Center for Asian Legal Exchange&
Graduate School of Law
Nagoya University
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced copiedin any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher.
Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601 JAPAN
Phone: +81(0)52-789-2325
Fax: +81(0)52-789-4902

ii

Munkhsaikhan Odonkhuu is currently Associate Professor of Law at National
University of Mongolia School of Law. He holds an LL.D. (2011) and an LL.M. (2008)
in Comparative Law from Nagoya University, Japan, and an LL.B. (2005) from the
National University of Mongolia. He was a research assistant at National University ofMongolia School of Law (October 2005-September 2006), a foreign research associate
at Nagoya University Graduate School of Law (October 2011-July 2012), and a visiting
scholar at University of Washington School of Law (December 2011-July 2012) andGeorge Washington University Law School (August 2012-May 2013). He has publishedarticles on the rule of law, comparative constitutionalism, constitutional interpretation,legal ethics and lawyer disciplinary enforcement in the professional journals.

iii

This book is dedicated to my parents, Odonkhuu Tsevegmed and Myagmar Ochirjav.

iv

Foreword

This is a publication based on the doctoral dissertation submitted by Munkhsaikhan
Odonkhuu to the Graduate School of Law of Nagoya University, and also includes thelater development by his research at the University of Washington School of Law andGeorge Washington University Law School.
Several countries in Asia and Eastern Europe established constitutional courts andother mechanisms for human rights protections when they were heading towards atransition to constitutional democracy after the collapse or transformation of theauthoritarian regimes. Therefore some people say that we could talk about the formationof the “The Rise of Global Constitutionalism” (Bruce Ackerman). In this historicalcontext, it is natural for legal researchers, particularly constitutional scholars, of thetransitional countries have interests in the institutional designs and operations ofconstitutional courts in Europe and judicial reviews in the United States. For improving
their constitutional review, it will be helpful to study the institutional designs andoperations of the constitutional courts or judicial reviews in the advanced legal regime
While the German automobiles could run at high speed on the Mongolian steppes,
the German style constitutional court could not necessarily function as well.
“Importation” of a political institution is more complicated than importing automobiles.
I have a very high opinion of Munkhsaikhan’s research because of his efforts to look
into the constitutional principles and thoughts underlying the institution of
constitutional court and its operations. The most challenging aspect of his researchfindings is the importance of methodology in constitutional interpretation. However, his
efforts did not bring him to a conclusion at that point. Because Munkhsaikhan promoted
Professor Ronald Dwokin’s method of constitutional interpretation well appraised in thecontext of the American system of judicial review, a difficult question therefore
emerged as to whether Dwokin’s theory could be equally applicable for thevForeword

Constitutional Court (Tsets) of Mongolia, which was characterized as being modelled
after the German Constitutional Court. Munkhsaikhan confronted this tough challengehead-on and he has convinced us with a certain level of success in this endeavor.
This book is the result of Munkhsaikhan’s intensive work for the development ofconstitutional democracy in Mongolia, based on his own way of presenting difficult
questions, to be followed by intensive search and in-depth comprehension of a great
variety of existing literatures and serious deliberations. I am therefore confident that thisbook will be quite useful for the development of constitutional democracy in Mongolia.
At the same time, it also includes the reexamination of the European and American
constitutional theories and legal philosophy from the perspective of a transitionalcountry. As a result, the work herein will surely be offering some very important
insights to scholars of the advanced constitutional democracies as well.
Munkhsaikhan is an excellent and highly capable researcher with a very enthusiastic
academic commitment. Now I remember many of our academic conversations withdelight. But what has impressed me most was his excellent sense of humanity. In theaftermath of the large-scale earthquake in Japan on March 11 of 2011, Munkhsaikhan
engaged himself in fundraising activities for the victims. Having really believed in theideal of “judicial protection of human rights”, i.e, to be the genuine constitutionalist,
one should be always ready to give a helping hand to the suffering neighbors.
Munkhsaikhan has indeed taught me this truth. So I want to say that Munkhsaikhan is
my “teacher” in thinking about how to act as a constitutionalist.
As a constitutional scholar who believes in the value of constitutionalism, it is mygreat pleasure to see the research of Munkhsaikhan being published in the CALE Book
series to be accessible to readers who are interested in the development andconsolidation of constitutional democracy in the transitional countries.

February 2014

Koji AIKYO
Professor of Law
Graduate School of Law, Nagoya Universityvi

Acknowledgments

I could not have written this book without encouragements and supports of many
people and institutions. I am grateful to the Japanese people and their government forthe scholarship that I received during my master’s and doctoral programs at Nagoya
University and my visiting scholar program at University of Washington. Nagoya
University Graduate School of Law provided me with excellent facilities such as a richlibrary and a convenient study room. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my academic
supervisor, Prof. Aikyo Koji, for kindly advising, supporting and encouraging me during
the whole research, tirelessly reading and commenting my drafts. I wish to thank my
sub-supervisors, Prof. Moto Hidenori and Prof. Okochi Minori, as well as Prof. R. Paul
Lege and Prof. Teilee Koung for their constructive feedbacks. Comments by these
professors provoked many significant revisions. The errors and omissions that remain
are only mine.
I would like to address my acknowledgements to National University of Mongolia
School of Law. I am very thankful to Prof. Lundendorj N. who encouraged me to study
abroad and always supported me. I am grateful to Prof. Chimid B., Justice Prof.
Sarantuya Ts. and Minister of Justice Temuujin Kh. for teaching me constitutional law
when I was an undergraduate.
I would like to express my profound gratitude to the Constitutional Tsets ofMongolia. Chief Justice Prof. Amarsanaa J., Senior Advisor Byambajav J. (former
justice) and Secretary Bolortungalag N. explained to me the daily works of the Tsets andallowed me to use the court library. Special thanks to Prof. Morigiwa Yasutomo forgenerously teaching me moral and political philosophies, and Prof. Okuda Saori for her
invaluable assistances. I am deeply grateful to Prof. Chimid B., Prof. Byambaa J.
(former justice), Prof. Narangerel S., Prof. Solongo D., Prof. Sugiura Kazutaka, Prof.
Obata Kaoru, Prof. Herbert Kupper, Prof. Jorg Polakiewicz, Dr. Kovacs Krisztina, andvii

Acknowledgments

Dr. Diana Mecsi for their insightful discussions and information.
I continued my research and improved the draft of my book as a visiting scholar foreight months at University of Washington School of Law. Thanks to this program, I also
visited the U.S. Supreme Court, met Prof. Ronald Dworkin and other professors, andused valuable materials at the Library of Congress and the Center for East Asian Studies
at Eastern Washington University. I would like to express my gratitude to the Center for
Asian Legal Exchange (CALE) at Nagoya University and the Asian Law Center atUniversity of Washington for all of these opportunities. I am very glad that the CALE
funded the publication of this book, my doctoral dissertation improved at University ofWashington. Prof. Aikyo Koji, Prof. Nakamura Masaki and Ms. Mayumi Ota always
supported and encouraged me throughout the entire program. Prof. Jon Eddy, Prof.
Dana Reigrodski, Prof. Clark B. Lombardi and Ms. Jennifer Simpson were very
hospitable to me. I enjoyed and learned a lot from discussions in my workshop at
University of Washington and from the meetings with Prof. Jamie Mayerfeld, Prof.
Ronald Moore, Prof. Robert Gomulkiewicz, Prof. Stewart Jay, and Prof. Ronald Collins.
I am also thankful to Prof. Susan Karamanian for allowing me to work on my researchat George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C.

viii

Contents

Abbreviations and Shortened Titles .............................................................................................................. xii
Introduction..................................................................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1 Constitutionalism ........................................................................................................................... 8
1.1. Constitutionalism and the rule of law in general ................................................................................ 8
1.1.1. Common tendency between the rule of law and the Rechtsstaat towards substantive
conception ............................................................................................................................................ 8
1.1.2. Constitutionalism as a worldwide principle ............................................................................. 15
1.2. Constitutionalism and the rule of law in Mongolia .......................................................................... 20
1.2.1. The antecedent of Mongolian constitutionalism ...................................................................... 20
1.2.2. Basic principles of the 1992 Constitution of Mongolia............................................................ 23
1.2.3. The understanding of the rule of law and the Rechtsstaat in Mongolia ................................... 28
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 33
Chapter 2 Two Models of Constitutional Review ......................................................................................... 35
2.1. The American model of constitutional review: the United States..................................................... 35
2.2. Austrian Constitutional Court and the European model of constitutional review ............................ 41
2.3. Similarities of American and European models ............................................................................... 50
2.4. The European model in a transitional society: the Constitutional Court of Hungary ....................... 56
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 63ix

Contents

Chapter 3 Constitutional Review in Mongolia ............................................................................................. 65
3.1. Discussions on constitutional review in the constitution making ..................................................... 65
3.1.1. The Soviet model of constitutional review as weak for the Rechtsstaat and theprotection of fundamental rights ........................................................................................................ 66
3.1.2. The American model of constitutional review being unsuitable in the Mongolian
context ................................................................................................................................................ 71
3.2. The Constitutional Court (Tsets) of Mongolia .................................................................................. 79
3.2.1. The main features of the Tsets .................................................................................................. 79
3.2.2. The jurisdiction of the Tsets ..................................................................................................... 86
3.2.3. The two-stage procedure of the Tsets ....................................................................................... 95
3.2.4. The Tsets as the European model of constitutional review..................................................... 100
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 107
Chapter 4 Constitutional Interpretation....................................................................................................... 109
4.1. Reasoned judgment and constitutional interpretation ......................................................................110
4.2. American constitutional interpretation ............................................................................................113
4.2.1. The moral reading of the U.S. Constitution ............................................................................114
4.2.2. Criticisms of the moral reading of the Constitution ............................................................... 126
4.3. The moral reading of the Constitution in Europe ........................................................................... 135
4.3.1. The moral reading of fundamental rights in constitutional and international
adjudications .................................................................................................................................... 135
4.3.2. The moral reading of the Hungarian Constitution .................................................................. 142
4.4. Constitutional culture ..................................................................................................................... 148
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 160
Chapter 5 Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia .................................................................................. 161
5.1. Case method in constitutional law .................................................................................................. 161

x

Contents

5.2. Selected constitutional cases .......................................................................................................... 165
5.2.1. Nyamdorj Cases I and II (2007) ............................................................................................. 165
5.2.2. Constituency Grant Case (2007) ............................................................................................ 171
5.2.3. Dashdendev Case (1994)........................................................................................................ 177
5.2.4. Suffrage Case I (1993) ........................................................................................................... 186
5.3. Mongolian constitutional reasoning and interpretation as a whole ................................................ 197
5.4. Mongolian constitutional culture .................................................................................................... 212
Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................... 219
Conclusion: Recommendations for Better Protection of Fundamental Rights in Mongolia ....................... 220
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................... 224
Appendix I Selected Provisions of the Constitution of Mongolia .............................................................. 242
Appendix 2 Caseloads of the Tsets (1992-2010) ......................................................................................... 250

xiAbbreviations and Shortened Titles

1990 Amendment
Act XXXII of 1989
Art.
Const.
ECHR
European Convention
FramerICCPR
ICESCRLRSCM
LATUGB
Mon.
MPR
MPRP
PGKh
Soviet Committee
SGKh
SGKh Procedure
SSKh
Tsets
UDHR

xii

the 1990 Law on Constitutional Amendment
Act XXXII of 1989 on the Constitutional Court of Hungary
Article of a Constitution or a law
The Constitution
the European Court of Human Rights
the European Convention of Human Rights (1950)
a member of constituent assembly (the SSKh or the PGKh)the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(1966)
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (1966)
the Law on the Relationship between the State and the
Church-Monastery
the Law on Administrative and Territorial Units and their
Governing Bodies
Mongolia or Mongolian
the Mongolian People’s Republic
the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party
the People’s Great Khural, the constituent assembly that
adopted the 1992 Constitution of Mongolia
the Committee of the Constitutional Supervision of the USSR
the State Great Khural (the Parliament of Mongolia)
the SGKh Resolution on the Parliamentary Procedure
the State Small Khural, the standing parliament that
discussed the draft Constitution and submitted it to the PGKh,
the Constitutional Court of Mongolia
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Introduction

Constitutional democracy became a world-wide-movement after WW II. Eastern andCentral European countries and some other former socialist countries joined thismovement after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Mongolian people also completed
a peaceful transition from socialism to constitutional democracy in 1990. In 1992,
Mongolia adopted its first liberal Constitution, which established a parliamentarydemocracy, guaranteed fundamental rights and imposed limits on public powers. This
Constitution instituted a constitutional court called the Constitutional Tsets (Tsets).
The Tsets exercises constitutional review, the power to strike down decisions ofinstitutions such as the legislature, the President, and the government when thesedecisions are contrary to the Constitution. 1 The Tsets’ decisions on constitutional
matters directly influence the lives of citizens and politics because they are final andenforced accordingly. In 1992-2011, the Tsets found constitutional violations in morethan 50 percent of its decisions. This court made 130 decisions,2 64 (49.2 %) of which
struck down laws and other acts as unconstitutional, and six (4.6 %) of which foundconstitutional violations by the President, the prime minister, the chairperson of theState Great Khural (the SGKh) or a MP. 81 (62.3 %) of 130 decisions were related toconstitutional rights, and 37 of them struck down laws and other acts as rights violations.
The number of decisions cannot show their qualities, but their general influences.

1

The term “judicial review” is often used for the American model, and the term “constitutional review”
for the European model. However, the term “the constitutional review” refers to both of two models inthis book.
2
These 130 decisions are the number of cases decided in the public hearings of the middle and grandpanels of the Tsets. An individual judge makes a decision on whether the Tsets reviews a petition or
notification. If the petitioner appeals against this decision, the minor panel of three judges hears the case,and makes the final decision on whether the Tsets hears the case. Cases rejected by a judge or by the
middle panel are not counted in this research. For the difference between these panels, see Section 3.2.

1

Introduction

The main function of the constitutional court is to protect fundamental rights andother principles of the Constitution in a deliberative way. Therefore, this study briefly
reviews the human rights situation in Mongolia in order to evaluate the performance of
the Tsets. Individuals enjoy many fundamental rights in Mongolia de facto, and thegovernment mostly respects these rights. According to surveys by the Freedom House,
an independent watchdog organization, Mongolia has been free and democratic. That is,
this country was not free (7 scores) in 1989 and partially free in 1990 (4 score), but it
has been free since 1991 (2.5 score until 2001 and 2.0 score since 2002).3 Mongolia is
the only post-socialist country outside of Eastern and Central Europe to obtain a scoreby the Freedom House that classified it as a free society. Mongolia has managed asubstantive transformation to liberal democracy along with post-communist European
countries such as Hungary and Poland. Foreign scholars conclude that Mongolia is ademocracy, which reasonably protects civil and political rights and freedoms.4 For
example, Thomas Ginsburg and Gombosuren Ganzorig stated as follows: “[Mongolia]
has received well-deserved attention as one of the most successful examples of
democratization in the Asian region. Since 1990, [it] has conducted several democraticelections. Human rights are well-respected, the media is free and political competition
exists.”5 Mongolian democracy works well in general, but it is vulnerable to somechallenges such as the pervasive corruption6 and the disrespect for some human rights
by the government.
Many human rights problems existed in Mongolia. In 2010, human rights NGOs andexperts in Mongolia reported that the government violated the right not to be subjected
to torture or inhuman and cruel treatment, the right to fair trail and legal assistance, theright to equal suffrage and the right to life.7 The U.S. Department of State also noted in

3“Each country and territory covered in the survey is assigned two numerical ratings-- one for politicalrights and one for civil liberties--on a scale of 1 to7; a rating of 1 indicates the highest degree of freedom
and 7 the least amount of freedom… these political rights and civil liberties ratings are combined andaveraged to determine an overall ‘freedom status’ for each country and territory. Countries and territories
with a combined average rating of 1.0 to 2.5 are considered ‘Free’; 3.0 to 5.0, ‘Partly Free’; and 5.5 to 7.0‘Not Free.’” “Freedom in the World Country Ratings: Comparative Score.”
4
Ginsburg, “Mongolia in 1997”; Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist
Europe, 3; Landman, Larizza, and McEvoy, “State of Democracy in Mongolia: a Desk Study,” 44;
Lijphart, “Preface.”5
Ginsburg and Ganzorig, “When Courts and Politics Collide,” 309.
6
In the 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index, Mongolia’s score decreased from 3.0 to 2.7 on a 1.0 – 10.0
scale. A higher score means less corruption. Thus, Mongolia ranked the 116th of 178 according to thedegree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. “Transparency
International - Corruption Perceptions Index 2010 Results.”
7
NGO Reports UPR Mongolia 2010.

2

Introduction

its 2009 human rights report the following human rights problems though it recognizedthat the Mongolian government generally respected human rights:
police abuse of prisoners and detainees; impunity; poor conditions in detention centers;
arbitrary arrest, lengthy detention, and corruption within the judicial system; continued
refusal by some provincial governments to register Christian churches; secrecy laws and alack of transparency in government affairs; domestic violence against women; andtrafficking in persons.8

The Tsets performs unsatisfactorily its main function to protect constitutional rights
and other principles of the Constitution for two reasons: the institutional defects and thepoor quality of its own judgments. The Tsets does not address a great majority ofconcrete human rights violations just described above because it exercises only theabstract review of laws and other acts except judgments of ordinary courts. According toProf. Chimid B., one of the 1992 Constitution framers, there is no protection of theConstitution, and many violations of political rights are outside of the review of the
Tsets. 9 Thus, Mongolian scholars have been paying much attention to how theinstitution of the Tsets should be advanced based on the German Constitutional Court.10
For example, individuals should have a right to submit constitutional complaint to the
Tsets if they think their basic rights are violated by a final court judgment. Establishinga constitutional complaint system and making other institutional improvement
concerning the Tsets would be a significant step, but more is needed to facilitate anincreased role for this court to protect fundamental rights in Mongolia.
The Tsets can make the protection of fundamental rights its main function evenunder the current institutional settings including the abstract review. However, the Tsetsprovides poor protection of these rights because qualities of its judgments are
insufficient in many cases. The Tsets has made few well-reasoned judgments, but manyof its judgments are poor because they lack the reasoning or misinterpret theConstitution. For example, the Tsets did not provide reasons in 1993 when it accepted
constitutionality of statutory provisions that restricted religious freedom of believers in

82009 Human Rights Report: Mongolia.
Chimid B., Unuugiin uls tur khuulichiin nudeer, 103–104; See also Ginsburg, Judicial Review in New
Democracies, 179–180.
10
Temuujin Kh., Jus Frast buyu Yost Ug, 58–67, 208–232, 238–239; Amarsanaa J., Murun D., and Bold
S., Undsen Khuuliin Tsetsiin Chadavkhiig Bekhjuulekh Ni, 38–40; Sarantuya Ts., “Origin, Development
and Urgent Tasks of the Constitutional Procedure Law in Mongolia,” 1–40.
93

Introduction

the non-traditional religions like Christianity (Dashdendev Case (1994)). 11 Thisdecision lacked reasoning because it failed to make an argument for the conclusions, tointerpret religious freedom, to respond to the arguments of two parties of the case, andto take into account related constitutional clauses. A decision lacking reasoning betrays
the public trust that the court does not decide cases arbitrarily, prevents the people frompredicting the possible decision, and advances politicization of the court. The public,
scholars and politicians sometimes allege that the Tsets is biased in favor of a politicalparty.12
The Tsets also misinterprets the Constitution when it provides some reasoning but
makes a literal reading of the constitutional text or adopts a poor conception of
constitutional abstract clauses. For instance, in Suffrage Case I (1993), the Tsets
misinterpreted the Constitution, ruling that the Constitution did not protect equal
suffrage because it excluded this term and equal suffrage was not proposed in theconstituent assembly. 13 This ruling also lacked the reasoning because it ignored
arguments given by the petitioners that equal suffrage was already included in equality
before the law and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Tsets
disrespected a precedent to quash laws that breached international human rights. The
Tsets has rejected to overrule Suffrage Case I since 1993. Concerns exist that equal
suffrage could be violated in the next elections as people have been moving rapidly
from the rural to the urban area.
The general question this book deals with is how to improve Tsets’ protection of
fundamental rights and other constitutional principles. The particular research questions
are not only how this court can be institutionally improved to become more independentand efficient, but also how it can improve the constitutional interpretation for the better
protection of these principles. Mongolian scholars have not paid enough attention to theissue of constitutional interpretation. Though many scholars admit that decisions of the
Tsets often fail to provide the constitutional reasoning, they have inadequately discussed
which decisions lack the reasoning, which decisions provide the reasoning, how thereasoning could be improved, and how the foreign courts construct the reasoning. Thereexists no serious concern on the methods of interpreting the Constitution although thesemethods need to be introduced and developed for streghtening Mongolian

11

Tsets, Jan. 12, 1994, Dugnelt No. 2. For the detailed analysis, see Chapter 5.
Chimid B., Unuugiin uls tur khuulichiin nudeer, 103–104; Chuluunbaatar Ch., “Ts.Nyamdorjiig
Buruutgakhiig Tsetsed Hen Zakhialsan Be? [Who Ordered the Accusation of Nyamdorj Ts.],”.
13
Tsets, Dec. 22, 1993, Dugnelt No. 4. For the detailed analysis, see Chapter 5.
124

Introduction

constitutionalism. Institutional improvement cannot solve the lack of reasoning and themisinterpretation by the Tsets.
The book reviews three main themes relevant to improving the protection of
fundamental rights by the constitutional court: (1) liberal constitutionalism, (2)constitutional review, and (3) the constitutional interpretation. The first theme suggeststhat the rule of law (the Rechtsstaat) and constitutionalism should be properly discussed
and clearly defined in order to illustrate the significance of fundamental rights inconstitutional democracy. The American rule of law and the German Rechtsstaat tend to
become similar despite their different origins and contexts. Many scholars understandthese two traditions of law in two ways. The first is the formal conception thatconcentrates on the principles of formal legality and the idea of law as an effective
guidance of its subjects. The second is the substantive conception that requires not only
the principles of formal legality but also individual rights and freedoms as the criteria of
the good laws. The substantive conception has become more important than the formal
as result of the worldwide constitutionalism that guarantees fundamental rights.
Mongolia had neither the rule of law nor constitutionalism before 1990. The 1992
Constitution accepts the substantive rule of law and liberal constitutionalism because it
guarantees fundamental rights and other basic principles. Most constitutional scholars in
Mongolia endorse the substantive rule of law and liberal constitutionalism, and theyrarely argue against the formal conception of the rule of law.
The second theme in this book argues that constitutional review exercised by anindependent, efficient court is essential to realizing the substantive rule of law andliberal constitutionalism. There are two models of this review: the American and theEuropean. On the one hand, the American model allows all ordinary courts (or only thehighest of ordinary courts) to exercise constitutional review. On the other hand, theEuropean model allows only a special constitutional court to exercise this review. These
two models are different in terms of their origins and institutional settings, but they tend
to become similar because of the same purpose to protect fundamental rights and otherprinciples of constitutional law. The highest court in both models (at least in the U.S.
and Germany) performs the basic function of constitutional review, deliver reasoned
judgments (judgments openly grounded in legal reasons and evidences) on concrete
violations of fundamental rights, and apply similar methods of the constitutional
interpretation. The Constitution of Mongolia adopted the European model ofconstitutional review by establishing the Tsets. This court has been functioning foralmost two decades. However, the Tsets should be institutionally improved according to
the main characteristics of the European model to become more independent and5Introduction

efficient because only the independent, competent court can protect the Constitution andparticularly fundamental rights of minorities.
The third theme is that the court can protect fundamental rights only if it provides
reasoned judgments on matters related to these rights by using a proper method of
constitutional interpretation. Even though successful constitutional democracies havedeveloped different methods, this study focuses on the methods of American
constitutional law. This study suggests to the Tsets that it should and can apply an
American method called the moral reading of the Constitution in order to make a betterinterpretation of the Mongolian Constitution even though it is a version of the European
model. Prof. Ronald Dworkin has developed the moral reading as an interpretation
theory by researching the judgments of the U.S. Supreme Court. According to thismethod, the court should understand the Constitution as a charter of abstract moral
principles. Judges should make the best interpretation of these principles with the bestarguments based on constitutional law, but their interpretation is limited by theconstitutional text, structure and principles justifying constitutional cases (the integrityof law). The moral reading of the Constitution is more favorable than other methods
such as the strict constructionism (the literal meaning of the constitutional text) andoriginalism (the understanding of abstract constitutional principles, which was accepted
during the constitution making or is supported by the majority of the people) because it
provides the better protection of fundamental rights and a plausible meaning to theConstitution. International and constitutional courts in Europe also use the methods
similar to the moral reading. Likewise, the Tsets should provide reasoned judgments
based on the moral reading of the Constitution. Misinterpretations of the Constitution by
the Tsets, which reduce the protection of fundamental rights, are similar to American
methods of strict constructionism and originalism. If this court treats the Constitution asa charter of abstract principles, gives the best interpretation of these principles, andchanges its previous poor interpretations of these principles with enough reasons, it canprotect fundamental rights such as religious freedom and equal suffrage. Not only
judges, but also scholars should be interested in the interpretation of the Constitution.
This book explores three themes of constitutionalism, constitutional review andconstitutional interpretation in five chapters. Chapter 1 argues for the substantive rule oflaw (the Rechtsstaat) and liberal constitutionalism as worldwide principles in general,and it tracks the import and acceptance of these concepts in Mongolia. Chapter 2
discusses the American and European models of constitutional review, demonstrating
similarities of the two models so that differences of the two cannot hinder the Tsets fromapplying the American interpretation theory on moral reading. Resting on Chapter 2,6Introduction

Chapter 3 examines the constitutional review in Mongolia in detail and defines
institutional defects of the Tsets. Chapter 4 analyzes the issue of constitutional
interpretation and argues for the moral reading against the strict-constructionism andoriginalism. The chapter also describes constitutional culture essential for the betterinterpretation of Constitution. Chapter 5 explores the jurisprudence of the Tsets andidentifies some ways, including the moral reading and culture, to improve theconstitutional interpretation by this court.

7Chapter 1
Constitutionalism

The people need a state in order to protect themselves from each other and fromexternal threats. Without the state, people could hardly live in safety, get justice andenjoy liberty. On this ground, the state is given the public power to serve the basic
interest of its citizens to enjoy their individual rights and freedoms. However, the stateand its officials may violate these rights and freedoms by abusing public power. The
rule of law can offer a resource to oppose this abuse of power because it ensures thelimitation of public power and the protection of individual rights and freedoms. In
addition, constitutionalism helps the rule of law by making sure that all public powers
including the legislative respect fundamental rights and other basic principles of
democratic society. Therefore, the rule of law and constitutionalism developed into themain ideals of liberal democracies, and Mongolia adopted these ideals in 1990s.
This chapter discusses how the rule of law and constitutionalism are understood andpracticed in matured constitutional democracies such as the U.S. and Germany, and how
they are understood and practiced in Mongolia. First, this chapter considers a common
tendency of the rule of law and the Rechtsstaat, and liberal constitutionalism as aworldwide ideal. Second, this chapter examines the constitutional history of Mongolia,
basic principles guaranteed in the 1992 Constitution, and the rule of law (theRechtsstaat) in post-communist Mongolia.

1.1. Constitutionalism and the rule of law in general

1.1.1. Common tendency between the rule of law and the Rechtsstaat towards

8Constitutionalism

substantive conception

The rule of law has developed in common law tradition while the Rechtsstaat, theGerman concept equivalent to the rule of law, has developed in civil law tradition. Boththe rule of law and the Rechtsstaat tend to be interpreted similarly today in spite of theirdifferent origins and contexts. After distinguishing the rule of law from the rule ofperson and the rule by law, this subsection researches formal and substantive
conceptions of the rule of law, the merits and demerits of these two conceptions, and thetendency to understand the rule of law and the Rechtsstaat by a substantive conception
rather than a formal conception.
The rule of law differs from the rule of person and the rule by law. Contrary to therule of law, the rule of person has the implication of arbitrariness, corruption, andinstability.1 The ruler is not constrained because whatever pleases him or her is the law.
Liberty that has to depend on the ruler’s pleasure is unsafe. The rule of law, thus, ispreferable to the rule of a single person. Moreover, the rule of law is not the rule by law.
According to Randal Peerenboom, governments that rely on law to rule but do not
accept the basic requirement that law binds the government and its officials are best
described as a rule by law.2 Such governments are above the law. Rule by law could bebetter than the rule of person when the law allows citizens to plan their life, but it would
be worse when the law restricts liberty widely and damages justice seriously.
Many scholars believe that the rule of law is an important concept, but they define
this concept differently and contest each other’s definitions. In other words, the rule oflaw is “an essentially contested concept.”3 There are two main conceptions on the ruleof law, the formal and the substantive. Discussing these two conceptions is useful tounderstand the specific principles that can be drawn from the rule of law. The formal
and substantive conceptions share the idea that the government and its officials should
be restricted significantly by law so that arbitrariness is decreased in the exercise of
public powers. That is, any conception of the rule of law insists that “every person –irrespective of rank and status in society – be subject to the law.”4

1

Hernandez-Truyol, “The Rule of Law and Human Rights,” 177.
Randall Peerenboom, “Varieties of Rule of Law: An Introduction and Provisional Conclusion,” 2.
3
Waldron, “Is the Rule of Law an Essentially Contested Concept (in Florida)?,” 137.
4
Barnett, Constitutional and Administrative Law, 85.
2

9Chapter One

Though there are differences among the various formal conceptions of the rule oflaw, almost all of these address principles of legality, which are necessary for providing
effective guidance. According to Joseph Raz, the formal conception derives its
principles from the idea that “the law must be capable of guiding the behavior of its
subjects:”5 law must be prospective, general, clear, open, and relatively stable, and the
independent judiciary should enforce the law and these formal principles.6 The formal
rule of law makes the legal system more efficient because it helps the legal system toserve as a secure guide for people’s behavior. If the laws are unknown, unclear, or
unstable, they cannot be known, understood, or complied with, and thus will fail toguide the behavior. By supporting predictability, clarity, stability, transparency,
generality, and impartial implementation of the law, the formal rule of law functions
against arbitrary exercise of political power.
The formal rule of law also respects human dignity and autonomy by allowing
people to plan their lives according to the law; that is, people enjoy freedom to do what
the law permits. People cannot have definite expectations when the formal rule of law isviolated, or their expectations are betrayed and they become disappointed “when theappearance of stability and certainty which encourages people to rely and plan on thebasis of the existing law is shattered by retroactive law-making.”7 Therefore, the formal
rule of law is designed to prevent infringements of human dignity “caused by laws
which are unstable, unclear, or retrospective.”8The formal conception is neutral to a variety of ends. This conception requires “mereprinciples of efficacy which make the law into a better or worse instrument forachieving the ends of the powerful.”9 Some scholars see this neutrality as a rationale tosuggest the formal over the substantive conception:
A relatively formal theory is itself more or less politically neutral, and because it is so
confined, is more likely to command support on its own terms from right, left, and centerin politics than is a substantive theory which not only incorporates the rule of law
formally conceived but also incorporates much more controversial substantive content.10

5Raz, The Authority of Law, 214.
These are most common principles though scholars define them differently or add some other principles.
See ibid., 215–218; Fuller, The Morality of Law, 33–38; McCormick, “‘Rechtsstaat’ and Rule of Law,”
68–77.
7
Raz, The Authority of Law, 222.
8
Ten, “Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law,” 401.
9
Dyzenhaus, Hard Cases in Wicked Legal Systems, 19.
10
Summers, “A Formal Theory of the Rule of Law,” 137.
6

10

Constitutionalism

However, the neutrality might not be an advantage of the formal conception. The
formal rule of law is compatible with injustice and violations of fundamental rights
since the lawmaker can describe any end as long as it follows formal principles such as
clarity. For example, according to Judith N. Schklar, “legal caste [of Nazi Germany]was perfectly ready to ignore the activities of the new court, police and extermination
system as long as ‘the inner morality’ of their law [the formal rule of law] could remain
unaffected.”11 Brain Z. Tamanaha also argued that the formal rule of law is consistent
with slavery, segregation, and apartheid, as confirmed by the histories of the U.S. andSouth Africa, and it is consistent with authoritarian or non-democratic regimes, as
The formal conception of theillustrated by the systems of Singapore and China.12
rule of law is inadequate for checking the content of the law because it is not concernedmuch with the content of law.
In contrast to the formal conception, the substantive conception of the rule of law
requires that the law respect not only formal principles, but also individual rights.13“The concept is used as the foundation for these rights, which are then used to
distinguish between ‘good’ laws, which comply with such rights, and ‘bad’ laws which
do not.”14 Dworkin’s substantive conception of the rule of law is influential. According
to Dworkin, the rule of law in the substantive conception is “the ideal of rule by anaccurate public conception of individual rights.” 15 This conception assumes that“people have at least a strong prima facie moral right that courts enforce the rights that a
representative legislature has enacted.”16 In an easy case where the explicit rule clearly
applies, the substantive and formal conceptions have the same conclusion. Though therule-book is not the exclusive source of rights, judges need to consider the rule-book in
hard cases where no explicit rule applies, and formulate principles capturing the moral
rights of parties. However, judges should not choose any principle but a principle
consistent with other principles “that must be presupposed in order to justify the rulethey are enforcing.”17 The different moral principles may be compatible with the rulebook, but judges should interpret the law on the basis of what they believe to be the11

Schklar, “Political Theory and The Rule of Law,” 13.
Tamanaha, On The Rule of Law, 120.
13
For the different arguments supporting the substantive conception, see Ten, “Constitutionalism and theRule of Law,” 394–403; Selznick, “Legal Culture and the Rule of Law”; Stewart, “Rule of Law and the
Tinkerbell Effect”; Rawls, A Theory of Justice, 208–210; Radin, “Reconsidering the Rule of Law.”
14
Craig, “Formal and Substantive Conceptions of the Rule of Law,” 167.
15
Dworkin, A Matter of Principle, 11–12.
16
Ibid., 16.
17
Ibid., 17.
12

11

Chapter One

correct moral principles. The content of the law is restricted by these principles, manyof which are protected as fundamental rights in the Constitution.
Critics argue that the substantive conception on the rule of law increases the risk ofrule of person. In a liberal democracy, there are different interpretations of individual
rights due to both moral pluralism and unclear meanings of these rights. Judges are
obliged to interpret individual rights. Critics say that the rule of law might become therule by judges if the judges enforce their own subjective interpretations of these rights
against other interpretations, perhaps the one by the representatives of the people.
According to Tamanaha, “if judges consult their own subjective views to fill in thecontent of the rights, the system would no longer be the rule of law, but the rule of man
or women who happen to be the judges.”18 Since the rule of law cannot be exercised
automatically, the human participation is necessary, and the abuse of power cannot becompletely ruled out. The rule of law is based on the idea that judges are committed to
fidelity to the law and to their qualities of honesty, integrity and wisdom. Thus, thejudges must be selected carefully according to these criteria.
Judges are not free to choose any interpretation of rights. First, the legal tradition
limits the scopes of the interpretation by its conventions. Tamanaha argues as follows:
Legal professionals constitute an interpretative community with a shared legal language,
culture, and sets of beliefs, which stabilize the interpretation and application of rules.
What appear to be indeterminate rules when viewed in the abstract, will, in the context ofapplication, be determinate, because shared conventions within the legal tradition (backed
up by institutional constraints, like appellate review) rule out certain interpretation as
unacceptable.19

Second, the judges have to provide a reasoned decision based on facts and the law.
According to Dworkin, the rule of law means the dominance of a certain culture ofargumentation: “so the ‘men’ whose rule it oppose are those who would close theargumentation down or insist that something is to prevail just because they say it
should.”20
The reasoning of a judicial judgment is determined by the interpretation methods ofrights and other abstract principles, and these methods narrow the available

18

Tamanaha, On The Rule of Law, 105.
Ibid., 89.
20
Waldron, “Is the Rule of Law an Essentially Contested Concept (in Florida)?,” 156.
19

12

Constitutionalism

interpretations. Two basic methods of interpretation respond to the criticism of
subjectivity in the United States. The first method (originalism) is that judges shouldinterpret rights according to original understandings recognized at the time when thesociety adopted these rights. Denying this method, Dworkin argues for the second
method (the moral reading) that a judge should choose in good faith the bestinterpretation of a right, which is consistent with the overall interpretation of theserights and is supported by reasoned justifications. Chapter 4 and 5 comprehensively
discuss these two methods in constitutional law showing that the second method isbetter than the first one.
The discussions on the rule of law should count the context of the society. The
formal rule of law may be suitable for matured democracies such as the U.K. because
these countries have the liberal culture that strongly opposes the abuse of public powers
and protects individual rights. On the other hand, the formal conception is inappropriate
in transitional countries such as Mongolia because these countries are short ofestablished liberal culture and because the formal conception does not generally resist
the laws that violate individual rights. The substantive conception of the rule of law ismore important than the formal conception in a transitional context because it gives
high priority to the protection of individual rights. In addition, all basic principles of theformal conception are included in the substantive conception as discussed above in thissubsection. The liberal culture in a transitional country is so immature that it cannot
check the content of law without the help of the constitutional review. The enormous
number of decisions of the new constitutional courts, which quashed unconstitutionallaws and other acts, proves this immaturity of liberal culture in the transitionalcountries.21 Constitutional review can assist to prevent the legislatures from enacting
unconstitutional laws.
The rule of law is originally an Anglo-American concept, but it is often usedsynonymously with the continental European concept of Rechtsstaat. As with the rule oflaw, the Rechtsstaat has been interpreted differently,22 but it has evolved over time toinclude the substantive conception. The German Rechtsstaat originated in thephilosophy of the Enlightenment, primarily in Kant’s legal theory.23 Kant and his

21

The caseload of the Hungarian Constitutional Court was over 11,000 for the first six years. Solyom andBrunner, Constitutional Judiciary in a New Democracy, 72.
22
For the formal conceptions of the Rechtsstaat, see Urabe, “Rule of Law and Due Process: A
Comparative View of the United States and Japan”; McCormick, “‘Rechtsstaat’ and Rule of Law.”
23
Reiss, “Introduction,” 11; Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, 9–138.

13

Chapter One

successors developed the substantive conception that the law must protect individual
liberty and property. However, the formal conception of the Rechtsstaat became more
popular than the substantive conception in the late 19th century. The formal Rechtsstaat
was similar to the formal rule of law as it allowed the government to use law as an
instrument to any purpose, and “fundamental rights came to be regarded as juridicallysuperfluous declamations that might as well be renounced.”24 The formal conception
assumed that an administrative action should be based on a statute, and thus it was
related to human autonomy. According to Noriho Urabe, “insofar as the Rechtsstaat
forbids arbitrary activity by the administrative power, it protects the individual’s rights
to know what the law is and how it will be applied.”25 However, this conception was
not for protecting fundamental rights and justice. According to Rainer Grote, “all efforts
to conceive the Rechtsstaat in purely formal terms as a system in which public power is
exercised by the competent organs in accordance with the legally prescribed procedures
were discredited by the experience of the NS [National Socialist] regime.”26
Since the end of WW II, the Rechtsstaat has been interpreted again by thesubstantive conception due to the written Constitution that protects not only formal
requirements such as “the ban on the retroactive legislation,” and “the promulgation oflaws,”27 but also substantive principles. Article 1-20 of the German Constitution of1949 protects fundamental rights and binds executive and judicial authority to “law”
and “justice.” This Constitution protects both civil and political rights and social andeconomic rights.
Liberal constitutionalism is the core of the rule of law in constitutional democracies.
According to Michel Rosenfeld, “indeed, a written Constitution may have the force oflaw, and thus its provisions limiting the powers of government and those devoted to theprotection of fundamental rights may become part and parcel of the rule of law regime
instituted by the relevant constitutional regime.”28 The modern understanding of therule of law reflects constitutionalism. The rule of law and the Rechtsstaat have different
origins and have been interpreted in many ways. However, both of them tend to expressa substantive rather than a formal conception in the age of constitutionalism because

24

Grote, “Rule of Law, Rechtsstaat and Etat de Droit,” 185.
Urabe, “Rule of Law and Due Process: A Comparative View of the United States and Japan,” 174.
26
Grote, “Rule of Law, Rechtsstaat and Etat de Droit,” 185.
27
See Goetz, “Legislative and Executive Power Under the Constitutional Requirements Entailed in the
Principle of the Rule of Law.”
28
Rosenfeld, “The Rule of Law and the Legitimacy of Constitutional Democracy,” 1308.
25

14

Constitutionalism

liberal constitutions impose formal and substantive limits of governmental power.29 In
other words, “protection of basic rights of individuals and groups of society limits stateresponsibilities and actions and thus is an essential part of rule of law.” 30 The
Rechtsstaat and the rule of law are often used interchangeably despite the contextual
differences. In addition, the distinction between the formal and the substantive
conception has become less relevant due to liberal constitutionalism. According toZimmermann, “the reason for this is that, when the law formally recognises and protect
basic rights, their violation is also a violation of the positive law, and thereby an
infringement of the rule of law even in the formal sense.”31

1.1.2. Constitutionalism as a worldwide principle

This subsection examines the main principles of constitutionalism, the contrast
between majoritarian rule and constitutionalism, a brief history and worldwide spread of
constitutionalism, the importance of certain legal culture for implementing the rule oflaw and constitutionalism, and the summary of ways to encourage this culture intransitional societies like Mongolia.
Liberal constitutionalism includes five main principles: the distinction between
constituent power and ordinary power, the distinction between the higher law andordinary law, the protection of fundamental rights, the separation of powers (checks andbalances) and the constitutional review. The first is the distinction between the people’s
constituent power to institute a new regime and the ordinary power of government
officials and voters in everyday politics. According to John Rawls, that constituent
power of the people sets up a framework to regulate ordinary power and comes intoplay only when the existing regime has been dissolved.32 Constituent power comesthrough a convention to adopt the Constitution and the special procedures for amending
the Constitution. The constitutional convention and the amending procedure are29

Constitutions protect similar substantive principles despite their contextual differences. Most
constitutions, for instance the German Basic Law, protect the civil and political rights and the social andeconomic rights, but the U.S. Constitution has no clauses on the latter rights. As a result, the emphasis on
the relation between “justice” and liberty is different under German and U.S. Constitutions. See Kommers,
The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany, 36–37.
30
Karpen, “Rule of Law,” 178.
31
Zimmermann, “Rule of Law as a Culture of Legality,” 17.
32
Rawls, Political Liberalism, 231; Rawls, Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy, 85–86.

15Chapter One

superior to the normal process of legislation by the legislature because they concern themost basic principles of democratic society. The second principle is the distinction
between the higher law of the Constitution and ordinary law. According to Rawls,“higher law is the expression of people’s constituent power and has the higher authorityof the will of We the People, whereas ordinary legislation has the authority, and is theexpression of, the ordinary power of Congress and of the electorate.”33 Such a higher
law binds and guides the ordinary power. The third principle of constitutionalism aims
to protect fundamental rights from being violated by the legislature and other authorities.
The fourth principle is the separation of powers (checks and balances). A concentrationof power should be avoided because it increases the possibility of the government andits officials to abuse public power. Thus, “each branch of government – legislature,
executive, and judicial – is able to check the exercise of power by the others, either byparticipating in the functions conferred on them, or by subsequently reviewing theexercise of that power.”34 The fifth principle is the constitutional review, the judicial
power to strike down legislation and other acts that violate higher law or fundamental
rights.
Scholars often make the contrast between two main principles of constitutional
democracy, majoritarian rule and constitutionalism. Majoritarian rule is the rule by amajority of people in a nation or their representatives. This rule allows the people toparticipate in making the laws, improve their common goods without oppressing
themselves, and check political power by election.35 However, the idea of majoritarianrule cannot guarantee every person enjoys liberty and lives under justice because themajority may harm the minority. Thus, constitutionalism is mainly needed to prevent the
majority from violating basic principles. Though a majority resulted from an election
has the political power to legislate and govern, this majority power should be restrictedby the Constitution. Dworkin defines constitutionalism as follows.
The Constitution, and particularly the Bill of Rights, is designed to protect individual
citizens and groups against certain decisions that a majority of citizens might want tomake, even when that majority acts in what it takes to be the general or common
interest.... This interference with democratic practice… could be justified by appeal tomoral rights which individuals possess against the majority, and which the constitutional

33

Rawls, Political Liberalism, 231.
Barendt, An Introduction to Constitutional Law, 15.
35
Murphy, Constitutional Democracy, 2.
3416

Constitutionalism

provisions… might be said to recognize and protect.36

In constitutional democracies, judges who are free from the pressures of partisan
politics are responsible for enforcing the Constitution by the power of constitutional
review.
Liberal constitutionalism is not just an idea, but also a practice that has been living
for more than two centuries. The U.S. is the first country that establishedconstitutionalism as described above. The U.S. Constitution was adopted in 1789, andthe Bill of Rights in 1791. After WW II, Japan, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy
and other European countries adopted all five principles of constitutionalism. These
countries are matured examples of constitutional democracies. Eastern and Central
European countries and Mongolia became constitutional democracies after the collapseof the Soviet Union.
Constitutionalism has spread worldwide since the end of WW II. According to Bruce
Ackerman, “the Enlightenment hope in written constitutions is sweeping the world.”37
There are two dimensions of worldwide constitutionalism: international and domestic.
First, the international movement for human rights has played a key role for the spreadof constitutionalism.38 International instruments such as the 1948 Universal Declarationof Human Rights (the UDHR) and the ICCPR have all expressed broad commitment tohuman rights and democracy. In addition, international (regional) courts exercise a kindof constitutional review. For instance, the European Court of Human Rights has thepower to quash the statutes of its member states when they violate the European
Convention on Human Rights after exhausting the remedy of the respective national
system. The European Court of Justice and the Inter-American Court of Human rights
also can review the actions of national executives, legislatures, and judges.39
Moreover, constitutionalism has become a worldwide idea at the domestic level.
Most countries have adopted a written Constitution with a bill of rights andconstitutional review. According to D. L. Horwitz, “as of 2005, more than three-quartersof the world’s states had some form of judicial review for constitutionality enshrined intheir constitutions.”40 Parliamentary sovereignty backed by majoritarian rule also has

36

Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously, 132–133.
Ackerman, “The Rise of World Constitutionalism,” 772.
38
Henkin, “A New Birth of Constitutionalism: Genetic Influence and Genetic Defects,” 53.
39
Merryman and Perez-Perdomo, The Civil Law Tradition, 3rd Edition, 38.
40
Horowitz, “Constitutional Courts,” 125.
37

17

Chapter One

been declining. Though parliamentary sovereignty failed in continental Europe, it was
not abolished in countries such as Great Britain and New Zealand after WW II.
Conversely, Ran Hirschl argued that even these countries have recently embarked on “acomprehensive constitutional overhaul aimed at introducing principles of constitutional
supremacy into their respective political systems.”41 For example, in 1998, the U.K.
enacted Human Rights Act to give further effect to rights and freedoms guaranteed
under the European Convention on Human Rights. According to this act, the courts
cannot abolish the statutes that violate rights and freedoms in the convention, but they
can promote the protection of these rights in two ways.42 First, so far as it is possible to
do so, the court has to read and enforce the legislation in a way, which is compatible
with the convention rights. Second, if the court thinks that the provision is incompatible
with a convention right, it may declare that incompatibility. Thus, the English courts can
say that an infringement of right is against the human rights act. Moreover, 2009
marked a crucial year in the constitutional history of the U.K. as judicial authority wastransferred from the House of Lords to a newly created Supreme Court. This new courtis the final court of appeal for all civil cases and most criminal cases; hears “appeals on
arguable points of law of general public importance;” and concentrates on “cases of thegreatest public and constitutional importance.” 43 The U.K. has not adopted
constitutional review, but it has made important steps toward this process.
Though constitutionalism has become a worldwide principle, the implementation ofthis ideal is difficult in reality. Creating a majoritarian democracy may be easier thancreating a constitutional democracy. Fareed Zakaria argued “while it is easy to impose
elections on a country, it is more difficult to push constitutional liberalism on a society.
The process of genuine liberalization and democratization is gradual and long-term, inwhich an election is only one step.”44 Establishing constitutional democracy is difficult
because the culture on which the rule of law is based develops slowly. For example, theculture of the rule of law in America developed over many years before the enactmentof the U.S. Constitution. Americans actually inherited this culture from Roman, English
and Latin legal traditions (Louisiana).45 Germany also has developed the culture of the
Rechtsstaat since the 18th century. The culture of the rule of law simply cannot beexported into a new environment with the adoption of a Constitution. The realization of

41

Hirschl, Towards Juristocracy, 2.
“Human Rights Act of the U.K.”
43“The Role of the U.K. Supreme Court.”
44
Zakaria, “The Rise of Illiberal Democracy,” 40.
45
Calabresi, “The Historical Origins of the Rule of Law in the American Constitutional Order.”4218Constitutionalism

the rule of law and constitutionalism requires a kind of legal culture, which
Zimmermann defined as follows:This culture incorporates a positive attitude toward legal norms as might be demonstrated
by a socio-political context in which both ordinary citizens and public officials manifest a
serious commitment to principles and institutions of the rule of law. They demonstratecommitment by generally complying with its basic principles and institutions, insisting on
their compliance, criticizing those who fail to comply with them, and, finally, taking
whatever action is necessary to correct any lack of compliance.46

The main problem in transitional countries is a weak culture of the rule of law because
citizens and public officials do not have a serious commitment to principles andinstitutions of the rule of law. However, this does not mean that such a culture cannot bechanged or improved in these countries.
The rule of law can be internalized into a legal culture of a society though thisinternalization is not impossible but difficult. According to Martin Krygier, “hard facts
do not mean necessity… whatever the historical trends, whatever the hard facts, theimportance of human action in a difficult transition should not be underestimated.”47
Scholars, thus, have argued about how to strengthen the rule of law andconstitutionalism in a transitional society. For example, a written Constitution that
protects fundamental rights and establishes checks and balances with constitutional
review is the first step. Steven M. Fish argued that if legislatures are stronger (as inparliamentarian or semi-presidential systems rather than presidential systems),
democracies will be stronger and the political power will be more limited.48 Scholars
also argue that an independent judiciary, an administrative judicial review,49 a higher
legal education and profession,50 a civic education, and civil society pressure51 areimportant for cultivating the culture of the rule of law. The next section will examine the46

Zimmermann, “Rule of Law as a Culture of Legality,” 24.
Krygier, “Institutional Optimism, Cultural Pessimism and the Rule of Law,” 100.
48
Fish, “Stronger Legislatures, Stronger Democracies”; Ackerman, “The New Separation of Powers”(arguing against the export of the American presidential system in favor of constrained
parliamentarianisms of countries like Germany and Japan).
49
Shapiro, “Judicial Review in Developed Democracies,” 21–25; Emmert, “Rule of Law in Central andEastern Europe,” 583.
50
Tamanaha, On The Rule of Law, 58–59; Emmert, “Rule of Law in Central and Eastern Europe,” 584–
585.
51
Vjeira, “Inequality and the Subversion of the Rule of Law” (arguing that any attempt to make use of
the law to improve the rule of law itself presupposes that there is political and social mobilization backing
it).
47

19

Chapter One

rule of law and constitutionalism in Mongolia.

1.2. Constitutionalism and the rule of law in Mongolia

1.2.1. The antecedent of Mongolian constitutionalism

The Mongolian history until 1990 was neither democratic nor liberal. The legal
system of medieval Mongolia was based on a nomadic culture having effects on thepolitical culture of today. In the early 20th century, Mongolian leaders and scholars wereinterested in Western constitutional law and attempted to implement some of its ideas.
However, Mongolia adopted the socialist legal system that rarely respected the rule oflaw. Thus, this subsection traces the constitutional history of Mongolia until 1990 byexplaining the general characters of Mongolian legal systems of three specific periods:
the medieval (1189-1911), the beginning of the 20th century (1911-1924), and the periodof socialism (1924-1990).
Mongolia was grounded in medieval law and the absolute monarchy until the
beginning of the 20th century. Historians presented a negative image that the 13th
century Mongol Empire conquered many countries and took lives of many people. On
the other hand, some historians argued for a positive side of this expanding empire. For
example, Paula L.W. Sabloff explained the relationship between the culture of theMongol Empire and the democratic culture of current Mongolia. Sabloff argued that akind of democratic participation (Great Assembly of Mongols and a Council of Wise
Men), rule by law, equality through meritocracy and some respect for women, freedom
to express advices to the khan, religious tolerance, and personal freedom to walk away
existed in the empire ruled by Genghis Khan.52 Even if these positive cultural elements
really existed, they were not the result of protection of civil and political rights but theresult of the Mongolian nomadic culture and way of life. For example, religious
tolerance was achieved thanks to Mongolian shamanism (tegerism) rather than the52

Sabloff, “Why Mongolia?,” 27–30; All of these cultural elements are often mentioned in writings on
the Mongolian history. Lundendorj N., Tur, erkh zuin setgelgeenii khugjliin chig khandlaga, 193–213;
Baabar, Mongolchuud, 2006, 1:54–65; Weatherford, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.

20

Constitutionalism

concept of religious freedom.53 This tolerance of different religions might have an
encouraging affect on liberal culture in contemporary Mongolia committed to freedomof religion.
Of course, the Mongol Empire was not democratic in the modern sense. During andafter the empire, the monarchy was absolute, and the laws were customary.54 According
to Prof. Lundendorj N., the ideas of individual rights did not develop, and laws aimed toprotect the state rather than individual rights.55 Laws did not substantially restrict theabsolute power of the monarch. After the decline of the Mongol Empire, Mongolia lostits independence to the Chinese Manchu and its legal system kept the similar features.
The attempt to adopt a liberal Constitution failed at the beginning of the 20th century.
Mongolia started to create a modern government based on a monarchy after declaring
independence from Manchu rule in 1911. According to Alan J. K. Sanders, “eventhough Qing law remained the guide for administration, a professional bureaucracy andvarious ministries were established… Two houses of a parliamentary type were formed
in 1914, although their role was deliberative and they were convened and dissolved by
the Bogd Khan.” 56 In the meantime, Mongolian scholars and leaders studied
constitutions of developed countries such as the U.K., Norway, Prussia, U.S., and Japan,translated them, and prepared drafts for a Constitution.57 These scholars and leaders
argued for inviolable human rights, democracy and the distribution of state powers
between the king, government, and parliament.58 The scholars not only translated the
U.S. Constitution with its Bill of Rights but also briefly discussed the U.S.
constitutional review. A paper on comparative constitutional law stated the following:
The Constitution of North America has a feature different from that of Europe. If theGovernment enacts any new law that conflicts with the Constitution, such law must be
considered invalid because all of the American people gave their consent to theConstitution. All courts have to review this kind of cases.59

This brief statement on constitutional review in the U.S. was written in 1910s when this53

Lundendorj N., Tur, erkh zuin setgelgeenii khugjliin chig khandlaga, 204.
Ibid., 193–213; Boldbaatar J. and Lundeejantsan D., Mongol ulsiin tur, erkh zuin tuukhen ulamjlal, 11–171.
55
Lundendorj N., Tur, erkh zuin setgelgeenii khugjliin chig khandlaga, 188.
56
Sanders, “Mongolia’s New Constitution,” 507–508.
57
Amarsanaa J., Bayarsaikhan B., and Shajinbat R., Olon ulsiin undsen khuuliin orshil, 7–58; Chimid B.,
Undsen khuuliig deedlen shutekh yos, 16.
58
Lundendorj N., Tur, erkh zuin setgelgeenii khugjliin chig khandlaga, 224–236.
59
Amarsanaa J., Bayarsaikhan B., and Shajinbat R., Olon ulsiin undsen khuuliin orshil, 14.
54

21

Chapter One

kind of review was unpopular even in Europe. Nonetheless, contemporary scholars havenot answered whether Mongolian leaders and scholars discussed the adoption of
constitutional review.60
The socialist system was established in the 1920s under the pressure of the Soviet
Union. A commission, which was set up for preparing a draft Constitution in 1922, took
into consideration the comparative studies on constitutional law done by Mongolian
scholars. However, the soviet representatives dissolved this commission and rejected thedraft Constitution because they disliked the commission’s aim and the draft Constitution,
which took into account the laws and constitutional concepts of European countries.61
After Bogd Khan died in 1924, a republican government was introduced, and thecountry was named the Mongolian People’s Republic (the MPR). The MPR adopted its
first socialist Constitution imitating the Russian Constitution in 1924, and two othersocialist constitutions in 1940 and 1960. During the period of socialism, the living
standard, the daily culture, the public health, and the general education did improve to asignificant extent. Mongolia became de jure a sovereign (nation) state, and the Soviet
Union, China, and other countries recognized its independence.
All of the Mongolian socialist constitutions had no room for the rule of law orconstitutional review because they were not meant to restrict the political power. As
with other socialist countries,62 these nominal constitutions rested on not the separationof powers, but the centralization of powers of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary
Party (the MPRP), simply describing the powers of the party and its leaders. The rule byperson was the guiding principle as “the leader was above the party, and the party
decision was above the law and the judicial decision.”63 In addition, the courts were notintended to be independent. According to Amarsanaa J., “the party and administrative
organizations supervised the courts” and used them “as an instrument of coercion.”64
Thus, the court was prohibited from reviewing the constitutionality of decisions adopted
by the legislature representing the working class.65 However, in fact, the legislature did60

According to Unurbayar Ch. “if any of the constitutional clauses was unclear, both of the government
and parliament would share the power to interpret it.” Unurbayar Ch., Mongol ulsad undsen khuulit yosnii
uzel sanaa nevetersen ni, 79. Nevertheless, it was unclear how to solve the conflicts of constitutional
interpretations by two institutions.
61
Baabar, Mongolchuud, 2006, 2:196.
62
Sartori, “Constitutionalism”; Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist
Europe, 49–51, 75–77, 109–113.
63
Chimid B., Undsen khuuliig deedlen shutekh yos, 123.
64
Amarsanaa J. et al., Mongol ulsiin shuukh erkh medliin shinetgel, 7.
65Sarantuya Ts., Undsen khuuliin processiin erkh zui, 22–23.

22

Constitutionalism

not represent the people due to the one-party system and the denial of political rights.
Most fundamental rights were not protected under the socialist regime. The socialist
constitutions excluded most civil and political rights and included some nominal rights
unenforceable by the court. A series of violent purges and forced collectivization
occurred in the MPR as in the Soviet Union. A survey done in 1998 found that the
government ruled by the communist party killed 28,185 of 800,000 people (the total
population) just between 1937 and 1939 according to the guidance of Moscow(Stalin).66 The socialist constitutions denied civil and political rights to a part of the
population and discriminated against them on the grounds of class.67 The socialist
government mostly purged Buddhist monks, nobles and intellectuals, discriminatedagainst them and destroyed almost all monasteries in the country.

1.2.2. Basic principles of the 1992 Constitution of Mongolia

The Mongolian people completed a peaceful transition to democracy in 1990. In
1992, a deliberative body democratically elected by the people adopted the first
Constitution that reflected basic principles of constitutional democracy examined in theprevious section. Unlike the former socialist constitutions, the 1992 Constitution has
been practiced and enforced to a reasonable extent. This subsection argues that thisConstitution guarantees fundamental rights and other principles as limitations on theexercise of political power. This subsection also shows that the 1992 Constitution
establishes a parliamentary democracy based on basic principles such as the separationof powers, checks and balances and constitutional review, and that it encourages thedevelopment of civil society in Mongolia.
In late 1980s, the emergence of perestroika in the former Soviet Union affected
Mongolia. Mongolia started reforms towards constitutional democracy and a marketeconomy in 1990. The old People’s Great Khural, the legislature according to the 1960
Constitution of the MPR, abolished the deference to the MPRP (the communist party) as
the “guiding and directing force of society and of the state” and accepted politicalpluralism and multi-party system. In May 1990, this People’s Great Khural adopted the

66
67

Baabar, Mongolchuud, 2006, 2:599.
Chimid B., Undsen khuuliig deedlen shutekh yos, 19–25.

23

Chapter One

Law on the Constitutional Amendment (the Amendment), which was the legal basis fortransition from socialism to democracy, due to the pressure from democratic forces.68
Following the reforms in the Soviet Union, this law provided for a new structure for thegovernment with a two-tiered parliament, the president, and a constitutional supervision
council. Under the Amendment, the People’s Great Khural (the PGKh) was reorganized
as the “supreme representative organ of popular sovereignty and state power,” and had
to meet briefly once a year to decide the most important issues such as enacting andamending the Constitution and electing the president and the vice-president. In theirfirst democratic election in July 1990, Mongolian citizens elected 422 members of the
PGKh by districts. This election legitimized the PGKh as the constituent assembly that
expressed the constituent power of the people to adopt a new Constitution. The
Amendment also created a standing parliament called the State Small Khural (the SSKh)that exercised the power to conduct regular legislative and appointive activities. In
September 1990, the PGKh proportionally elected 50 members of the SSKh.
The PGKh and the SSKh, which were democratically elected according to the 1990
Amendment, adopted the first liberal democratic Constitution of Mongolia in 1992. In
October 1990, the SSKh established the Constitution Drafting Commission for preparing
the draft of the new Constitution. The SSKh discussed the draft in the spring of 1991.
Wide public debate on the new Constitution started in June 1991 with the publication ofa draft. There were also two conferences. Members of the SSKh and the PGKh (theframers) and Mongolian scholars talked about the draft Constitution at a domestic
conference on “The Draft Constitution: the Developmental Tendency of Mongolia” inJuly 1991. Mongolian framers and foreign experts participated in an international
conference on “Mongolia’s Transition to Democracy: the Role of the New Constitution”
in September 1991. 69 The framers improved the draft of the Constitution byconsidering advices made in this international conference. The SSKh started a second

68

Chimid B., Undsen khuuliin medleg, 431–440.
Foreign experts gave very detailed advices related to the draft Constitution and the Tsets. See Herman
Swartz, “A Memorandum on the Draft Constitution of Mongolia” (July 18, 1991): 7-8; Louis Fisher,“Senior Specialist in Separation of Powers, Draft Constitution of Mongolia: Evaluation” (August 13,1991): 3; P.N. Bhagwati and Reed Brody (United Nations Centre for Human Rights), “Assistance to theGovernment of Mongolia relating to the draft Constitution” (June 1991): 41-44; Martin Shapiro,“Comments on the Mongolian Draft Constitution” (1991): 38-44; Amnesty International, “Mongol Ulsan
Baga khurald toliluulakh sanamj bichig” (August 28, 1992); R. Grodin (Asian Foundation), “About theMongolian Draft Constitution” (1991): 14-15; T. Shwaistruft, G. Stain, “Advices” (1991): 7-8; Charles
Fried, “Comments on the Draft Constitution” (July 13, 1991): 8; The Republican Party of the U.S. (1991):
1-5; Inter-Parliamentary Union, “Advices” (August 23, 1991) in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin
san. CD-ROM 1.0.
69

24Constitutionalism

discussion on the draft of the Constitution in October 1991 and submitted the draft to
the PGKh in November 1991. The PGKh debated each clause of the draft Constitution
twice, and it enacted the Constitution on January 13, 1992. As this Constitution cameinto force, framer Khatanbaatar emphasized that a key feature of its adoption was theguarantee that its provisions would not become empty declarations.70
The Constitution of Mongolia institutes important principles often cited in thejurisprudence of the Tsets. The Constitution contains a constitutional conformity
principle in Article 70.1. This principle (with the constitutional review and the special
procedure for the constitutional amendment) expresses that the Constitution is higher
law, and all other law and legal acts should not violate this higher law. In addition,
Article 1.2 of the Constitution requires “the State” to secure basic principles such as
democracy, justice, freedom, equality and respect for law. These principles are broadprotections of fundamental rights and general restrictions on the exercise of politicalpowers.
In practice, fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution restrict the politicalpower because they are interpreted and enforced by the Tsets. The Constitution includes
an extensive list of fundamental rights such as the right to be equal before the law,freedom of expression and freedom of religion. The individuals enjoy the fundamental
rights guaranteed both in the Constitution and in the international human rights treaties
according to Article 10 of the Constitution. Mongolia has ratified more than 30 humanrights treaties such as the ICCPR and the United Nations Convention against Tortureand Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the CTOCIDTP,
1984).71 The Constitution not only restricts the arbitrary limitation on these rights but
also declares that the right to life, the freedoms of thought, conscience and religion, or
the right not to be subjected to torture or inhuman and cruel treatment are not limited bylaw even in case of a state of emergency or war (Const. art. 19.2). Individuals enjoy
fundamental rights, and the government respects these rights in general even though
there are still many human rights problems.72
Resting on the separation of powers, the Constitution establishes a parliamentarydemocracy, which is designed to keep any single individual or institution from having

70

Sanders, “Mongolia’s New Constitution,” 520.
Amarsanaa J., Ardchilsan erkh zuit yos, 74.
72
Ginsburg, “Mongolia in 1997”; Ginsburg and Ganzorig, “When Courts and Politics Collide”; Schwartz,
The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 3; Landman, Larizza, and McEvoy,“State of Democracy in Mongolia: a Desk Study,” 44; Lijphart, “Preface”; “Freedomhouse.org: Home.”
7125

Chapter One

too much power. When introducing the draft Constitution in the PGKh, Ochirbat P., thePresident of the MPR and the head of the Constitution Drafting Commission, said thatthe 1992 Constitution was based on the separation between the legislative, executive,
and judicial powers and provided checks and balances between these powers.73 The
separation of powers is one of the main principles of the Mongolian Constitution.
Legislative power is vested in the State Great Khural (SGKh) (Const. art. 20 and 25.1.1),
the executive power in the Government (Const. art. 38), and the judicial power in the
Tsets and ordinary courts (Const. art. 47.1 and 64). The citizens directly elect the SGKhmembers and the President while the SGKh appoints the prime minister (proposed
formally by the President) and ministers. The SGKh also appoints justices of the Tsets.
The SGKh is a unicameral parliament that consists of 76 members.
The Mongolian Constitution not only establishes a separation of powers but also
checks and balances between the legislative, executive and judicial powers. The SGKh
has legislative power, but the President may veto legislation, which remains in force if
two thirds of MPs present override such a veto (Const. art. 30). All of four presidents
elected since 1990 have actively used the power of veto against legislation, which
seemed unconstitutional or poor in terms of policy. Meanwhile, the judiciary checks thelegislative and executive powers. The Supreme Court has the power “to provide official
interpretations for correct application of all other laws except for the Constitution,” andseparate administrative courts have been exercising the judicial review of administrativeacts. The Tsets also has the power to quash unconstitutional laws and other acts, while
three-quarters of all MPs in the SGKh may overrule the decision of the Tsets byamending the Constitution (Const. art. 69.1). 74 The Tsets has reviewed theconstitutionality of more than 130 statutes and other governmental acts and has quashedmore than 50 percent of them. Thus, the principle of checks and balances has beenworking for two decades.75

73

Ochirbat P., “Mongol ulsiin ikh tsaaziin tusliig ard niiteer kheleltsuulsen dun, shine tusliin tukhai [Onthe result of the public discussion on the draft Constitution and the new draft],” Boti no. 238 (1991): 17,
in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
74
This special procedure for the constitutional amendments is stronger than that for the ordinary
legislation. The only constitutional amendment in 2000 was passed to overturn the Tsets decisions thatMPs could not hold cabinet posts according to the separation of powers. See Tsets, Jul. 17, 1996, Dugnelt
No. 6; Tsets, Sep. 7, 1996, Togtool No. 3. The SGKh also enacted the Law on the Constitutional
Amendment in December 2010.
75
However, some improvements are needed for the better checks and balances. See Mashbat O.,
Bonnoos Westminsteriin Zug, 160–164; Lundendorj N., Unurbayar Ch., and Batsuuri M., Mongol ulsad
shuukhiin kharaat bus baidliig bekhjuulekh ni, 10–26.

26

Constitutionalism

The choice of the parliamentary system, which provides for a separation of powers
and checks and balances, has provided foundations for democratizing and liberalizing in
Mongolia. Fish evaluated the parliamentary democracy of Mongolia as follows.
The absence of a Constitution that concentrates power was entirely a matter of choice. It
left Mongolia bereft of the ‘strong,’ unencumbered executive that so many analysts,
politicians, and ordinary citizens in new democracies regard as a boom to reform, stability,and development – but that in fact conducts stagnation, conflict, and authoritarian
reversion. Mongolia has been blessed – or in this case, wisely blessed itself – with aConstitution that spared it a tenacious obstacle to political development.76

Mongolia has been conducting democratic elections since 1990. Mongolia has had
six parliamentary elections (1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008) and fivepresidential elections (1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, and 2009). Elections were reasonably
fair according to foreign experts although some NGOs and politicians claimed theexistence of electoral frauds and imperfection of election system. Political powers
peacefully switched between two main political parties, the MPRP and the Democratic
Party (coalition).
Civil society restricts the powers of political institutions and fosters the rule of law
in Mongolia. The idea of civil society is often discussed in sociology or political science,but it is a constitutional concept in Mongolia because the development of a civil society
is one of objectives declared in the preamble of the Constitution. Freedom of
association is also guaranteed (Const. art. 16.10). In addition, the SGKh adopted therelatively liberal Law on Non-Governmental Organization in 1997. The constitutional
guarantees and this 1997 law encouraged civil society. Researchers noticed thedevelopment of civil society in 1990s.77 A report on state of civil society in Mongolia
concluded as follows: “Despite serious challenges, there has been much progress in thedevelopment of civil society in Mongolia. New issue-oriented independent NGOs,
environmental, anti-corruption and pro-democracy social movements and opposition
political parties have made an important contribution to the liberalization,
diversification and decentralization of the public sphere.”78 Moreover, human rights

76

Fish, “The Inner Asian Anomaly,” 335–336.
Severinghaus, “Mongolia in 1994,” 71; Fish, “Mongolia,” 136–138.
78
Center for Citizens’ Alliance and ICSFD Ulaanbaatar Secretariat, “State of Civil Society in Mongolia(2004-2005), CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report for Mongolia,” 101. This report also demonstrated“that while important advances have been made in Mongolia towards democracy, the country is stillfacing serious challenges in terms of developing a strong, diverse and vibrant civil society.”
77

27

Chapter One

and women’s NGOs are energetic in the country. Recently, Mongolian NGOs became
active in monitoring elections. The number of NGOs registered in the Ministry ofJustice was 6000 in 2007.79
NGOs actively work to promote democratic values, to protect human rights, and to
defend their own interest or public interest not only through public education, policy
advocacy and oversight activities, but also through legal mechanisms. For example, anenvironmental NGO won a case in the Tsets in 2010. The NGO submitted a notification
to the Tsets alleging that a government resolution violated the Minerals Law thatprohibited exploration of minerals in areas with special governmental protection.80 This
court found that the government resolution violated the Mineral Law by giving thelicenses for exploration of minerals in areas with special governmental protection, andthus the government violated the principle to respect for law (Const. art. 1.2 and 45.1)
and the conformity of Constitution (Const. art. 70.1). Thus, the Tsets ruled thegovernmental resolution was unconstitutional.81 Citizens also enthusiastically submit
petitions and notifications to the Tsets, which will be discussed in Chapters 3 and 5.

1.2.3. The understanding of the rule of law and the Rechtsstaat in Mongolia

This subsection examines the different terms, which express the idea of the rule oflaw (the Rechtsstaat), two conceptions of the rule of law (substantive and formal) in
Mongolia, and the understanding of the rule of law by the Tsets. This subsection argues
that the most common understanding of the rule of law in Mongolia is substantive, andthat scholars should discuss more critically the rule of law.
The 1992 Constitution legitimized the rule of law for the first time. The framers
endorsed the concept of Rechtsstaat during the constitution making. The first Presidentof Mongolia Ochirbat declared: “All aspects of social relations are regulated not bydecisions of any political party or discretion of a person or a group of persons, but onlyby the state law, the law that are born of public reason and will.”82 Using the term

79

Bayartsetseg J., “Khuuli Bolovsruulakh, Kheleltsekh Uil Yawts Dakhi Turiin Bus Baiguullaguudiin
Oroltsoo.”80“Undsen Khuuliin Tsets Khuraldlaa.”81
Tsets, Jul. 7, 2010, Dugnelt No. 4.
82
Ochirbat P., “Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliig batalsantai kholbogduulan khelsen ug” [A speech on the28Constitutionalism“Rechtsstaat,” framers argued that the separation of powers, the independent judiciary,
human rights, and the constitutional review were the main components of the
Rechtsstaat, and they believed that these components were guaranteed in theConstitution.83
Three Mongolian phrases express the idea of the rule of law (the Rechtsstaat): Erkhzuit tur, Erkh zuit yos, and Khuuli deedlekh yos. The Rechtsstaat is translated as Erkhzuit tur. The words Erkh zui, which is different from khuuli (statute), is equivalent to theGerman Recht, while tur is the State. Moreover, the rule of law is translated as Erkh zuityos. Yos means the principle, law, or rule. Another term is Khuuli deedlekh yos (theprinciple to respect law) included in Article 1.2 of the Mongolian Constitution. The
principle to respect law is interpreted as the Rechtsstaat and the rule of law. According
to Prof. Chimid, the constitutional declaration of the principle to respect law expresses
the concept of Rechtsstaat, and this principle is a version of the rule of law or
Rechtsstaat.84 Most Mongolian scholars use these three terms interchangeably. Though
the terms of Khuuli deedlekh yos and Erkh zuit tur were popular in 1990s, Erkh zuit yos
has been frequently used since 2004. As with western scholars, most Mongolian
scholars think that the concepts of the rule of law and the Rechtsstaat are usedinterchangeably due to their similar contents.
There are two main conceptions to the rule of law in Mongolia. The first conception
is substantive. Many Mongolian scholars agree that citizens are allowed to do anything
not prohibited by law, but that the state organizations and the officials should perform
only the activities permitted and imposed by law. These scholars also agree on theconception that the rule of law typically contains the following: the protection of humanrights, the separation of powers, the constitutional supremacy over legislative, executive

adoption of the Constitution of Mongolia] Boti no. 238 (January 13, 1992): 3, in Mongol ulsiin undsen
khuuliin arkhiviin san.
83
Enkhbat A., “Shuukh zasaglal, turiin baiguulliin togtoltsoo” [Judiciary and the state system] (for theInternational Conference in September 1991): 1; Renchin L., “Bye daasan shuukh zasaglaliin uzel sanaag
khuuli zuid tusgaj bekhjuulekh ni” [To insert and implement the idea of independent judiciary in law] (forthe International Conference in September 1991): 1; Bayar S., “Mongol ulsiin shine Undsen khuuliin
tusliin uzel barimtlaliin asuusal” [The issue of concepts of the draft Constitution of Mongolia] (for theInternational Conference in September 1991): 4, 11; Ochirbat P., “Mongol ulsiin ikh tsaaziin tusliig ard
niiteer kheleltsuulsen dun, shine tusliin tukhai [On the result of the public discussion on the draft
Constitution and the new draft], Boti no. 238: 25; Tsog L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16,
1991): 38-39; Bayar S., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 68-69, in Ibid.
84
Chimid B., Undsen khuuliig deedlen shutekh yos, 67; Chimid B., “Khuuli deedlekh yosiig khangakhad
shudarga shuukhiin uureg,” 5.

29

Chapter One

and judicial acts, trustful law, independent judiciary, and non-retroactivity of law.85
This conception of the rule of law is substantive because it accepts the importance ofprotecting fundamental rights. The 1992 Constitution also reflects the substantive
conception as it guarantees these rights.
The second conception is the formal rule of law discussed in Subsection 1.1.1 of thisbook. Mongolian scholars have discussed the following formal principles: the hierarchyof sources of law, rationality, generality, congruence, promulgation, clarity, dynamic
constancy, non-contradiction, non-impossibility, and non-retroactivity. 86 Moreover,
Mongolian laws include most of these principles. For example, Article 26.3 of theConstitution requires laws to be subject to official promulgation by the SGKh throughpublication within a specific date. In addition, according to the 2001 Law on
Preparation and Submission of Draft Laws and other Decisions of the SGKh, the draft
law should be consistent with the Constitution, the international treaties of Mongolia,
and laws (art. 12.1.1), articles, sections and clauses should not be conflicted each other(art. 12.1.5), and the draft law should not include clauses that will be executed only
once (art. 12.1.6). Furthermore, the hierarchy of legal sources is: the Constitution,international treaties, laws, governmental acts, and bylaws. The courts, mainly the Tsets
and the administrative courts, enforce this hierarchy. The 2002 Criminal Code also
protects not only the non-retroactivity of a law criminalizing an act or toughening thepenalty for it, worsening the legal status of the person who committed crime (art. 12.2),
but also the retroactivity of a law decriminalizing an act or mitigating the penalty for it,
improving the legal status of the person who committed the crime (art. 12.1).
The two contrasting conceptions should be distinguished clearly, critically, andconsistently from each other. The rule of law is a “contested” concept in the English
literature, but it is not in the Mongolian literature. Mongolian scholars who write on therule of law rarely doubt the merit of this concept and hardly ever criticize each other’sconception of the rule of law.87 Scholars holding substantive conception do not criticize
those holding the formal conception or vice versa. Taking into account that Mongolia

85

Sarantuya Ts., Turiin yurukhii onol; Lundendorj N., Tur, erkh zuin setgelgeenii khugjliin chigkhandlaga, 105–108; Chimid B., Unuugiin uls tur khuulichiin nudeer, 146–147; Amarsanaa J., Ardchilsan
erkh zuit yos, 49–50; Unurbayar Ch. and Batsuuri M., Erkh zuit yos, 199–202, 204–220.
86
Munkhsaikhan O., “Erkh zuit yos”; Batsuuri M., “Khuuli zuin salbariin erdem shinjilgeenii baga
khurluud”; Lundendorj N., Turiin onol.
87
Sukhbaatar Z. criticized the legal reform based on the rule of law from the point of the Law andDevelopment Movement, but he did not respond to the core arguments for the rule of law. Sukhbaatar Z.,“Erkh zuit yosnii khooson amlalt.”

30

Constitutionalism

has been struggling to establish the rule of law and many politicians do not want to be
restrained by the law, these scholars might think that criticisms would undermine theimportance of this ideal. However, through critical discussions, scholars can improvetheir arguments about the rule of law against corrupt politicians and strengthen the
defense for the rule of law. In countries where the rule of law is respected, scholars
frequently argue what the rule of law is and what the law is in general: law becomes amatter of argument and an argumentative discipline.88 Thus, Mongolian scholars cancontribute to the rule of law if they examine critically the contrast between its
substantive and formal conceptions. According to the conclusion made in Subsection
1.1.1, the substantive conception is more recognized than the formal conception because
it is reflected in the widespread liberal constitutionalism and more suitable in atransitional society. This conclusion is valid for Mongolia. The substantive conception
in Mongolia can be enriched by the American theories, notably Dworkin’s, whichstrongly argue for the protection of individual rights.89
In addition, the formal and substantive conceptions of the German Rechtsstaat
before and after WW II need to be clearly illustrated even though the basics of thesubstantive conception are already introduced in Mongolia.90 A clearer illustration will
promote the constitutional culture since the political rhetoric sometimes interprets the
Rechtsstaat by the formal conception or even the rule by law. For example, President
Enkhbayar N. said on October 1, 2007: “The main character of the Rechtsstaat is torespect law and implement it… The true requirement of a society respecting law is not
only the state coercion, but also the establishment of conscience that citizens themselves
abide firmly by law, the measure of their freedom and responsibility.” 91 This
understanding implies the concept of rule by law rather than the rule of law because itemphasizes the obedience of the law by citizens but does not note the very meaning of
the rule of law, which restricts the political power. Mongolian scholars should address a
critical examination of this kind of rhetoric and the distinction of the formal andsubstantive conceptions of the Rechtsstaat (the rule of law).
Mongolian scholars should pay more attention to the Tsets’ understanding of the rule88

Waldron, “The Rule of Law and the Importance of Procedure,” 20; See also Dworkin, Law’s Empire.
Batsuuri briefly introduced to Dworkin’s theory though he did not mention Dworkin’s substantive
conception on the rule of law. Batsuuri M., “Khuuli zuin salbariin erdem shinjilgeenii baga khurluud,”30–33.
90
For the substantive Rechtsstaat in the 19th and the 20th century, see Lundendorj N., Tur, erkh zuin
setgelgeenii khugjliin chig khandlaga, 97–109.
91
Enkhbayar N., “UIKh-n Namriin Chuulganii Neelt Deer Khelsen Ug.”
89

31

Chapter Oneof law. There is no sufficient research on this topic. In Mongolia, the Constitution issupreme law and the Tsets has the authority to enforce this law. Thus, constitutional
review is a key element of the rule of law under the Constitution. First, the Tsets
enforces the substantive conception of the rule of law by protecting fundamental rights
and limiting the unconstitutional exercise of the public power. The rights decisions of
this court proved that it rejected the formal conception in favor of the substantive
conception.
Moreover, the Rechtsstaat (the rule of law) is explicitly accepted in theconstitutional jurisprudence of Mongolia because the Tsets has used the term
“Rechtsstaat” in two decisions.92 For example, in 2007, this court found a breach of theConstitution by the Chairperson of the SGKh, which resulted in resignation of the
Chairperson. This ruling declared that “the Chairperson violated the universally
recognized principle of the Rechtsstaat that any state organ and official are prohibited to
do any other [act] than one permitted by law” when he changed substantially several
laws after the final vote in the SGKh.93 Even though the decision failed to interpret thisconcept in detail, it was a victory for the rule of law in a country that was under the ruleof person or socialist party for seven decades. Moreover, the Tsets often cites theconstitutional clause on the respect for law, which is a version of the Rechtsstaat.
Petitioners to this court complained about the violations of this clause in 33 (25.3 %) of
the court’s 130 decisions. The number of decisions touching on the clause on the respect
for law is increasing in recent years as this clause was mentioned in five of all 13
decisions in 2006 and in eleven of all 13 decisions in 2007.
The Tsets has also started to discuss general principles of constitutional law. For
example, this court accepted a general principle of constitutional law when striking
down article 6.3 of Law on Political Party, which said the following: “a newly
organized party or a party is prohibited from using the full or short name of anotherparty, which ended its activities, was reorganized through the merger, was dissolved, orchanged its name, for 24 years.” The court ruled article 6.3 unconstitutional because“even though there could be a timely restriction on the usage of the political party name,the time established in the law above mentioned (the prohibition for 24 years) is
inconsistent with a general principle of constitutional law that any restriction should not

92
93

Tsets, Jun. 21, 2006, Dugnelt No. 7; Tsets, May 23, 2007, Dugnelt No. 6.
Tsets, May 23, 2007, Dugnelt No. 6. This decision is analyzed in detail in Subsection 5.2.1.

32

Constitutionalism

exceed the due limit.”94 The Tsets also protected the non-retroactivity of law, theprotection from establishing retroactive laws harmfully affecting the rights and interestsof citizens, which was not literally mentioned in the 1992 Constitution.95 In addition,
the Tsets protected rights not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution and declared theserights as clarification of rights mentioned in the Constitution. For example, this court
protected the right to strike, the right of citizens to access to the Tsets, and the child’s
right to assembly.96 General principles of law or the rule of law are not mentioned in
the Constitution, and they are accompanied by basic principles such as equality, justice,democracy or respect for law, which are explicitly written in the Constitution. Though
the current discussion on the rule of law by the Tsets is short, it can be a basis ofdeveloping more comprehensive understanding of this ideal.

Conclusion

The rule of law (the Rechtsstaat) is a contested concept that scholars define
differently though most of them agree on the core aspect that the political powers should
be limited, and that everyone is subject to the law. There are two main conceptions of
the rule of law: the substantive and the formal. Chapter 1 argued that the substantive
conception has become more important than the formal conception due to liberalconstitutionalism, that the substantive conception is more suitable for a transitionalcountry such as Mongolia, and that the substantive rule of law and constitutionalism
have become worldwide principles. After the democratic revolution, Mongolia adopted
for the first time the 1992 Constitution that created a parliamentary democracy based on
fundamental rights, the separation of powers, checks and balances, and theconstitutionality review. In Mongolia, the substantive conception of the rule of law ismore popular than the formal conception, and the Tsets applies few principles of the
Rechtsstaat. Mongolian scholars discuss the rule of law, but they should discuss thisconcept more critically.
This book does not cover all issues related to the rule of law and constitutionalism

94

Tsets, Sep. 29, 2005, Dugnelt No. 6; Tsets, Nov. 14, 2005, Togtool No. 1.
Tsets, Jun. 17, 2005, Dugnelt No. 4; Tsets, Dec. 14, 2005, Togtool No. 2; Tsets, May 9, 2007, Dugnelt
No. 5.
96
Tsets, Apr. 21, 1993, Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, May. 26, 1993, Togtool No. 3; Tsets, Jan. 18, 1995, Dugnelt
No. 2; Tsets, Mar. 27, 1996, Dugnelt No. 1.
9533

Chapter One

but rather focuses on the issue of constitutional review. Constitutionalism, which aims
to discourage arbitrary exercise of the public power while protecting fundamental rights,
can be strengthened at least in two ways in a transitional society such as Mongolia: (1)improving the institution of constitutional review; and (2) adopting the proper methodof constitutional interpretation. The book concentrates upon constitutional review as amechanism of the rule of law and upon the proper method of constitutional
interpretation for helping this review work well as a part of the developing legal culture.
Chapters 2 and 3 on constitutional review examine what the two models of this review
are and how the Mongolian constitutional review can be improved based on thecomparative study. Creating a system of constitutional review is vital, but unsatisfactory
because the performance of this system depends on how judges interpret theConstitution. Thus, Chapters 4 and 5 discuss the constitutional interpretation in generaland the improvement of constitutional interpretation in Mongolia.

34

Chapter 2
Two Models of Constitutional Review

There are two main models of constitutional review, the American and the European.
The mainstream understandings of these two models mostly tell their differences interms of origin and institutional arrangement, but the recent trends present theirsimilarities in terms of function. These similarities allow constitutional courts such as
the Mongolian Tsets to improve its protection of fundamental human rights andfreedoms by using an American theory of constitutional interpretation. In other words,
the differences between the two models cannot be obstacles to applying the Americaninterpertation theory such as the moral reading of the Constitution in the European
model.
Section 2.1 defines the conventional understanding of the American model by
studying the U.S. judicial review and Section 2.2 examines the conventional
understanding of the European model by studying the constitutional courts of Western
Europe (mainly Austria and Germany). Section 2.3 discusses similarities between thetwo models. Section 2.4 analyzes the Hungarian Constitutional Court as a successful
example of constitutional review in a transitional country.

2.1. The American model of constitutional review: the United States

This section is limited to the U.S. although a number of countries such as Japan,
Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, andGreece have the American model. In order to show how the American model works, thissection examines the origin of the judicial review, and the distinctive characteristics of35

Chapter Two

this institution. This section also gives an overview of the jurisdiction of the Supreme
Court in the U.S. federal judiciary, discussing the tenure and number of justices, theappointment and qualification of justices.
The U.S. was the first nation to practice judicial review in the modern sense.1 The
text of the Constitution did not clearly define the existence of judicial review, but the
U.S. Supreme Court clarified the idea in Marbury v. Madison (1803). Chief JusticeMarshall delivered this judgment with the following reasoning:
People chose a written Constitution with basic principles to bind the government so that
the Constitution is the superior and binding law, and thus an act repugnant to it must be
invalid. It is also the duty of judiciary to say what the law is. Since the Constitution issuperior law, the judiciary is the institution with the final responsibility to interpret theConstitution.2

Marshall asserted that the courts held the power to review the constitutionality ofactions of both executive and legislative branches. There has been a long-lived
controversy on the reasoning in Marbury and the justification for the judicial review.3
However, according to many scholars, “the power of the Supreme Court to determine
the constitutionality and, therefore, the validity of the acts of the other branches ofgovernment has been firmly established as basic component of the American system ofGovernment.”4The distinctive characteristic of the judicial review in the U.S. is that any ordinary
court hearing constitutional and non-constitutional cases can reject the application of alaw if it declares the law unconstitutional. Under the ordinary proceeding, any court can
decide a case by applying the Constitution. Thus, if different courts exercise the power
to refuse to apply the law due to its being unconstitutional, they may offer different,
perhaps conflicting, decisions on the constitutionality of the same law. However, thepotential conflict of decisions on the same issue is prevented as a result of the doctrineof stare decisis, according to which the precedents should be respected in similar cases
though they are not absolute especially in constitutional cases. Furthermore, the1

The idea of judicial review existed even before the U.S. Constitution. In England, Lord Edward Cokeaffirmed in the traditional supremacy of the common law over the authority of parliament. Cappelletti,
Judicial Review in the Contemporary World, 37.
2
See Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803).
3
See Gunther, Constitutional Law, 13–29; Nowak, Rotunda, and Young, Constitutional Law, 6–15.
4
Nowak, Rotunda, and Young, Constitutional Law, 1.

36

Two Models of Constitutional Review

Supreme Court decisions are binding upon all other courts.
The judicial review in the U.S. is typically concrete because it is started by a claimthat the enforcement of an unconstitutional law inflicts actual injury on one of thelitigants. Judicial power extends to the resolution of “cases or controversies” under
Article III of the U.S. Constitution. From this requirement, the Supreme Court hasdeveloped many rules of self-constraints such as standing, adverseness, ripeness,mootness, and political questions. The Supreme Court avoids exercising the judicial
power when it discovers one of the following: the plaintiff is not a proper party to bringa legal action (the absence of standing); the president asks for an advisory opinion (theabsence of actual law-suit or adverseness); the injury claimed has not happened or otheravenues of appeal have not yet been exhausted (not ripe); the case has become irrelevant
because the dispute between the parties has ended and there is no actual case orcontroversy any more (mootness); or the Congress or the President has a discretionary
power (political question).5 For example, the basic requirement of standing is that“individuals show injury to a legally protected interest or right and demonstrate that
other opportunities for defending that claim (before an administrative tribunal or a lower
court) have been exhausted.”6 The interest must be real as opposed to speculative or
hypothetical, as well as personal as opposed to official. Plaintiffs traditionally have toshow personal or proprietary damage (monetary damage) or even non-monetary injuries(and public interest).
The Supreme Court uses rules of self-constraint to define whether a claim submitted
to it is justiciable (capable of judicial resolution). When this court finds the suit
nonjusticiable, “the suit is thrown out of the federal court system altogether.”7 Donald
Kommers argued as follows:
Each of these requirements can be considered as an aspect of the fundamental
constitutional requirement that a court can adjudicate only actual cases or controversies.
The common law tradition is crucial here, for judges are deemed incapable of deciding
cases without a detailed knowledge of all relevant facts and values pertaining to a case.8

5

However, the rules of judicial self-constraint, the requirements of justiciability, are not absolute, andthere are many exceptions to these rules. Shanor, American Constitutional Law, 73–119; Nowak, Rotunda,
and Young, Constitutional Law, 55–110; Gunther, Constitutional Law, 1532–1633. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S.
113 (1973) (the issue of abortion is excempted from the rule of mootness due to the nature of the issue).
6
O’Brien, Constitutional Law and Politics, 2:99.
7
Shanor, American Constitutional Law, 73.
8
Kommers, “Procedures for the Protection of Human Rights in Diffuse Systems of Judicial Review,” 101.

37

Chapter Two

Even though the U.S. has state courts and federal courts, both of which exercise
judicial review, this research focuses on the federal judiciary, mainly the Supreme Court.
Article III of the U.S. Constitution says that the judicial power of the U.S. is vested in
one Supreme Court and in such inferior courts as may be established by the Congress.
There are basically three levels of federal courts, the district courts, the courts of appeal,
and the Supreme Court. John Nowak described the relation between these three levels as
follows:
Cases heard in the federal court system normally are heard in district courts in one ofcircuits. From them the parties may appeal to the court of appeals for that circuit, which
normally sits in panels of three, and from there the parties may seek review in theSupreme Court.9

The decisions of state supreme courts also can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court
when they raise a question regarding federal law. According to the common
understanding, the Supreme Court is not a special constitutional court but the highest
among the federal courts. This court is “the ultimate interpreter of the Constitution”10
and a main developer of the U.S. constitutional law.
The Supreme Court has two main jurisdictions: original and appellate. This court hasoriginal jurisdiction for “all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, andconsuls, and those in which a State shall be a party (U.S. Const. art. III, §2, cl. 2.).” Inother cases, the Supreme Court has “appellate jurisdiction… with such exceptions, andunder such regulations, as the Congress shall make (U.S. Const. art. III).” Thus, theCongress enjoys the power to regulate the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court(as well as the jurisdictions of lower federal courts) although this power of the Congressshould not destroy the essential role of the Supreme Court in the constitutional
structure.11 The appellate jurisdiction of this court is exercised through two different
review routes, appeal and certiorari, which derive from state courts and lower federal
courts. Appeal is an obligatory review as a matter of the appellant’s right, and certiorari
is a discretionary review that the Supreme Court can choose without providing
reasons.12 However, the distinction between appeal and certiorari has been blurredbecause certiorari is becoming the most significant appellate jurisdiction, which will be

9Nowak, Rotunda, and Young, Constitutional Law, 24–25.
Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186 (1962) (n.d.).
11Hart, “The Power of Congress to Limit the Jurisdiction of Federal Courts,” 1364–1365.
12
Gunther, Constitutional Law, 54.
1038

Two Models of Constitutional Review

discussed in Section 2.3.
In addition to the main jurisdiction, the Supreme Court has special jurisdictions.
When appellate courts submit a writ of certification to this court, it has to clarify a pointof federal law. The Supreme Court also has “the power to issue writs of mandamus andprohibition, ordering lower courts or public officials to either do something or refrainfrom some action.”13 Moreover, this court may exercise the power to grant writs ofhabeas corpus (“produce the body”) when it reviews cases by prisoners who claim that
their constitutional rights have been violated and they are unlawfully imprisoned.14
The security of life tenure for justices guarantees some degree of judicial
independence for the U.S. Supreme Court. Article III of the U.S. Constitution declaresthat justices of the Supreme Court have lifetime tenure though they can be removed
only by impeachment but their salary cannot be “diminished during their Continuancein Office.” Thus, the U.S. federal justices are able to decide cases before them with lesspolitical pressure. However, American scholars such as Dworkin are recently worried“about an ideological administration appointing young ideological justices whose tenureon the Court will last for generations, long after the nation has steered itself back to the
middle as, so far, it always is.” 15 Liberal scholars admired the Supreme Court’s
improvements in protecting individual rights after WW II. Nevertheless, conservative
justices on this court have lately become a near majority so that they are eager to repeal
those improvements in individual rights.16 Thus, liberal scholars recommend amending“the Constitution to institute a term limit for the Supreme Court justices, a maximum offifteen years’ tenure,”17 which is what Europeans have done for constitutional court
judges.
The number of the Supreme Court justices is not defined by the Constitution but by
statute. Thus, some U.S. presidents have tried altering the number of justices toinfluence this court. For example, President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to pack theSupreme Court by increasing the number because advocates of laissez-faire social andeconomic policy dominated this court at the time. However, the Congress would not
accept President Roosevelt’s Court-packing plan though it was disappointed by the

13

O’Brien, Constitutional Law and Politics, 2:96.
Ibid.
15
Dworkin, Is Democracy Possible Here?, 158.
16
For example, see Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50 (2010) and Dworkin,“The ‘Devastating’ Decision.”17
Dworkin, Is Democracy Possible Here?, 158.
14

39

Chapter Two

Court’s invalidation of the New Deal.18 According to Tushnet, today the American
political culture has come to accept nine justices since 1869 as the optimal, fixed sizefor the Supreme Court.19
The U.S. has a complex political procedure of appointing justices, which aims to
avoid the dominance of one institution (or the congressional majority) in theappointment process. American justices are nominated by the President and approvedby a simple majority of the senate. The U.S. Senate has a veto power to refuse acandidate nominated by the President. Thus, the President should be reasonable so thatthe candidate is acceptable to the majority of the senators. The confirmation process in
the U.S. Senate is deliberative. The complex procedure of appointing justices helps tobalance the differences in constitutional philosophy and to check the candidates who
have the extreme view of judicial review or are incapable to make constitutional
reasoning.
If a candidate’s constitutional convictions are so extreme that he or she may overturnthe mass of precedents and damage constitutional integrity, then it is difficult to gain theappointment.20 Since the Constitution is a tradition as well as a document, the U.S.
Senate has the responsibility to ensure that “a nominee intends in good faith to join andhelp to interpret that tradition in a lawyerlike way, not to challenge and replace it out ofsome radical political vision that legal argument can never touch.”21 Moreover, thenomination and confirmation of judges is important because their moral convictions andinterpretation theories will influence future constitutional cases. Therefore, there arenation-wide discussions on what moral conviction and interpretation theory thecandidates prefer, what they think about controversial cases, and what experience andcompetence they have for the job. Scholars write articles on these questions; the mass
media is full of same discussions; NGOs and other institutions actively support or reject
the candidate.22
Candidates for the post of the Supreme Court justices are basically legal
professionals. The post of professional justices does not mean that these justices always

18

O’Brien, Constitutional Law and Politics, 2:172.
Tushnet, “The United States: Eclecticism in the Service of Pragmatism,” 14.
20
For the event that the Senate defeated Bork’s nomination, see Dworkin, Freedom’s Law, 265–286.
21
Ibid., 265.
22
For example, Dworkin has been written articles on the nominations of Judge Robert Bork, ClarenceThomas, John Roberts, Samuel A. Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Ibid.,263–347; “The Articles Contributed by Ronald Dworkin”; For an active NGO in the field ofconstitutional law, see American Constitution Society, “Supreme Court.”
19

40

Two Models of Constitutional Review

make good decisions, but they do have the legal knowledge, skill, and experienceessential for good decisions. Justices are mostly drawn from those who have been
judges or in other legal professions. The U.S. Constitution says nothing about the
specific professional qualification of justices. Thus, the appointment of non-legal
professionals to the Supreme Court is constitutionally possible. Justice Breyer wrote as
follows: “The 110 judges who have served on the Court have come from different
professional backgrounds. In the past, Presidents have appointed Senators, Governors,
and even a former President of the United States.” 23 However, today there is aconvention that the candidates to the Supreme Court should be at least a legal
professional even though they may have had a political career in the past. In the U.S.,
non-legal professional candidates for a justice would be criticized so much that the
senate could not appoint them. Thus, all nine current justices come from professional
backgrounds that include prior judicial service, legal practice and academia.24

2.2. Austrian Constitutional Court and the European model ofconstitutional review

This section discusses the Austrian Constitutional Court created in 1920 as the originof the European model, the reasons of creating this special court and the characteristicsof this court. Moreover, this section briefly explains how the European model was
modified after WW II by examining some general characteristics of the modern
constitutional courts in Europe, including their status as special court to exclusively
exercise constitutional review, the jurisdictions, the non-renewable long term
appointment of justices, the fixed number of justices, the appointment procedure, andthe requirement of being professional justices.
The origin of the European model of constitutional review came from the Austrian
Constitutional Court. While Chief Justice Marshall clarified and established the judicial
review in Marbury v. Madison (1783), Hans Kelsen created the European model when
he drafted the Austrian Constitution in 1920.25 He instituted the constitutional court tomaintain the legal system and its validity as the most significant value. Kelsen

23

Breyer, Active Liberty, 5.
The U.S. Supreme Court, “Biographies of Current Justices.”
25
Cappelletti, Judicial Review in the Contemporary World, 47.
24

41

Chapter Two

illustrated the structure of a legal system as a pyramid as follows: “At the top is theGrundnorm, fundamental norm, which… invalidates… the positive Constitution of acountry. In turn, the Constitution validates the legislative statutes, which… invalidates
administrative decrees, municipal ordinances and so forth… A norm is valid when it
satisfies the condition established by a higher valid norm of the legal system.”26
Therefore, in order to confer validity on lower order norms, all legal norms must be
capable of being enforced by an institution such as the court. As with Chief JusticeMarshall, Kelsen considered the Constitution as a set of legal norms superior to theordinary legislation requiring enforcement. As a result, Kelsen assigned a special court
only the power of constitutional review and rejected this power to ordinary courts
because any jurisdiction exercising the judicial review of legislation would put into
effect legislative function, and ordinary judges cannot be given such power.
There were three main reasons why only a special court rather than ordinary courts
should exercise the exclusive power of constitutional review in the continental Europe.
First, the American model of judicial review was not applicable in Austria and othercivil law countries due to the danger that a uniform decision of whether or not a statutewas constitutional would not be made by the judiciary. The principle of stare decisis
was traditionally absent in civil law jurisdictions; that is, the decisions of the supreme
courts concerning the constitutionality of legislation were short of binding upon thelower courts. According to Kelsen, the lower courts “were not forbidden to apply astatute which [the Supreme Court] had previously declared unconstitutional and which
it had, therefore, refused to apply in a given case.”27 All judges had to obey the statutes,
in which the parliament expressed the popular sovereignty. Judges did not have to obey
the judgments of supreme courts because these judgments lacked such authority. Thus,
if each judge had the power to decide on constitutionality of statutes, then a law would
be disregarded as unconstitutional by some judges, while being held constitutional andapplied by others. Moreover, unlike the U.S., most civil law countries had not only
ordinary courts but also other courts such as administrative courts, which had to apply
the same statutes as the ordinary courts. Thus, the conflicts between administrative
courts and ordinary courts, particularly between different supreme courts, could occur
when they exercised constitutional review.

26

Nino, “A Philosophical Reconstruction of Judicial Review,” 290.
Kelsen, “Judicial Review of Legislation: A Comparative Study of the Austrian and the American
Constitution,” 186; Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 23–24.
27

42

Two Models of Constitutional Review

In addition, traditional civil law courts were unsuitable for judicial review because
their courts of last instance mostly lacked any discretionary power to refuse jurisdiction;a device similar to the certiorari of the U.S. Supreme Court. Mauro Cappelletti
described the absence of this discretionary power as follows:
To illustrate, the Italian Court of Cassation must hear every case brought before it, anaverage of three to four thousand civil cases per year, while the Italian Constitutional
Court delivers fewer than two hundred judgments annually. Thus, if the Court ofCassation were to have jurisdiction over constitutional cases as well, such cases would
represent a fairly insignificant portion of its workload. Thus, submerged, these cases
would receive neither the time nor the consideration that they require.28

Finally, ordinary judges in continental Europe are not mentally prepared to theconstitutional review. Continental judges typically were “career judges,” who entered
the judiciary at a very early age and were promoted to the higher courts largely on thebasis of seniority.29 These judges developed skills in technical application of statutes.
The judicial review of constitutionality of statutes was different from the technicalapplication of statutes because judges had to make the principled interpretation of theConstitution that included abstract moral principles such as fundamental rights.
Kelsen’s original idea of constitutional review had four characteristics. First, Kelsencreated a specialized tribunal, the constitutional court, to decide only constitutional
issues, and he rejected giving this power to ordinary courts. He also gave theconstitutional court decision the erga omnes effect (in relation to all) that obliged all
including the ordinary courts to obey the decisions of the constitutional court. Second,
the purpose of Kelsen’s court was not to protect fundamental rights, but to make thelegal system to function more efficiently. In other word, this court aimed at “the smoothrunning of the constitutional process of government,”30 and its main function was toresolve disputes concerning the boundaries of the constitutional authorities between
governmental bodies. Kelsen omitted a bill of rights from the Constitution andrecommended a constitutional court to avoid interpreting general principles such as
justice and equality even when they were written in the Constitution. According to
Kelsen, to interpret these principles would amount in effect to conferring on the28

Cappelletti, Judicial Review in the Contemporary World, 62.
Ibid.; Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 23–24.
30
Patrono, “The Protection of Fundamental Rights by Constitutional Courts-A Comparative
Perspective,” 408.
29

43Chapter Two

constitutional court “an intolerable plenitude of absolute powers.”31 Ordinary judges
could not be given constitutional review of legislation since such review power wasunderstood as legislative function.32 Third, the 1920 Constitutional Court of Austria
exercised solely the abstract review, which had no relation with concrete cases.
According to Mauro Cappelletti, “judicial review in Austria, in contrast to the Americansystem, came to be entirely disassociated from concrete cases whether civil, penal oradministrative.”33 Fourth, there was no individual access to the constitutional court. Asa positivist, Kelsen argued “the constitutional court should be able to review theconstitutionality of legislation before its enforcement in the public realm, thus
preserving the sovereign character of statute within the legal system thereafter.”34 The
federal and state governments could initiate such review in Austria. The framers of the1920 Constitution of Austria discussed actio popularis, “every citizen’s the right tomake an application to the Constitutional Court which would have been obliged to passupon the validity of the statute.”35 Nevertheless, these framers rejected actio popularis.
Though the European model originated from the Austrian Constitutional Court, it
has been modified since then so that the functions of the European and Americanmodels are essentially similar. Constitutional courts are mostly established in countries
ending a period of dictatorship and aspiring liberal democracy. For example,
constitutional courts were established for protecting their constitutions, in particularfundamental rights, in Germany and Italy after WW II, Spain and Portugal after theirdemocratization and countries of Central and Eastern Europe after the collapse of theSoviet Union. Modern constitutional courts in Europe are so complex that it is hard tofind two courts having the same characteristics. Even so, these courts have generalcharacteristics.
The European model still limits the constitutional review to a constitutional court,
and it does not assign this power to ordinary courts, which is the main difference fromthe U.S. model where all courts exercise the constitutional review. Only theconstitutional court has the exclusive power to review the constitutionality of statutes
and other public acts, and it does not decide non-constitutional cases. Thus, the ordinary31

Ibid., 403.
Merryman and Perez-Perdomo, The Civil Law Tradition, 3rd Edition, 37–38; Schwartz, The Struggle
for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 17–18.
33
Cappelletti, Judicial Review in the Contemporary World, 71.
34
Sweet, “Why Europe Rejected American Judicial Review,” 2768.
35
Kelsen, “Judicial Review of Legislation: A Comparative Study of the Austrian and the American
Constitution,” 197.
32

44

Two Models of Constitutional Review

courts normally do not exercise the judicial review of statutes. According to David P.
Currie, “the Constitutional Court’s monopoly of the power to declare statutes
unconstitutional expresses respect for the dignity of the legislature and adds legitimacy
to the judicial determination; it also serves to promote uniformity and to reduce the riskof an erroneous or uninformed decision.”36 The ordinary courts enforce statutes, while
the constitutional courts defend the constitution against legislative infringement.
The constitutional court has three main types of jurisdiction: the abstract review, theconstitutional question, and the individual complaint. The first is the abstract review,which “results in decisions on the constitutionality of legislation that has been adopted
by parliament but has not yet entered into force (France), or that has been adopted andpromulgated, but not yet applied (Germany, Italy, Spain).” 37 Though any of thespecifically designated authorities can initiate this procedure, members of opposition
parties usually challenge the constitutionality of legislation. Therefore, the abstract
review works as a mechanism for protecting a parliamentary minority from the abuse of
power by the majority and for ensuring full compliance with the Constitution. The
constitutional court is not connected to the ordinary courts under the abstract review, but
under the next two jurisdictions, in which the constitutional court decides constitutional
matters in concrete cases.
The second type is the constitutional question procedure in which ordinary judges
have an indirect role in the “concrete review” of statutes. If an ordinary judge decides
that the ruling of a case depends on the determination of whether a specific law isconstitutional, “the judge stops the proceedings and refers the constitutional question to
the Constitutional Court, which then decides this issue and refers its decision to theoriginal court so that the case may resume.”38 Constitutional questions are filed by, andconnected to the work of, ordinary judges because the constitutionality of a statute isvital for deciding the concrete cases. Constitutional questions are common in Western
Europe, where German, Italian, and Spanish constitutional courts “behave increasingly
as supreme courts and appear as a fourth level of jurisdiction… overseeing the decisionsof ordinary jurisdictions.”39 The importance of a constitutional question lies “in the factthat often what consequences can arise from a particular statute is only realized in the

36

Currie, The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, 166.
Sweet, “Constitutional Courts and Parliamentary Democracy,” 87.
38
Ferejohn and Pasquino, “Constitutional Adjudication,” 1689.
39
Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 25.
37

45

Chapter Two

day to day practice of the law.”40 Thus, the original idea of the special court separated
from the ordinary judiciary has changed in these European countries. This change will
be more evident when the constitutional court exercises the third type of jurisdiction,
the constitutional complaint procedure.
The procedure of constitutional question should be open to any of the ordinary
judges. While any judge of the ordinary courts can refer a question to the constitutional
courts in Germany, Italy, and Spain, only the supreme courts and the courts of second
instance can do so in Austria and France today.41 The procedure of constitutionalquestion available only to the higher courts is less effective than the procedure available
to any judge. Higher courts may be obstacles for a constitutionally minded judge of thelower court (or for a citizen) because the higher courts are often reluctant to consider theconstitutionality of statutes in the beginning of a democratic regime. For example, in
Italy, “initially, it was rather unusual for matter to be referred to the Italian[Constitutional] Court, especially by the higher courts, which almost never doubted theconstitutionality of the laws in force.”42 There can also be conflicting constitutional
interpretations by the higher court and the constitutional court because the higher court
exercises constitutional review when deciding whether it transfers the question to theconstitutional court.43
The third type of jurisdiction is the individual complaint procedure (Germany andSpain). Individuals are granted the right to file a complaint to the constitutional court
when they believe that their fundamental rights have been violated and after they havefinished seeking all remedies at the ordinary courts. Violations of these rights may
draw from an executive act that the ordinary courts have failed to quash or from thejudgments pronounced by the ordinary courts. Thus, the complaints are mostly directed

40

Ipsen, “Constitutional Review of Laws,” 115.
France was hostile to the constitutional review of statutes after their promulgation. However, a 2008
revision to the Constitution gave the two French supreme courts the power to send constitutionalquestions to the Constitutional Council. See The French Constitutional Council, “Priority Preliminary
Rulings on the Issue of Constitutionality”; Fabbrini, “Kelsen in Paris: France’s Constitutional Reform andthe Introduction of A Posteriori Constitutional Review of Legislation”; Sweet, “The Constitutional
Council and the Transformation of the Republic.” The authority to submit the constitutional question to
the constitutional court is also given only to the Supreme Courts in Bulgaria. See Article 150 of theConstitution of Bulgaria.
42
Carlassare, “Interlocutory Review – Abstract Review,” 130.
43
The similar conflict occurred in Germany when “any court could refer a constitutional question to theConstitutional Court but only via an appropriate supreme court, which had the right to submit its own
opinion on the question referred by the lower court… [Thus,] the participation of supreme courts in theprocedure of constitutional question was abolished [in 1956].” Garlicki, “Constitutional Courts Versus
Supreme Courts,” 51.
41

46

Two Models of Constitutional Review

against executive acts or court judgments rather than statutes. According to Jorn Ipsen,
the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany nullified numerous statutes as a result ofindividual complaints against executive acts or court judgments.44
European constitutional judges mostly serve long terms (9-12 years), which provide
not only independence but also relative accountability. According to Klaus von Beyme,“the limitation of office to 12 years excludes problems of senility (sometimes to befound in the US Supreme Court).”45 If the judges serve for a short term, then it is notgood for constitutionalism. New judges might not do their work well within a too shortterm (for example, 6 years or less) because they need to spend some time to learn the
court’s conventions such as the judicial ways to discuss and write constitutional issues.
Moreover, a short term would not allow judges to develop constitutional case law byconsistently making the principled interpretation of the Constitution (which will be
discussed in Chapter 4). A short term may also cause frequent changes in the court
rulings, which is against the stability of law, a requirement of the rule of law.
The terms of European constitutional judges generally are not only long, but also
non-renewable, which promotes the independence of the constitutional court. According
to Beyme, “the impossibility of being re-elected strengthens the independence of thejudges who are never invited to do any favour for the parties for this reason.”46 On theother hand, Ginsburg argued that “judges serving a single limited term also have an
incentive to act with an eye toward future employment possibilities, so to the extent
political authorities have control over entry into the professorate or other post judicial
positions, judges may be subject to political discipline in such system as well.”47 Thispotential disadvantage of a single limited term is mitigated by the minimum age
requirement. Constitutional judges who are appointed at over the age of 40 and serve for
12 years may have less incentive toward future employment possibilities than younger
judges. Of course, no system can absolutely prevent a judge from benefits that may beoffered by political, economic, and other interests.
A non-renewable long term is appropriate for justices of the constitutional court in acountry like Mongolia whose population is small. A short term is not good for thesecountries due to the limited number of qualified candidates. If the term is non-renewable

44

Ipsen, “Constitutional Review of Laws,” 128.
Beyme, “The German Constitutional Court in an Uneasy Triangle Between Parliament, Government
and the Federal Laender,” 103.
46
Ibid.
47
Ginsburg, Judicial Review in New Democracies, 47.
45

47

Chapter Two

in a small country, all qualified candidates will become constitutional judge. They haveto leave the court at the end of their term, and less qualified candidates may be
appointed as replacements. Thus, the renewable term may seem helpful for a small
country because qualified justices can be reappointed. However, a renewable term
harms judicial independence. As justices are politically appointed, political institutions
may reappoint only justices faithful to a certain interest.
The fixed number of justices is another guarantee of judicial independence because
it limits the possibility of political institutions to influence the court by changing thenumber of justices. The number of justices of a constitutional court is fixed by theConstitution or the statute. For example, the number of justices of the Federal
Constitutional Court of Germany has changed over time due to “consideration ofefficiency, couplet with the politics of judicial recruitment.”48 Currently, the number ofjustices of the Federal Constitutional Court is sixteen in Germany.
In Europe, there is a diversity of systems for appointing constitutional judges. In
some countries, three different institutions appoint constitutional judges. For example,
the President of the Republic of Italy, the parliament in joint session and the upperechelons of the judiciary name respectively one-third of constitutional judges.49 In
other countries, constitutional judges are appointed through super-majoritarian
procedures. For instance, the Bundestag elects the half of federal constitutional judgesof Germany and the Bundesrat elects the other half. According to the Law on theFederal Constitutional Court, the Bundestag must elect, by proportional representation,a twelve-member electoral committee, which elects eight federal constitutional judges
by at least eight votes, two-third of all votes. The Bundesrat elects its eight justices by
two thirds of the votes. The majority party often finds it difficult to appoint a
constitutional judge without a compromise with other parliamentary parties since “all of
the major parties approve any justice appointed to the court.”50
The requirement to become a professional justice of the constitutional court is more
apparent in the European system than in the American system. European constitutional
justices are usually drawn from judges, lawyers and prominent legal scholars.51 For

48

Kommers, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany, 18.
Rolla and Groppi, “Between Politics and the Law: The Development of Constitutional Review in
Italy,” 141.
50
Ferejohn and Pasquino, “Constitutional Adjudication,” 1678.
51
The French Constitutional Council is exceptional in this aspect. Former Presidents of France are dejure life members of this council if they do not occupy a post incompatible with the mandate of council
49

48

Two Models of Constitutional Review

instance, justices of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany must have reached theage of 40, be eligible for election to the Bundestag and be qualified to exercise thefunctions of a judge.52 In addition, six of the 16 constitutional judges are selected fromamong the judges of the supreme Federal courts. According to Beyme, all of theserequirements are “defined rigorously enough to prevent an influx of incompetent
politicians into the Constitutional Court.”53
This section researched Kelsen’s theory of constitutional review and the modern
constitutional courts. It concludes that modern constitutional courts are different fromthe original Australian Constitutional Court (developed by Kelsen) in four ways. First,
the constitutional court still has monopoly power in making constitutional review. Even
though the ordinary courts are prohibited from doing constitutional review, they areindirectly involved in this review thanks to the procedures for constitutional questionand constitutional complaint. Second, while the main purpose of the Kelsen’s court was
only the efficiency of the legal system, the main purpose of modern constitutional courts
has shifted to the protection of fundamental rights. According to Schnutz Rudolf Durr,“human rights protection has become one of the main functions – at least quantitatively
the main function – of constitutional courts in Europe.”54 These courts still maintain thefunction of monitoring the distribution of powers but the rights review becomes theirmain function. Third, modern constitutional courts have jurisdictions closely related toconcrete cases (through the constitutional question and the constitutional complaint)
although they retain the duty to conduct the abstract review. Fourth, access to theconstitutional court has become so broad that not only a certain authorities can initiate
the abstract review, but also individuals can submit constitutional complaints against
violation of their own rights and ordinary judges can submit constitutional questions.55
Today, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany is the best exemplar of theEuropean model because this court reflects all of these four points concerning themodification to the Kelsen’s Court. In continental Europe, there has been a change fromthe Kelsenian Constitutional Court to the German Constitutional Court, which is moresimilar with the American model of constitutional review.

member. There exist no age or professional qualifications for membership of the council. Currently, twoof eleven members are former Presidents, but all of the other members studied law before their
appointments. The French Constitutional Council, “The Members.”
52
Art. 2, 3, the 1951 Law on the Federal Constitutional Court, the Federal Republic of Germany.
53
Beyme, “The German Constitutional Court in an Uneasy Triangle Between Parliament, Government
and the Federal Laender,” 103.
54
Durr, “Comparative Overview of European Systems of Constitutional Justice,” 2.
55
Even actio popularis to the constitutional court exists in some countries like Hungary and Mongolia.

49

Chapter Two

2.3. Similarities of American and European models

This section focuses on how the American and European models have evolved into
having four similarities: (1) the protection of fundamental rights and freedom as a main
purpose; (2) the reasoned judgment; (3) a specialized court for constitutional mattersand other courts involved in the constitutional adjudication in different ways; and (4)constitutional review related to concrete cases as the most efficient system (plus theabstract review). These four similarities exist though many of the conventional
understandings of the two models (their historical and institutional differences) remain
valid today.
The first similarity is that the American and the European models are two means tothe same purpose. Both protect fundamental rights against infringement by publicauthorities, mainly the legislature, and restrict political power by guarding theseparation of powers and deciding electoral disputes regarding the highest positions or
the arrangement of the highest political authorities in the country.56 The protection of
fundamental rights is the most important purpose of constitutional review in a
democratic polity committed to liberal constitutionalism. According to Donald P.
Kommers, “The essence of liberal constitutionalism is government in, limited by, anddevoted to the protection of individual rights.”57 The second similarity is that justices inboth models make very deliberate reasoning in deciding a constitutional issue and use
similar methods of constitutional interpretation (particularly the moral reading), which
will be extensively discussed in Chapter 4.
The third similarity between the two models is that the U.S. Supreme Court andconstitutional courts function similarly in practice though other courts are involved in
the constitutional adjudication. Section 2.2 has established that the U.S. Supreme Court
is not a constitutional court. However, the U.S. Supreme Court de facto functions as a
special constitutional court because it decides mostly constitutional and other importantfederal cases due to its own limited federal jurisdiction and certiorari system.58 The

56

See Favoreu, “Constitutional Review in Europe,” 41–42.
Kommers and Thompson, “Fundamentals in the Liberal Constitutional Tradition,” 24.
58
This similarity between the American and European models is valid only in the case of the U.S.
because the supreme courts in some other countries having the American model do not function as a
57

50

Two Models of Constitutional Review

Supreme Court’s jurisdiction covers matters on the U.S. Constitution, and other federallaws. There are some areas where both state and federal laws (security regulation,
taxation, anti-trust enforcement, labor law, and banking) are relevant, or where federal
laws (foreign or military affairs, admiralty law, patent law or copyright law) play a moresignificant role. However, the Supreme Court does not decide questions purely related
to state law. Thus, most ordinary civil and criminal cases are not subject to thejurisdiction of this court because the state courts decide these cases according to thestate laws. Justice Breyer wrote as follows:
Most American law is state law, not federal law. Virtually all family law, and mostproperty, accident, testamentary, criminal, and business law is state law. Even education
law and environmental law is largely state law. And state supreme Courts, not the UnitedStates Supreme Court, have the final word as to the interpretation of state law... [TheCourt’s task is] not to consider all plausible claims that a lower court decision is legallyerroneous, [but] to provide a nationally uniform interpretation of the Constitution or otherfederal law where it sees a need for consistency.59

In addition, the Supreme Court has become more similar to a kind of special court
for constitutional issues because it mostly chooses and decides important cases, largely
constitutional cases, by using certiorari (the discretionary jurisdiction). Section 2.1
noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has two appellate jurisdictions, appeal and certiorari.
However, this distinction has been blurred because certiorari becomes the mostessential appellate jurisdiction. The number of appeals has declined and the number ofcertiorari has increased. In 2006, American scholars reported as follows:
In recent years, more than 7000 cases have been filed annually in the Supreme Court.
Only a few come within the Court’s original jurisdiction or its now nearly non-existentmandatory appellate jurisdiction; virtually all are petitions for certiorari, which the Court
may, but need not, choose to hear. The Court decided only 80 cases with written opinions
in the 2004-2005 Term, down from an average of 172 cases each year for the five Terms
spanning 1984-88 and an average of 113 for the five Terms spanning 1990-97.60

Under certiorari, the Supreme Court decides only those cases it wants with a few
exceptions, and it does not explain why it accepts or rejects a requested appeal.

special court for constitutional matters. For the extreme conservativism of the Japanese Supreme Court,
see Matsui, The Constitution of Japan, 145–150.
59
Breyer, Active Liberty, 6.
60
Choper et al., Constitutional Law, 49.

51

Chapter Two

American scholars argued as follows: “The Court has often asserted that the denial ofcertiorari carries no precedential significance; the Court does not approve the judgmentof the lower court, but merely – for unexplained reasons – allows it to stand.”61 Without
this kind of discretionary jurisdiction, the Court would be overburdened with ordinary
or trivial cases, and could not pay enough attention to constitutional questions and otherimportant questions of federal law. By certiorari and other means, the Supreme Court
can control its own docket, granting review to only a small number of all petitions forreview submitted to it, and concentrating on most important cases. Constitutional cases
have recently constituted about half of approximately 80 cases [the docket of this court]
each year, with statutory cases taking up the other half.62 According to Durr, “the nameof the court does not matter. Being on top of hierarchy of ordinary courts, the US
Supreme Court de facto only picks “constitutional cases” through its certiorari filter.”63
Thus, this court of the U.S. functions like a constitutional court in practice.
As Section 2.2 shown, constitutional courts characteristically decide constitutional
matters, and ordinary courts do not decide such matters. However, ordinary courts are
more involved in the constitutional review due to the essential roles of the constitutionalquestion and complaint in European countries such as Germany today. The
constitutional question procedure available to all ordinary judges promotes their
responsibility for constitutionality of statutes. Because an ordinary judge has to send a
constitutional question to the constitutional court on a statute they are applying, he or
she considers the constitutionality of that statute. If a judge does not submit a
constitutional question to the constitutional court, it implies that the statute he or she isapplying does not violate the Constitution. However, if the statute is clearly against theConstitution, the ordinary judges will have to submit a constitutional question to theconstitutional court. Otherwise, the litigants, the media and legal scholars will criticize
these judges. Moreover, if the statute, which the ordinary judges are applying, is sovague that it can be interpreted as either constitutional or unconstitutional, these judges
tend to interpret the statute as constitutional in the most possible way. Victor F. Comellaargued as follows:

61

Ibid.
Tushnet, “The United States: Eclecticism in the Service of Pragmatism,” 13.
63
Durr, “Comparative Overview of European Systems of Constitutional Justice,” 66252

Two Models of Constitutional Review

Before referring a question to the constitutional court, the ordinary judge is expected inmany countries to look for an interpretation of the statute that will preserve its
constitutional validity. This power of interpretation allows ordinary judges to have a sharein the task of safeguarding the Constitution against offensive legislation. Although they
do not have the power to disregard statutes on constitutional grounds, they have thepower to interpret them so as to make them cohere with the Constitution.64

If the judges interpret the vague statute as unconstitutional, the litigants, the media andlegal scholars would criticize them. Therefore, ordinary judges in Europe start to takethe Constitution seriously and interpret it in a limited sense. Ordinary judges’
involvement in the constitutional review challenges the old argument that these judges
are mentally unprepared for this review, so a special constitutional court should beestablished for it as Section 2.2 has discussed.
Through the constitutional complaint process, the constitutional court is alsostrongly connected to the ordinary courts. According to Comella, the constitutional
court becomes in practice the highest supreme court of the judiciary though its
jurisdiction is restricted to the issue of whether or not a fundamental right has been
infringed.65 The reason is that the constitutional court reviews the constitutionality ofordinary court decisions. Plaintiffs who have lost their cases in the ordinary courts andbelieve their rights were still infringed upon often go to the constitutional court andchallenge the constitutionality of the judicial decision concerned. In other words, if a
judge does not submit a potential question against clearly unconstitutional legislation ordoes not interpret the vague legislation as constitutional, the plaintiff may submit acomplaint to the constitutional court after having exhausted the judicial recourse at theordinary courts. The constitutional court then reviews the constitutionality of ordinary
court decisions, and the ordinary courts will have to reconsider the relevant cases
accordingly.
The fourth similarity between the American and European models is that
constitutional review is closely related to concrete cases (plus the abstract issues) as themost efficient and desirable system for protecting fundamental rights and freedoms inboth models. According to Alec Stone Sweet, the European constitutional review has

64
Comella, “European Model of Constitutional Review of Legislation,” 472; See also Sweet, “ThePolitics of Constitutional Review in France and Europe.”
65
Comella, “Consequences of Centralizing Constitutional Review in a Special Court,” 1710.

53

Chapter Twobecome more concrete as it evolved, and the U.S. judicial review has become
increasingly abstract.66 Therefore, there are limitations to the statements that European
constitutional review is abstract and the U.S. judicial review is concrete.
Abstract review still exists in Europe, but there is a rise of constitutional review
connected to concrete cases. Section 2.2 has shown that the constitutional court has not
only the abstract review but also constitutional question and the constitutional complaint
jurisdictions. The latter two are the main procedures of the constitutional courts and theefficient devices for protecting fundamental rights in Europe. For example, most cases
are filed in the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany through the constitutional
complaint and constitutional question. The constitutional complaint is first inimportance (122,256 cases, with 96.14 % of the total number of cases filed between
1951 and 2000), constitutional question second (3,121 cases, 2.45 %), and abstract
review third (140 cases, 0.11 %).67 According to Antonio La Pergola, the constitutional
complaint is one way European constitutional brand of justice has come “nearer to thespirit, if not the technicalities, of the judicial review of the American type.”68 Thus,
constitutional review related to concrete cases tends to dominate not only in countries
having the American model, but also in countries whose constitutional courts exercise
the constitutional complaint or the constitutional question jurisdictions.69
The American judicial review is mostly related to concrete cases due to theconstitutional requirement of “cases and controversies” as Section 2.1 showed. However,the U.S. courts make the abstract review of constitutionality of statutes before theirenforcement and without a concrete case or controversy in a very limited sense. For
example, Alec Stone Sweet and Martin Shapiro developed a new argument in which
abstract review occurs most often in one of the following two situations in the UnitedStates:First, under certain circumstances, plaintiffs may seek declaratory or injunctive relief by ajudge, which, if granted, suspends the application of the law in question pending a
judicial determination of its constitutionality. Plaintiffs commonly file such requests

66

Sweet, “Why Europe Rejected American Judicial Review,” 2772.
Beyme, “The German Constitutional Court in an Uneasy Triangle Between Parliament, Government
and the Federal Laender,” 105.
68
Pergola, “Introductory Statement,” 10.
69
For that the most dominant review procedure is constitutional question in Italy, and the Italian judicial
review has the hybrid nature of American and European models, which helps to increase the degree ofconcreteness of the Constitutional Court judgments, see Rolla and Groppi, “Between Politics and theLaw: The Development of Constitutional Review in Italy,” 148.
67

54

Two Models of Constitutional Review

immediately after the statute has been signed into law by the appropriate authority.
Second, under judicial doctrines developed by the US Supreme Court pursuant tolitigation of First Amendment freedoms, plaintiffs may attack a law on its face, called a‘facial challenge’, and plead the rights of third parties.70

Sweet and Shapiro call these two situations respectively the doctrine of declaratory or
injunctive relief and the doctrine of facial overbreadth and vagueness.
The very limited abstract review has developed in American constitutional case law.
For their argument, Sweet and Shapiro discussed a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court,
which ruled on offensive speech in cyberspace under the American abstract review. In
1995, the U.S. Congress enacted the Communications Decency Act (CDA), whichsought to regulate “indecent” and “offensive” expressions (pornography) on the Internet.
On February 8 1996, the day President signed the CDA into law, 20 public interest andbusiness groups filed suit in a Federal District Court to prohibit the Federal Government
from enforcing two of its key provisions. The plaintiffs claimed that two provisions of
CDA violated freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, and asked that the court enjoin the law’s application. A district court
agreed with the plaintiffs, and issued a preliminary injunction against the enforcementof the challenged provisions. On appeal, the Supreme Court upheld the district court’s
ruling, invalidating the law as unconstitutional for facial overbreadth and vagueness.71
Sweet and Shapiro argued that American case law has developed the doctrine ofdeclaratory or injunctive relief and the doctrine of facial overbreadth and vagueness,both of which make the abstract review of statutes possible at least in a limited sense.
The reasoning in the CDA decisions was so abstract that judges developed a judicial
construction with hypothetical situations, narratives with abstractions as characters,
stand-ins for real people facing challenging dilemmas. Sweet and Shapiro wrote thefollowing:[In this decision], American judges imagined an average ‘speaker’ interested in ‘serious
discussion of prison rape, homosexuality, [or] birth control.’ They read the text of the70

Shapiro and Sweet, On Law, Politics, and Judicialization, 347; These two authors also argue that the
U.S. concrete review includes “many abstract counter-currents,” elements of abstract review, because theabstract and the concrete are inseparable. Ibid., 366–373.
71
Reno v. the American Civil Liberties Union. 65 U.S. For the detailed analysis of the abstract review inthis decision and abstract reasoning, see Shapiro and Sweet, On Law, Politics, and Judicialization, 353–
358.

55

Chapter Two

statute and decided that it would, if allowed to enter into force as written, have produced‘an obvious chilling effect’. The speaker would be led to keep silent, and the government
failed to show that this cost was warranted, given its own policy interests.72

This type of reasoning is not different from what constitutional courts do under theabstract review.
The argument that there is abstract review in the U.S., which Sweet and Shapiro
have developed, is not popular because most comparative constitutional scholars thinkthat the U.S. judicial review is not abstract, but concrete. The typical textbook on
American constitutional law does not discuss the abstract constitutional review. Thus,
scholars could easily criticize the argument for the existence of abstract review in the
United States. The argument by Sweet and Shapiro is valid only in a few exceptionalsituations where the U.S. courts interpret the requirement of case and controversy (thestanding) very loosely because of the nature of the case. Sweet and Shapiro also do notdeny the formal, structural distinctions between the American and European models (itsabstract review). Indeed, the American judicial review is largely concrete thanks to theconstitutional requirements on cases and controversies, while the European review isabstract (with or without the reviews related to concrete cases) thanks to theconstitutional establishment of abstract review. Under the typical American judicial
review, an individual has to show that his or her own fundamental right has been
infringed upon. Under the European abstract review, authorities (a minority of MPs) can
submit a request to the constitutional court without showing that their own rights wereviolated.

2.4. The European model in a transitional society: the Constitutional
Court of Hungary

This section starts with discussions on why the Constitutional Court of Hungary
deserves being treated separately from other constitutional courts by looking at its
purpose, the term, appointment and qualifications of justices, the idea of conflict ofinterests and jurisdictions. After showing the advantages and disadvantages of actio
popularis, the abstract review of legislation initiated by any individual in Hungary, this72

Ibid., 365.

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Two Models of Constitutional Review

section argues for the jurisdictions to be more related to concrete cases.
As most of Western European countries established a constitutional court, nearly allof Central and Eastern European countries did so in the 1990s. Among constitutional
courts of Central and Eastern Europe, the Hungarian Constitutional Court is relevant tothis book for three reasons. First, this court played an important role in protecting
fundamental rights and establishing constitutionalism in Hungary, a transitional country
like Mongolia, in the 1990s. According to Schwartz, this court was “remarkably
courageous and committed to human rights.”73 Hungary was one of Central European
Countries that had greater success in maintaining the rule of law and doing liberal
reforms, and the Constitutional Court was one of the mechanisms important for thissuccess. 74 Second, the Hungarian Constitutional Court’ success in protecting
fundamental rights was achieved mainly through actio popularis, which was similar to
an individual petition of the Mongolian Tsets. Third, the Hungarian Court protectedmany fundamental rights because its jurisprudence was largely based on an appropriate
interpretation method, the moral reading of the Constitution. However, the Mongolian
constitutional jurisprudence did not rely on such method, so it resulted in poor
protection of fundamental rights, which will be discussed in Chapters 4 and 5.
The Constitutional Court was established for the first time in Hungary as a result of
Act XXXI of 1989, the substantive amendment to the 1949 Constitution, and Act
XXXII of 1989 on the Constitutional Court (Act XXXII). According to the preamble ofthe latter act, the Hungarian parliament established this court “in order to establish therule of law, to protect constitutional order and the basic freedoms guaranteed by theConstitution, to foster the separation of powers and to secure checks and balances, to set
up the supreme body protecting the Constitution.” For this purpose, the Constitutional
Court of Hungary had the power to review and invalidate unconstitutional laws andadministrative acts. In 1990s, this court became “one of the most powerful tribunals of
its kind anywhere in the world”75 as a result of the institutional guarantees of its
independence, the composition of first judges committed to the transition towards
liberal democracy, and the very broad jurisdictions.

73

Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 106.
However, constitutional democracy was weakened in Hungary as the new Constitution that attracted agreat deal of criticisms was adopted and took effect on January 1, 2012. This book does not cover thisconstitutional change in Hungary, but the Constitutional Court and its jurisprudence in 1990s.
75
Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 9; Dupre, Importing the
Law in Post-Communist Transitions, 6.
74

57

Chapter Two

The amended Hungarian Constitution guaranteed the independence of theConstitutional Court through the tenure, the appointment process, the qualification forjustices, the budget and the immunity. The Hungarian Court had eleven justices elected
for nine years and capable to be reappointed once. According to Diana Mecsi, threejustices out of ten were re-appointed in 2010. 76 The constitutional judges were
nominated by a special committee consisting of one member of each political party
represented in the parliament,77 and were elected by a majority of two-third of the votesof the parliamentary members. Due to this requirement, the stronger or majority parties
could not control the nomination and the appointment of the judges. A majority of twothirds of the votes of parliamentary members present was required to pass the law on theConstitutional Court. The Hungarian Court was financially and administratively
independent. This court determined its own budget that was submitted for the approvalto the Parliament as a part of the state budget (Act XXXII, art. 2). The judges had thesame immunity as MPs and discipline their own colleagues.
Members of the Government or employees of political parties, as well as highranking officials who served in such capacity during the four years before the election
were prohibited to become a constitutional justice (Act XXXII, art. 5.3). Hungarian
citizens with a law degree who had reached the age of 45 years might be appointed as ajustice of the Constitutional Court. The parliament appoints constitutional justices fromamong legal scholars and lawyers with at least 20 years of professional experience in aposition demanding a degree in political science and law (Act XXXII, art. 5.2). Almost
all justices were of academic background in the field of law in 2010.78
The first justices of the Hungarian Constitutional Court were important for thedevelopment of constitutional jurisprudence. The first two of ten justices were twoformer Supreme Court judges, while the others were either law professors or scholars.79
Georg Brunner wrote on these justices as follows:76

Mecsi, “Institutions and Functioning of the Hungarian Constitutional Court.”
Unfortunately, this requirement of the nominating committee was weakened by a constitutional
amendment. “The number of the members of the Nominating Committee shall be between 9 and 15,
determined by the size of the respective parliamentary fractions. [32/A subsection (4) of the Constitution,
amended on 5 July, 2010] Prior to this modification no reference was made to proportionality, theNomination Committee consisted of one member of each parliamentary fraction.” This amendment
eliminated the requirement of asking opinions of the opposition party during the nomination process ofcandidates to constitutional judges. See Ibid.
78
The Hungarian Constitutional Court, “Present Members.”
79
Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 79.
77

58

Two Models of Constitutional Review

In terms of professional specialization, civil lawyers (eight) and public lawyers (five)dominate the Court, whereas criminal law is represented by only one judge. This unusual
makeup of the Court can be explained by the fact that in Hungary legal scholars were thedriving force behind the liberal-democratic reforms and within legal scholarship civil law
was the field in which one could work relatively undisturbed by political pressure.80

The fact that only one justice was criminal lawyer was important because criminal law
was once the main tool of the communist party for violating fundamental rights ofindividuals. Moreover, justices including Chief Justice Laszlo Solyom who studied inGermany positively influenced the performance of the court.
Articles 9 and 10 of Act XXXII required the judges to avoid a conflict of interest sothat it ensures the impartial decision making not influenced by the judge’ personal
interests. The judges of the Constitutional Court were not allowed to be members ofparliament, council members, officials of other state organs, leading officials in organsof interest representation and members of parties, as well as not permitted to pursue
political activities or make political statements. Constitutional judges also should not
engage in any gainful occupation other than scientific, educational, literary and artistic
activities.
The Hungarian Constitutional Court had very broad jurisdictions and three of thesejurisdictions were important. 81 The first jurisdiction was the actio popularis, theabstract review of laws and administrative acts for constitutionality after theirpromulgation, which was available to anyone. All citizens had the right to submit apetition on constitutionality of any law or administrative act to the Constitutional Court
no matter whether he or she was affected by laws and other legal means or to what
degree he or she finished an ordinary judicial proceeding. As a result of this unlimited
standing, hundreds of citizens challenged laws, and the overwhelming majority of
constitutional cases fall in the category of actio popularis.82 The second jurisdiction of
the Hungarian Court was the constitutional question (Act XXXII, art. 38.1). This was
the same as the classic constitutional question procedure, discussed earlier in Section

80

Solyom and Brunner, Constitutional Judiciary in a New Democracy, 73.
Other jurisdictions are the ex ante examination for unconstitutionality of statutes adopted but not yet
promulgated, and of provisions of the rules of procedure of Parliament and of international treaties; theexamination of conflicts between international treaties and rules of law, as well as other legal means ofstate administration; the elimination of unconstitutionality by omission; the elimination of conflicts ofcompetence between state organs, local governments and other state organs, or between local
governments; and the interpretation of provisions of the Constitution (Act XXXII, art. 1).
82
Solyom and Brunner, Constitutional Judiciary in a New Democracy, 81.
81

59

Chapter Two

2.2. If a judge deciding a concrete case found a law unconstitutional, then he or she had
to suspend the proceeding and submit a constitutional question to the Constitutional
Court.
The third jurisdiction was a form of constitutional complaint (normative
constitutional complaint). The Hungarian complaint was more limited than the German
one (Verfassungsbeschwerde) because anyone had the right to file a complaint before
the Constitutional Court for a violation of one’s own fundamental rights if the injury
was consequential to the application of the unconstitutional law and if he or she had
exhausted all other possible legal remedies or no further legal remedies were available
to him or her (Act XXXII, art. 48.1). An individual could not file a complaint for theviolation of his or her fundamental rights against an administrative or judicial decision
in a concrete case unless he or she challenged the constitutionality of norms on the basisof which the decision had been brought. Thus, the Hungarian constitutional complaint
protected fundamental rights not against the judicial decision or the administrative act
but against the norm of law. “The number of the constitutional complaints presented to
the Hungarian Constitutional Court in [the first decade] does not amount even to 1% of
the total number of potential claims.”83 Few cases initiated by this complaint systemshowed that this system did not work efficiently in Hungary. Instead of the normativecomplaint, the individual could directly and easily initiate the abstract review of laws
and administrative acts (actio popularis).
Many scholars accepted that the actio popularis had been the most important meansfor protecting the fundamental rights and establishing constitutionalism in the first
decade of the Hungarian Court’s existence. The actio popularis had two advantages.
First, the actio popularis was suitable for a transitional society because it could be an
efficient means to make the entire legal reform more consistent with constitutional
principles. For Hungary, the transitional period of the 1990s from socialism to liberal
democracy demanded a reform of the whole legal system. Since citizens challenged
almost all of the constitutionally suspicious legal norms through actio popularis, which
did not require any individual interest or standing, the Constitutional Court reviewed
these challenges and developed constitutional case law. As Brunner said, “in this way,
the Constitutional Court had the opportunity, in the early stages of the new democracy,
to review almost the entire legal order for unconstitutionality and to establish guiding

83

Halmai, “The Hungarian Approach to Constitutional Review:,” 194.

60

Two Models of Constitutional Review

standards for the Hungarian constitutional state.”84 Second, the actio popularis helped
in developing a constitutional culture in a relatively short period. First Chief Justice ofthe Hungarian Constitutional Court Solyom wrote as follows:
Turning to the constitutional court became a special channel of direct democracy, and forthe influence of the citizenry upon legislation. This possibility, and the frequent effect ofsuch actions, the invalidation of laws (even laws taking force not long previously), thecoverage of these events in the press, and the cases when the court refused the challenge,
all constituted a unique learning process of constitutionalism for the citizens. The actio
popularis contributed to the popularity of the Constitutional Court. People felt that they
had an ultimate forum to call upon; they appreciated the impartiality of the Court as well.
Popular support in turn strengthened the Constitutional Court’s legitimacy and its positionin the political system.85

However, scholars criticized the actio popularis. The actio popularis resulted in a
massive workload for the Constitutional Court. This massive caseload was needed
during the system change, but it is not needed now because the main legal reforms arecompleted in Hungary. According to Durr, “[actio popularis] can lead to a high numberof cases, which can clog down a constitutional court, making it unable to make up
within reasonable time really pressing issues, including human rights cases.” 86
Moreover, the actio popularis increased the risk of politicizing the Constitutional Court
because this procedure was not limited by any requirement of standing or interest, andpolitical actors might abuse it.
Hungarian constitutional judges and scholars argued that the jurisdictions more
related to the concrete cases should play the dominant role of actio popularis.87 The
ordinary judge should use more frequently the constitutional questions. The
development of constitutional question depended on the ordinary judges’ awareness ofconstitutionalism. In the period of transition, ordinary judges did not find relationshipbetween the application of statutes and the Constitution. Nevertheless, ordinary judges
would gradually become more aware of constitutionality of statues in the long run.

84

Solyom and Brunner, Constitutional Judiciary in a New Democracy, 81.
Solyom, “The Role of Constitutional Courts in the Transition to Democracy,” 152.
86
Durr, “Comparative Overview of European Systems of Constitutional Justice.” Prof. Durr alsomentioned the danger of actio popularis, which was warned by President of the Constitutional Court of
Croatia: “[A] single person had made some 800 applications to her Court [of Croatia], causing
considerable disruption of the work of the Court. The Venice Commission is likely to echo this warning in
its draft Report on Individual Access to Constitutional Justice.”
87
Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 107.
85

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Chapter Two

Moreover, the classic (German) constitutional complaint should be adopted becauseof three reasons. First, the constitutional complaint (and the constitutional question)
would make the court more judicial and less political. According to Halmai, “theHungarian Constitutional Court can be freed from all negative political implications
about the activist uses of its powers only if it reconstructed to be more like an ordinary
court than like an upper chamber of the Parliament, as it is.”88 While protecting theConstitution, the court could avoid unnecessary confrontation with political branches of
the government and would show more respect to these branches because it mostly deals
with judgments of ordinary courts.
Second, the classic constitutional complaint can strengthen jurisdiction in the field offundamental rights because it ensures that “those who make decisions about the lives ofcitizens also follow constitutional principles in their exercise of official power.”89 The
constitutional complaint is more important than actio popularis because it functions to
end concrete violations of fundamental rights. Rights violations occur in
unconstitutional applications of laws rather than unconstitutional laws seen in the
abstract. The vast majority of cases decided by the German Constitutional Court are
initiated through the constitutional complaint, and they concern concrete rights
violations, which are mostly done by the decisions of ordinary courts or administrative
organs. For example, most of the caseload in the German Court in 1993 was made up of
constitutional complaints with 75 percent being brought against judicial decisions.90
Concrete violations of individual rights cannot be reviewed through any abstract review
including actio popularis.
Third, the reasoning by the constitutional court would be improved under theindividual complaint procedure. According to American scholars, “concretely adverse
interests sharpen the issues for judicial resolution and enhance the likelihood ofilluminating argument.” 91 The constitutional complaint system has a very close
relationship with the concrete problem. Because individuals have a burning interest in acase and because they think they are victims of an unconstitutional act, they fight thiscase intensively, giving concrete examples, important points, and solid justifications fortheir claims. This burning interest in the concrete case can be explained by one of
Hume’s psychological principles, the principle of the greater influence of more

88

Halmai, “The Hungarian Approach to Constitutional Review:,” 209.
Ibid.
90
Kommers, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany, 27.
91
Choper et al., Constitutional Law, 1554.
89

62

Two Models of Constitutional Review

particular and determinate ideas on the imagination, as follows:
Hume’s thought was that pleasures with which we are acquainted, and of which we havedetailed and specific ideas, have more influence on us than those we conceive of under
the general notion of pleasure or advantage. In fact, the more general and universal ourideas, the less their influence on the imagination and so on the passions.92

The concrete examples of alleged violations of rights show how intensively the law
affects the lives of individuals. Thus, judges are capable of deciding cases with adetailed knowledge of all relevant facts and principles pertaining to a case, which will
sharpen the constitutional reasoning in the judgment. However, actio popularis does nothave a close relationship with the concrete problem because the individual interest incase is not required. Thus, the Constitutional Court may not take the matter seriously
and clearly.

Conclusion

Constitutional review is essential for implementing the rule of law andconstitutionalism. Thus, Chapter 2 examined two models of this review. Under theAmerican model, ordinary courts exercise constitutional review. Under the European
model, only a special constitutional court exercises this review. These two models tend
to have four similarities in spite of their historical and institutional differences: theprotection of fundamental rights as the main purpose; the reasoned judgment based on
the similar method of constitutional interpretation; a specialized court for constitutional
matters and other courts involved in the constitutional adjudication; and theconstitutional review related to concrete cases as the most efficient system (plus theabstract review). Thanks to these similarities, an American theory of constitutional
interpretation can be used in the European model if it improves the protection of
fundamental rights.
Chapter 2 also focused on the Hungarian Constitutional Court by investigating its
purpose, composition, independence, impartiality, and jurisdictions including actio
popularis. This court of Hungary was more successful in protecting fundamental rights

92

Rawls, Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy, 39.

63

Chapter Two

than the Mongolian Constitutional Court (Tsets) in terms of quantity and quality of theirdecisions though both courts have actio popularis as the main mechanism ofconstitutional review. The book finds two distinctions between these courts. First, the
Hungarian Constitutional Court was instituted well so that it worked independently andcomposed of qualified justices at the period of transition. Chapter 3 shows that
Mongolia created the Tsets by following the worldwide tendency of constitutionalism
and adopting the European model, but that the Tsets had the weak guarantees of judicial
independence and the less qualified composition. Second, from the beginning of its
existence, the Hungarian Constitutional Court provided reasoned judgments and using abetter method of interpreting the Constitution; that was, the moral reading of theConstitution. Chapter 4 will show how the Hungarian Court did the moral reading aswith the courts of matured democracies such as the U.S. and Germany while Chapter 5
will show the weakness of the moral reading by the Mongolian Tsets.

64Chapter 3
Constitutional Review in Mongolia

The Constitutional Court (Tsets) of Mongolia was created as a result of longdeliberations. Section 3.1 explores how the constitutional review was deliberated during
the constitution making. The drafts of the Constitution, the protocols of discussions bymembers of the State Small Khural and the People’s Great Khural (the framers), and thematerials of domestic and international conferences on the draft are the sources used inthis section. The section argues that according to the framers, constitutional review was
a necessary element of the Rechtsstaat and a mechanism for protecting the Constitution.
It also examines two models of review, the Soviet and American models, which framerscompared with the European model. The European model was chosen because theSoviet model was too weak for protecting the Constitution while the American one wasunsuitable to the Mongolian legal tradition.
Section 3.2 argues that the Tsets is a version of the European model of constitutional
review. The constitutional text, the discussions by framers and foreign experts, thepractice of the Tsets, the decisions of this court, current laws and scholarly writings are
the sources referred to in this section. The section focuses on features of the Tsets suchas its name, composition, appointment of justices, term of justices, qualifications ofjustices, jurisdictions and the procedure in decision-making. This section finallyevaluates the nature of the Tsets by comparing it with the Committee of Constitutional
Supervision of the USSR, and examines whether it meets the criteria of theconstitutional court.

3.1. Discussions on constitutional review in the constitution making

65

Chapter Three

3.1.1. The Soviet model of constitutional review as weak for the Rechtsstaat and theprotection of fundamental rights

This subsection notes the absence of constitutional review under the socialist regime
in Mongolia and discusses the two primary purposes of creating constitutional review inthe 1992 Constitution. The framers used these two purposes as referrals to evaluate
models of constitutional review. They rejected a weak model called the Soviet model
because it could not achieve these two purposes. Thus, this subsection examines thehistorical discussions on the Soviet model, its main features, and arguments for andagainst this model.
No constitutional review mechanism to legislation and other acts existed in
Mongolia until 1992. When debating the draft of the Constitution, the framers also
spoke about the absence of constitutional review and judicial independence. There wasno established system of reviewing whether the law was consistent with theConstitution or even whether the governmental act was consistent with the law.1 The
courts lacked a review power. Framer Tsog L. argued that high-ranking organs such as
the Central Party Committee and their officials acted arbitrarily without being limitedby the law because they often interfered with the courts and the courts never handled
complaints against these organs and officials.2 Thus, Mongolia needed a mechanism toreview the new Constitution.
The Constitution framers adopted the constitutional review for two primary purposes.
The first purpose was to establish the Rechtsstaat (the rule of law) and the second wasto protect fundamental rights. The framers explicitly intended to abolish the socialist
legal system by establishing the Rechtsstaat in Mongolia along with the introduction of
constitutional review. The Constitution could be realized in practice only if a court,
either an ordinary court or a special court, protects this document. For example, framer
Bayar S., later the Prime Minister (2007 - 2009), argued that the Constitution shouldhave its own guardian, the constitutional review mechanism, to establish the Rechtsstaat.

1

Chimid B., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 89; Altangerel E., AIKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 63, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
2
Tsog L., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 95; Tsog L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel(Dec. 16, 1991): 38-39, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.

66

Constitutional Review in Mongolia

According to Bayar, the Rechtsstaat consisted of three essential elements: “(1) the law,(2) a mechanism to implement the law, and (3) a review of whether life goes according
to the law.” This third element required the existence of constitutional review.3 Framer
Galsandorj B. also clearly made a similar argument for this review:
A cause of the perversion in Mongolia was that the Constitution was not implemented.
Who will rule Mongolia in general? Not any individual, but the Constitution will rule thecountry at the highest level. We are setting up the Rechtsstaat, which means that theConstitution exists at the highest level, everybody is ruled by the Constitution, and allactivities comply with the Constitution. The State Great Khural, the Government, and theSupreme Court may violate the Constitution. Thus, let’s see what the Rechtsstaat
demands, and create a guardian of the Constitution, an organization to implement this law
by reviewing whether it is violated or not.4

The second purpose of adopting constitutional review was to protect fundamental
rights from abuses of public powers, particularly by the parliamentary majority. The
framers pointed to the worldwide tendency to allow for constitutional review to protect
basic rights, and to allow citizens to exercise their right to access to the constitutional
court. For example, framer Bat-Uul E. stated:
The constitutional court has become a world-wide tendency. The State Great Khural
cannot be politically neutral because it always serves the side of a winning political party.
We provided the winning party an opportunity to oppress opinions of other parties or to
put obstacles in their activities by writing many general terms such as social and state
security in the Constitution. For example, let’s imagine that a political party became
majority in the SGKh so that it managed to enacte a law to trace and oppress individuals
with opinions different from the party. As a result, a member of another party might beindicted for a political crime according to this law, which seemed to be consistent withconstitutional clauses on social and state securities. If the court punished that person by
applying this law, his or her lawyer would file a complaint that the law violated his
freedom of expression.5

3

Bayar S., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 68-69, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
4
Galsandorj B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 37, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
5
Bat-uul E., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 79-80, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.

67

Chapter Three

Even though the Constitution framers agreed that constitutional review was “aguardian of democracy and the Constitution,”6 they disagreed as to which institution
should exercise the power of this review in Mongolia. The framers discussed threemodels: the soviet model (the constitutional supervision council), the American model(the supreme court), and the European model (the constitutional court).
The Soviet model of constitutional review was referred to as the constitutional
supervision council having only an advisory power to the parliament. The People’s
Great Khural (the PGKh) adopted this model as the Constitutional Supervision Council
in the 1990 Law on Constitutional Amendment (the 1990 Amendment). This law
consisted of only three clauses on the Council, allowing for no judicial review power
and failing to make its institutional arrangement complete. For example, the 1990
Amendment was silent on who was eligible to be appointed as a member of the Council,
how its members would be appointed, what procedures govern the operation of theCouncil, and who could have access to the Council. Moreover, the PGKh neither
passed a specific law on the Council nor appointed its members, violating the 1990
Amendment. The Council in the Amendment was not established in practice because of
the risk that it could be used against new political forces by enforcing the old socialist
Constitution,7 and because of the urgency to draft the new Constitution.8 Nevertheless,the idea of the constitutional supervision council was included again in one of the earlydrafts of the new Constitution9 and was reconsidered along with the American andEuropean models during the constitution making in 1991 and 1992.
The main features of the Constitutional Supervision Council described in the 1990
Amendment and the drafts of the Constitution were the appointment of its members, thequalification of its members, and its jurisdictions. According to the draft Constitution,
this Council consisted of seven members. The SGKh appointed three of its members fornine years, the President three members, and the Supreme Court the remaining one.
Members of the Council elected one of themselves as the chairperson. Moreover,candidates to the Council could be a lawyer as well as other professionals such as a6

Lamjav D., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 10-11, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
7
Chimid B., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 88-89, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
8
Amarsanaa J., “Undsen Khuuliin Khyanalt, Tuuniig Kheregjuulekh Arga Zam,” 439.
9
Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin tusul, [The draft of the Constitution of Mongolia] (Dec. 1990; Jan. 14,
1991; Mar. 4, 1991): 21-22, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san. Though the term
“constitutional tsets” is used in the draft, the term “constitutional council” is used in this research forclarifying the substantial differences of the three models of constitutional review.

68Constitutional Review in Mongolia

diplomat, an economist or a political figure.10 There was even the following clausesimilar to the French acceptance of former presidents as constitutional judges: theformer Presidents of Mongolia other than those who were removed from theirpresidential positions for commiting a crime might become a member of theConstitutional Council until the age of 60.
The jurisdiction of the Council was weak and non-judicial even though someframers called it the French model.11 According to framer Chimid, the idea of thisCouncil was based on not the French model but the Soviet model.12 Unlike the French
Constitutional Council, the Constitutional Supervision Council understood by theframers would not review draft laws, but laws and other acts. Moreover, while theFrench Council had the power to make the final, binding decisions on constitutional
matters, the Constitutional Supervision Council would have no such power, but thepower to render advices on similar matters to the Parliament. Thus, the Constitutional
Supervision Council was not a court but an advisory body to the Parliament.13
The powers of the Constitutional Supervision Council were defined in the 1990
Amendment and the draft Constitution. Article 2.4 of this amendment enabled the
PGKh “to establish the Constitutional Supervision Council and to change its
composition,” and granted the Council two advisory powers. The first power was tosubmit conclusions on implementation of the Constitution to the check by the PGKh(the Amendment, art. 11.9). It was up to the PGKh to accept the conclusion of theCouncil. The Council could neither strike down unconstitutional statutes and otherdecisions nor make a final decision on constitutionality of these decisions. The second
power of the Council was to submit conclusions on constitutional violations by the
President. In case of a violation of the Constitution or other laws, and an abuse of powerin breach of his or her oath, the President might be removed from his or her post on thebasis of the conclusion of the Council by no less than two thirds of deputies of the
PGKh (the Amendment, art. 11.9). The draft Constitution broadened the power of theCouncil to make a conclusion on other issues related to the activities of the high-ranking

10
Ganbayar N., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 93-95; Sovd G. (Director of the Legal
Institute), AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Jan. 9, 1992): 165, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin
san.
11
Ganbayar N., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 33, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
12
Chimid B., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 88-89; Nyamdorj D., UBKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 38, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
13
Mongol ulsiin ikh tsaaziin tusul, [The draft of the Constitution of Mongolia], Boti no. 91, (Apr. 18,
1991): 188-189, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.

69

Chapter Threeorganizations and officials at the request of the Parliament and the President. The
Council would settle disputes not by the petitions of citizens, but it would makeconclusion on its own initiative.14
Even though the Constitution Drafting Commission rejected the Soviet model very
early on, a few members advocated for this model during the discussion at the SSKh.
The main argument for this model was that if the judicial body had the constitutional
review power, it could become too powerful. 15 Another argument was that if theconstitutional court made a final decision on constitutional matters, it would enjoy thelegislative power, which would be against the separation of powers. For example,
framer Jantsan N. (later constitutional justice) gave a hypothetical example as follows:
Let’s imagine that the SGKh enacted a law accepting the right to privately own land [oneof the highly controversial issues during the constitution making] and the Constitution
said nothing on this right. If the constitutional court struck down this law, then it would
exercise the SGKh’s legislative power on this issue. Thus, the SGKh should keep its
legislative power to amend the law. Three branches of the state power should not interferewith each other’s competences, but respect each other.16

However, a majority of Constitution framers and the Constitution Drafting
Commission rejected the Soviet model because the constitutional supervision council
would have mere advisory power to the parliament. According to framers, the SGKh
could become so powerful that it would enact and defend any law by easily neglecting
the conclusions of the council because these conclusions were not binding.17 Thus, thecouncil could not serve the two primary purposes of establishing the constitutional
review, the establishment of the Rechtsstaat and the protection of basic human rights.
Framers also discussed the world-wide tendency to give this review power to a court.18
Some framers argued that the Soviet model failed to protect the Constitution in theSoviet Union. According to Tsog, as with the USSR Committee of Constitutional

14
Ochirjav O., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 155, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
15
Zuunai G., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 90; Tovuusuren, UBKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 28; Zuunai G., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 32, in Mongol
ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
16
Jantsan N., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 42, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
17
Ochirjav O., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 44-46; Zariikhan D., AIKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 17, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
18
Chimid B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 87-88, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.

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Constitutional Review in Mongolia

Supervision, the Council would be no longer be alive since it just said its opinions on
constitutional matters.19 Thus, Russia and other post-socialist countries rejected theidea of a council in favor of the constitutional court after the collapse of the Soviet
Union.20
Even though Mongolia rejected the Soviet model of constitutional review, this model
never lost its influence over the creation of the constitutional review, which will be
discussed in Subsection 3.2.4. By rejecting the Soviet model, the majority of Mongolian
framers agreed that “a body of the judiciary” should have the power to make a final
decision on the constitutionality of statutes and other acts.21 However, the framers
disagreed on whether to grant this power to the ordinary court or a special constitutional
court.

3.1.2. The American model of constitutional review being unsuitable in the
Mongolian context

The American model actually has several versions as a result of its adaptation andevolution in various countries. Constitution framers discussed one of these versions.
This subsection examines some main features of this version, its advantages and reasons
for rejecting it in favor of the European model. Framers of the Mongolian Constitution
debated lively which of the American and European models would be suitable for
Mongolia in 1990-1992.
A few young lawyers supported the American model, the idea of conferring on theordinary courts to exercise constitutional review. Framer Ganbayar N., the leading
advocate for this model, considered its two versions. According to the first version, only

19
Tsog L., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 81; See also Nyamdorj D., UBKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 38; Tsog L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 50,
in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
20
Zardiikhan K, UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 89; Tsog L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 24-25; Chimid B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 27-29, in
Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
21
Tsog L., “Human Rights issue in the Mongolian Constitution,” Paper presented at the International
Conference on the Mongolia’s transition to democracy: the role of the new Constitution, Boti 88,
Ulaanbaatar, 1991, 11; Tserendorj, “Shuukhiig uurchlun shinechlekh tulgamdsan asuudluud [the pressing
issues of judicial reform]”, Paper presented at the International Conference on the Mongolia’s transition
to democracy: the role of the new Constitution, Boti 88, Ulaanbaatar, 1991, 273-277, in Mongol ulsiin
undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.

71

Chapter Threethe highest court, i.e. the supreme court, could exercise constitutional review as in thecases of Canada, Columbia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Morocco.22 In
the second version, all ordinary courts could exercise this review as in the U.S., Mexico,
Brazil, Argentina, Japan, and India.23 Ganbayar argued for the first version and rejected
the second saying that if all courts exercised the constitutional review, they mightinterfere too often with acts of administrative officials.24
The version of the American model discussed during the constitution making had
seven main features. First, the Supreme Court included nine justices who wereappointed by the legislature, which exercised “the parliamentary check on the Supreme
Court.” 25 The Supreme Court was composed of only legal professionals. 26 The
supporters also argued for life tenure of the Supreme Court justices. This version of theAmerican model was different from the U.S. judicial review because only the Supreme
Court would exercise constitutional review. On the other hand, the function of theSupreme Court would be similar to the U.S. Supreme Court’s function to decide mainly
constitutional and other important federal cases because framers thought that theSupreme Court should decide not ordinary cases but constitutional ones. 27 The
supporters of this model argued that the Supreme Court would exercise the concrete
review, but they did not discuss whether it would also exercise the abstract review.
However, these supporters refused to confer on the Supreme Court any power to deliver
a conclusion on constitutional issues including a constitutional violation by the
President. They thought that the judiciary should not submit any conclusion to theparliament because this conclusion would not be final and would harm the authority of
the judiciary.28
These proponents said that the American model had three advantages that did not

22
In Denmark, Ireland and Norway, also only supreme courts may exercise constitutional review. Durr,“Comparative Overview of European Systems of Constitutional Justice,” 4.
23
Ganbayar N., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 29, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
24
Ganbayar N., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 22, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
25
Ganbayar N., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 17, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
26
Ganbayar N., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 93-95, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
27
Ganbayar N., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 3, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
28
Bayartsogt S., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 39, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.

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Constitutional Review in Mongolia

exist in the European model. First, the process of constitutional review would earn thewhole judiciary a reputation as a guardian of the Constitution, particularly basic humanrights. They made the following argument:
The judiciary would gain the reputation and would be elevated to the same level as otherbranches of the public power. Since all courts had the duty to the strict observance of theConstitution, the citizens would have a wide possibility to protect their rights given by theConstitution and other laws.29

Second, the judiciary exercising constitutional review would become one integrated
system because it solved all kinds of disputes (constitutional, civil, or criminal).30 Third,
the American model was more economic with savings on the budget because thegovernment did not need to create another court. According to Ganbayar, if aconstitutional court were established, there would be two supreme courts, which wouldbe economically unproductive for a small and unitary country like Mongolia. 31 Tsog L.,
a proponent of the European model, replied that if these 9 justices joined the Supreme
Court as the constitutional chamber, they would not work without the salary. 32
Supporters of the European model also argued that even when the constitutional court
needed a separate budgetary allocation, it should have taken priority over other concerns,
such as the budgetary one, thanks to its function as the only institution to protect theConstitution.
The SSKh and the PGKh rejected the American model but they adopted the idea ofconcentrating the constitutional review to one institution. A majority of framers decided

29

The Standing Committee on Legal Affairs of the SSKh, “Conclusions on the first discussion of thedraft Constitution” (1991), Boti 91, 215-216, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
30
Ganbayar N., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 2, 1991): 6 in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san. The supporters of the American models supported the first version and rejected the second.
However, they sometimes justified the first by the second version as the first two justifications of theAmerican model in the main text are based on the merits of the second verion. Thus, the distinction
between these two versions was unclear or confusing.
31
Ganbayar N., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 6. See also Amarsanaa J., UBKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 23; Tovuusuren., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18,
1991): 46; Jantsan D., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 19; Ganbayar N., AIKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 93-95; The Standing Committee on Legal Affairs of the SSKh,“Conclusions on the first discussion of the draft Constitution” (1991), Boti 91, 215-216, in Mongol ulsiin
undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san. Due to the similar economic reason, Estonia gave the judicial review
power to the supreme court. “The Estonians anticipated too few constitutional cases to justify the trouble
and expense of establishing a separate tribunal.” Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in
Post-Communist Europe, 24, 153.
32
Tsog L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 52 in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.

73

Chapter Three

to give this review to the Tsets (the constitutional court) rather than the Supreme Courtin Mongolia for eight reasons: (1) the civil law countries tended to create aconstitutional court; (2) the American model was unsuitable for the unitary form ofgovernment; (3) the distrust in the ordinary courts was a cause for rejecting theAmerican model that would indeed give the constitutional review to the old Supreme
Court; (4) it was too risky to give this review to the life-tenured justices; (5) the
principle of the separation of powers would be damaged if the Supreme Court exercised
the constitutional review; (6) it would be difficult to deal with the impeachment cases
under the unicameral parliament if the Supreme Court exercised the constitutional
review;33 (7) the Constitutional Court was needed for reviewing constitutionality of theSupreme Court decisions;34 and (8) the Parliament’s right to defend its own law would
be better protected before the constitutional court.35 This study will take up for analyses
the five most important of these eight reasons due to the space limit, as these fivereasons have also been discussed in other transitional countries that rejected theAmerican model in favor of the European one.
First, Mongolia needed to establish a constitutional court due to its civil law tradition
that lacked the resort to precedents. Framers discussed the tendency that civil law
countries gave constitutional review to a special constitutional court, whereas common
law countries to the ordinary courts. According to framer Chimid, the main reason was
the court precedents, which played an important role (stare decisis) in common law
systems like the U.S., but did not play such role in civil law systems like Mongolia.36
The absence of stare decisis was also one reason why Kelsen established theconstitutional court in 1920 as discussed in Section 2.2.
The argument that civil law countries tend to have a constitutional court is notalways true. Most countries with civil law gave constitutional review to theconstitutional court rather than the ordinary judiciary. However, there are exceptions to

33
Byambajav J., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 10 in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
34
Jantsan D., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 66; Byambajav J., AIKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 68-69; Byambajav J., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 72-73,
in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
35
Byambajav J., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 50; Byambajav J., AIKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 68-69. See also Zorig S., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec.
16, 1991): 62, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
36
Chimid, discussion. See also Sovd G., “Mongol Ulsad Undsen Khuuliin Tsets Baiguulsan Ni [TheEstablishment of the Constitutional Tsets in Mongolia],” 205; Sarantuya Ts., Undsen khuuliin processiin
erkh zui, 23–24; Amarsanaa J., Murun D., and Bold S., Undsen Khuuliin Tsetsiin Chadavkhiig
Bekhjuulekh Ni, 8.

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Constitutional Review in Mongolia

this generalization on the relation between the legal family and the model ofconstitutional review. For example, Japan adopted the American model after WW II
when its legal tradition was more continental European. In addition, the globalizationand the common trend to protect basic human rights blur the boundaries between civil
and common law systems. As Section 4.4 will show, the precedent is one of the key
legal sources in both systems.37
Second, the American model of judicial review was rejected because this model did
not fit in with a unitary form of government as in Mongolia.38 Framers believed that the
U.S. Supreme Court decided only constitutional and other important cases as discussed
in Section 2.3. Prof. Chimid posited the following:
The U.S. has two judicial systems: federal and state. The state courts provide the final
decisions on most cases. The U.S. Supreme Court decides a few cases mentioned in thefederal Constitution, and enjoys the main role of interpreting the Constitution. Most ofcivil and criminal cases do not arrive at the U.S. Supreme Court.39

The advocates of the American model challenged the argument that countries withthe federal form of government adopted the American model. For example, Ganbayar N.
said that many countries having one judicial system had the American model.40 Most
countries adopting the American model (the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, India,
Canada, and Venezuela) had a federal form of government. On the other hand, countries
like Japan, Philippines, Columbia, and Morocco established the American model though
they had a unitary form of government. In addition, many federal countries such as
Germany and Austria had the European model instead of the American model.
However, the main emphasis by framers was on the difference between the judicial

37

Cappelletti, The Judicial Process in Comparative Perspective, 51, 138–141.
See Byambajav J., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 50; Uuld Ts., UBKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 61; Galsandorj B., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18,
1991): 94; Tsog L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 50, 55-56, in Mongol ulsiin undsen
khuuliin arkhiviin san.
39
Chimid, discussion. See also President Ochirbat P., “Mongol ulsiin ikh tsaaziin tusliig ard niiteer
kheleltsuulsen dun, shine tusliin tukhai” [On the result of the public discussion on the draft Constitution
and the new draft], Boti no. 238 (1991): 76; Chimid B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991):
30-33, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
40
Ganbayar N., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 63-65, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san. His counter argument was reasonable, but his list of unitary states included some federal
states. Ganbayar said that “countries like Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Columbia, Venezuela, andMorocco have the one judicial system.” However, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, and Venezuela
have the federal government, and thus two judicial systems, federal and state.
38

75

Chapter Threesystems of the U.S. and Mongolia rather than the structural difference between thefederal and unitary states. Unlike the U.S., Mongolia had one judicial system due to its
unitary form of government. The negative effect of having the American model with theunitary form of government was that the judiciary, mainly the Supreme Court, might not
be active for protecting the Constitution because this court was busy with ordinary cases.
According to framer Byambajav, if the Supreme Court of Mongolia exercised
constitutional review, its function of deciding a big number of ordinary cases mightundermine its function of reviewing a small number of constitutional cases.41 Thus,
many framers supported the constitutional court that could concentrate on constitutional
disputes. Nevertheless, Ganbayar’s version of the American model was that theSupreme Court would exercise the exclusive power to decide not ordinary cases but
constitutional cases. Thus, the functions of the Supreme Court would be similar to thatof the constitutional court.
Third, framers did not give constitutional review to the Supreme Court since theimage of the old judiciary including this court was negative among the public as in otherpost-socialist and post-authoritarian countries.42 The public distrusted the courts, which
the governmental and party organs used as a tool for keeping the socialist regime.
Enkhbat A., Director of Legal Research Center, argued as follows: “Submissively
serving the oppressive purpose of the totalitarian state, the court… not only failed toprevent these [socialist and political] ’crimes,’ but also became an executer of them. The
courts actually contributed to the repression of many people, the illegal confiscation ofprivate properties, and the destruction of Buddhist monasteries.”43 Thus, the public hada corrupted image of the court as a terrible organ whose sole purpose was to punish
people.44
The distrust in the old courts was widespread in Mongolia. In his speech in the
PGKh, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Dembereltseren accepted that the judiciary
had not changed yet, and the judicial reform would be difficult in the near future.45

41

Byambajav J., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 50, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san. See also Chimid, discussion.
42
Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 23–24.
43
Enkhbat A., “Judiciary and system of legal organizations,” 265; Elbegdorj Ts., UBKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 47; Zardiikhan K., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 30, in
Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san. See also Chimid, discussion.
44
Renchin L., “Adopting the idea of independent judiciary into law,” 252, in Mongol ulsiin undsen
khuuliin arkhiviin san.
45
Dembereltseren D., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 53, in Mongol ulsiin undsen
khuuliin arkhiviin san.

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Citing this pessimistic speech, framer Zorig S. argued that if such an incompetent court
exercised the constitutional review, the new Constitution would not be confronted byany significant review, so much as the former socialist constitutions had been free fromany reviews.46 Ganbayar N. also shared the mistrust in the old courts: “The public is
not ready since the courts have not worked for providing justice but for punishingpeople for seven decades. The Mongolian lawyers are also not ready in terms of humanresources.”47 Ganbayar, therefore, declined to support the American model but argued
for the Soviet model in the final discussions on the draft Constitution. Ganbayar
criticized the conception of the Tsets, saying that this was not a real court but a mixtureof the constitutional supervision council submitting conclusions to the parliament andthe court delivering final decisions.48
Fourth, framers adopted the idea of life tenure for all judges as a guarantee of
judicial independence but this was risky. If justices, who had acquired education andworked for many years in the totalitarian system, exercised the constitutional review
with life-tenure, they might not protect well the Constitution. Thus, the supporters of theAmerican model first argued for life-tenure of the Supreme Court justices, but lately fora term of six years. However, a majority of framers created the Tsets whose justices
would have a term of six years while they gave life tenure to all ordinary judges as theforeign experts suggested.49
Fifth, the Supreme Court exercising constitutional review would damage theseparation of powers according to some framers. These framers thought that the
separation of powers required equality among the legislative, executive and judicial
branches. Thus, if the Supreme Court exercised constitutional review, the judiciary
would be more powerful than the legislative and executive branches so that it would
harm the separation of powers.50 Therefore, a constitutional court separated from theordinary judiciary should exercise the constitutional review according to these framers.

46
Zorig S., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 62, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
47
Ganbayar N., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Jan. 9, 1992): 70-71, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
48
Ganbayar N., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Jan. 9, 1992): 70-71, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
49
P.N. Bhagwati and Reed Brody, “Assistance to the Government of Mongolia relating to the draft
Constitution” (June 1991): 33; Chimid B., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 90, in
Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
50
Chilkhaajav D., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 62, 63; Tovuusuren Ts., AIKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 67, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.

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Chapter Three

Moreover, framer Tumur S. believed that a supreme court being able to exercise
constitutional review would exercise the legislative power of the SGKh.51 Whether the
court doing the constitutional review of legislation exercises the legislative power is afrequently asked question in constitutional law, but it is outside the scope of this book.
Framers in both the SSKh and the PGKh rejected the American and Soviet models of
constitutional review and adopted the European model. The European model was themain conception in the draft Constitution and was approved after long debate. The
reasons why the Soviet and American models were considered inappropriate for
Mongolia considerably influenced the framers. The Mongolian approach also reflected
the common trend among post-socialist countries to give the power of constitutional
review to a constitutional court rather than a constitutional council or the ordinary
judiciary. For example, framer Chimid said as follows:
Current worldwide tend is to give the power to decide constitutional disputes to a separate
court. Eastern Europe followed this trend. Many countries changed their constitutional
councils to a constitutional court or created a constitutional court. The Soviet destroyed
the Committee of Constitutional Supervision and adopted a constitutional court. Poland
also created a court called the State Tribunal, which would decide constitutional disputes.
I met members of this tribunal and shared their experience and information. Our draft
Constitution should be consistent with the world trend.52

The conception of the constitutional court (Tsets) in the draft Constitution was
improved by recommendations of foreign advisors. For example, Prof. Swartz
recommended defining who would be eligible to access the constitutional court, which
was absent in the first drafts of the Constitution.53 Framers took these advices by theforeign experts seriously. 54 Nevertheless, some valuable provisions suggested by
Mongolian and foreign experts and included in the earlier drafts were not inserted into
the 1992 Constitution. More concrete examples of these provisions are given in the next
section.

51

Tumur S., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 65, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
52
Chimid B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 11-14. See also Tsog L., AIKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 38-39, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
53
Herman Swartz, “A Memorandum on the Draft Constitution of Mongolia” (July 18, 1991): 8; T.
Shwaistruft and G. Stain, “Advices” (1991): 7, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
54
Chimid B., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 90; Chimid B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 87-88, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.

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Constitutional Review in Mongolia

3.2. The Constitutional Court (Tsets) of Mongolia

3.2.1. The main features of the Tsets

The Constitutional Tsets exclusively exercises constitutional review, while ordinary
courts have no such power. This court aims “to provide the principle to respect theConstitution, apply directly the Constitution, restrict the power, and protect humanrights.” 55 The Tsets is “an organ exercising supreme supervision over the
implementation of the Constitution, making judgment on the violation of its provisions
and resolving constitutional disputes (Mon. Const. art. 64.1).” This court has sevenfeatures: (1) its name as the Tsets, (2) the six years term of justices, (3) the renewable
term, (4) the nomination and appointment of justices, (5) the qualification of justices,(6) the jurisdiction and (7) the procedure. The first five features are discussed in thissubsection, and the last two separately in Subsections 3.2.2 and 3.2.3. The sevenfeatures are respectively evaluated from the comparative perspective examined in
Chapter 2. All these seven features make the Tsets different from European
constitutional courts.
Framers decided to call the constitutional court “the Constitutional Tsets.” The
constitutional court and the Constitutional Tsets are interchangeable terms. Some drafts
prepared by the Constitution Drafting Commission included the term “constitutional
court” for the same institution.56 Many framers also said there would be no problem if
the term “constitutional court” was used instead of the Tsets, and that choosing either of
the two terms would not matter since it does not change the nature of the institution.57
Framers intended to choose the term “Tsets” for a constitutional court because the term“court” had a bad reputation during the socialist system:

55

Amarsanaa J., “Undsen Khuuliin Khyanalt, Tuuniig Kheregjuulekh Arga Zam,” 439.
See Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin tusul, [the draft of the Constitution of Mongolia] (Jan. 14, 1991,
Mar. 4, 1991, Sep. 22, 1991 and Oct. 5, 1991), in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
57
See Lkhagvasuren S., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 49; Chimid B., AIKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 87-88; Dashnyam L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20,
1991): 7; Tsog L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 38-39; Avkhia J., AIKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 45; Chimid B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 87-88, in
Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
56

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Chapter Three

We put the constitutional review on an honored position from the perspective of theMongolian traditional culture. The term “shuukh” [court] was created in 1920s as atranslation of a Russian word “sud” [court]. Before this, the court was called “zarga
shiitgekh gazar.” The courts started to be called “shuukh” [court] in the legal acts.
However, the reputation of courts was wounded through the political repression. If weused the exact term “Undsen khuuliin shuukh” [the constitutional court], its reputation
might have the wound from the start. Thus, we gave a special name to the constitutional
court.58

In addition, framers also argued that the special courts exclusively exercising
constitutional review had different names such as constitutional court and constitutional
tribunal (Poland), and different courts in one country could have different names.59
The framers chose the term “tsets” for the constitutional court because this termemphasized the idea of an institution consisting of wise people who could make a final
decision. The Mongolian word “tsets” has two meanings, which corresponded to theframers’ intention. The first was a group of judges in the traditional wrestling, who
made the final decision on a dispute between wrestlers. The “Tsets” in wrestling was
expected to make “a perfect final decision, against which the appeal was impossible.”60
Thus, the framers named the constitutional court the Tsets to distinguish it from othercourts and to show its power to make the final decision on a constitutional case.61 The
second meaning of “tsets” was wisdom (a wise person was called tsetsen khun).
Advisory bodies to the emperors were called Tsetsdiin Zuwlul [the council of wise
people] since the Hun Empire in Mongolia. “The term ‘tsets’ was chosen for thesymbolic reason that the constitutional judges had to be so wise that their decisions
would have no mistakes.”62
Justices of the Tsets has a term of six years. Unlike the life tenure or terms of 9-12
years in other constitutional democracies, the term of six years is so short that justices
lack the long-term possibility of making consistent reasoning and of strengthening

58

Chimid, discussion.
Chimid B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 11-14. See also Tsog L., AIKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 38-39; Avkhia J., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16,
1991): 45; and Ibid, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san. The Taiwanese Constitutional Courtis also called the Council of Grand Justice.
60
Ibid. Chimid B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 30-33, in Mongol ulsiin undsen
khuuliin arkhiviin san.
61
Chimid B., Undsen Khuuliin Uzel Barimtlal: Niitleg Asuudal, 1:89.
62
Chimid, discussion.
59

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Constitutional Review in Mongolia

constitutional integrity.63 Mongolian scholars now argue for terms of 9-12 years or forthe life-tenure.64 The drafts of the Constitution initially included a term of 9 years.65
However, framers chose a term of six years without serious discussions when two ofthem proposed to replace the term of nine years.66 This choice was an example of how
some valuable provisions on the Tsets in the draft Constitution were abolished or
weakened in the PGKh.
The term of justices is renewable in practice because the Constitution and other laws
have no constitutional or statutory prohibition on the reappointment of justices.67 A
renewable term is against the independence of the Tsets because in order to bereappointed, a justice may be reluctant to rule against the SGKh or a body that would
nominate him or her again. Prof. Sarantuya Ts, Constitutional Justice, argued that the reappointment is against the independence of the Tsets.68 During the constitution making,foreign experts suggested to prohibit the immediate re-appointment in order to diminish
the possibility that a Tsets justice would be influenced in his decision-making by
obtaining or not obtaining re-appointment at the end of his term. 69 However, theConstitution Drafting Commission did not insert this suggestion into the draft
Constitution. Thus, there is no constitutional prohibition on the immediate reappointment of justices.
Three different institutions nominate candidates to the Tsets, and the SGKh finalizes
the appointments. This court consists of nine members, who the SGKh appoint for aterm of six years upon the nomination of three of them by the SGKh, three by thepresident and the remaining three by the Supreme Court (Mon. Const. art. 65.1).
According to framers, this appointment process improved the independence of the Tsets

63

Nowak, Rotunda, and Young, Constitutional Law, 9 (arguing that “throughout his thirty-four year
tenure as Chief Justice of the United States, John Marshall established the theoretical basis of judicial
review with arguments both on and off the Court”).
64
Amarsanaa J., Murun D., and Bold S., Undsen Khuuliin Tsetsiin Chadavkhiig Bekhjuulekh Ni, 35, 39.
65
Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin tusul, Zuil 51.2, [Article 51.2 of the draft of the Constitution ofMongolia] (Oct. 5, 1991), in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
66
Amarbayan, AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 23, 1991): 20. See also Tangad, AIKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 23, 1991): 20, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
67
Within the current court (2011), most justices are reappointed. One justice has been reappointed fourtimes, another justice three times, and three justices twice. See “Homepage of the Constitutional Tsets.”
68
Sarantuya Ts., Undsen khuuliin processiin erkh zui, 73–74.
69
P.N. Bhagwati and Reed Brody, “Assistance to the Government of Mongolia relating to the draft
Constitution” (June 1991): 42. Tsog L. also offered non-fixed term probably because of the same reason
with Bhagwati and Reed Brody. Tsog L., “Human Rights issue in the Mongolian Constitution,” 12, in
Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.

81

Chapter Threebecause no one institution monopolizes the process.70 The final approval by the SGKh
whose members are elected by the people also increases the democratic legitimacy of
the Tsets.
The SGKh appoints justices of the Tsets not by a qualified majority (more than 2/3 or
3/5), but a bare majority (more than 1/2).71 Thus, the majority party (coalition) in the
SGKh can appoint justices who may defer to the majority without consent of minority
parties. The requirement of a qualified majority for appointing the justices was
discussed during the constitution making, but rejected by the Constitution Drafting
Committee. Framer Tsog L. suggested to appoint 9 professional justices by four fifth ofthe members of the SGKh for non-fixed term.72 Foreign advisors P. N. Bhagwati andReed Brody also advised as follows:
The constitutional court should be insulated from domination by one organ or faction… It
was suggested therefore [1] that the members of the Constitutional Council be selected bya diversity of sources and/or [2] that those selected by the State Great Hural be so selectedby a qualified majority such as two thirds, three quarters or even four fifths to ensure thatthe members are not partisan choices but acceptable to a broad spectrum of politicalopinion (see Spanish Constitution, art. 159, three fifths of the legislature).73

The framers adopted the selection process based on suggestions by a diversity ofsources with the final approval of the SGKh, which satisfied partially only the first of
the two requirements and ignored the second in the advice.
Today non-legal professional candidates can be appointed to the Tsets, which differsfrom the qualification of European constitutional justices. The debates by framers are
informative to understand why non-legal professionals are appointed in Mongolia.
Framers had two different views on who would be eligible to be a candidate to the Tsets:
broad and narrow. The broad view was that legal professionals, experienced politicians,

70
See Chimid B., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 27-28; Byambajav J., Chimid B.,
UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 51; Galsandorj B., Chimid B., UBKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 93. See also P.N. P.N. Bhagwati and Reed Brody, “Assistance to theGovernment of Mongolia relating to the draft Constitution” (June 1991): 41, in Mongol ulsiin undsen
khuuliin arkhiviin san.
71
Mongol Ulsiin Ikh Khurliin Chuulganii Khuraldaanii Degiin tukhai Khuuli [Law on Procedure of theSession of the Mongolian State Great Khural] art. 40, § 2 (2007).
72
Tsog L., “Human Rights issue in the Mongolian Constitution,” 12, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
73
P.N. Bhagwati and Reed Brody, “Assistance to the Government of Mongolia relating to the draft
Constitution” (June 1991): 41, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.

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Constitutional Review in Mongolia

diplomats, political scientists, and economists could become a justice. According to thisview, constitutional disputes were different from crimes because they included “manykinds of political foundations” and were “related to broad issues related to all parts ofsocial life.”74 For example, framer Bat-Uul E. believed that the Tsets had to include a
few experienced diplomats to review international treaties. 75 According to
Dembereltseren D., some justices could be non-legal professionals because the legal
education in Mongolia did not achieve an advanced level.76 Some framers also cited
Japan as an example in which the highest court was comprised of different
professionals: the Japanese Supreme Court had 15 members 10 of who had to belawyers, and the rest could be diplomat or political figures.77
Some framers challenged the broad view, holding a narrow view that only legal
professionals were eligible to be candidates to the Tsets. These framers asked whether
those non-legal professionals could exercise the judicial function that only legal
professionals were able to exercise.78 If the Tsets was to be a court, the candidates to it
should be at least legal professionals.79 Some framers such as Ganbayar understood thelegal profession largely: judge, law professor, prosecutor, and advocate, who had a highprofessional qualification, could be appointed as a justice.80 Framer Enkhsaikhan M.
argued that it would be better to give a chance to those who understood the new systembecause those who had participated in the old judicial system might misunderstand the
new system and persecute citizens.81
After long debates, framers adopted a vague clause on whether or not the justices of74

Tsog L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 54; Byambajav J., AIKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 68-69; Badarch I., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 17, in
Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
75
Batuul E., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 60, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
76
Dembereltseren D., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 60, in Mongol ulsiin undsen
khuuliin arkhiviin san.
77
Tsog L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 54; Dembereltseren D., AIKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 60, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
78
Munkhbat M., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 54, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
79
Amarsanaa J., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 76; Munkhbat M., AIKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 54; Chimid B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 27-29; Sovd G.
(Director of the Legal Institute), AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Jan. 9, 1992): 165, in Mongol ulsiin
undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
80
Ganbayar N., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 180, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
81
Enkhsaikhan M., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 179, in Mongol ulsiin undsen
khuuliin arkhiviin san.

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Chapter Three

the Tsets would be required to be a legal professional. The draft Constitution stated asfollows: a justice of the Tsets should be “a Mongolian citizen who has reached forty
years of age, has a high political, legal qualification, and has professional experience atleast for ten years.”82 Unfortunately, this clause was finally substituted with article 65.2of the 1992 Constitution, which blurred the professional requirement by saying: amember of the Tsets should be “a citizen who has reached forty years of age and has ahigh political, legal qualification.” This article has been interpreted both broadly andnarrowly.
The current Law on the Constitutional Tsets, which the framers enacted themselvesin 1992, holds a broad interpretation of candidacy to the Tsets. As this law does not
specify the requirement in article 65.2 of the Constitution, justices of the Tsets can be
not only lawyers, but also professionals not in the legal field. Chilkhaajav D., apolitician and professional not in the legal field, was appointed to the first Tsets in 1992
because the democratic parties lacked lawyers who had reached forty years of age.83
Five of the 27 justices appointed to the court over the last two decades were non-legal
professionals. The majority of justices were legal professionals in the broad sense(having the formal legal education) though less than one third of justices have been nonlegal professional politicians. For example, two out of nine justices of the current court(2010) are a historian and an engineer, who were politicians and had no formal legal
education before their appointments.84 Thus, the law and the practice follow the broadinterpretation on justices of the Tsets.
However, a narrower interpretation is more reasonable because a candidate to thiscourt is required to be at least a lawyer according to the constitutional text. The words“a high legal, political qualification” in article 65.2 of the Constitution literally means ahigh legal qualification plus a high political qualification as both adjectives (“legal” and“political”) define “qualification.” If the text said “legal” or “political qualification,”then politicians could be appointed to the court, but this is not indicated in theconstitutional text. Thus, many scholars argue for the narrow interpretation that a justiceof the Tsets should be at least a legal professional.85

82

Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin tusul, Zuil 50.3, [Article 50.3 of the draft of the Constitution ofMongolia] (Oct. 5, 1991): 165, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
83
Amarsanaa, discussion.
84
Judge Lkhagvaa T. is a historian. Judge P. Ochirbat, an engineer, was the first President of Mongolia,
and he has been reappointed once. See “Homepage of the Constitutional Tsets.”
85
Sarantuya Ts., Undsen khuuliin processiin erkh zui, 71–72; Amarsanaa J., “Mongol Ulsad Undsen
Khuuliin Tsets Ba Zakhirgaanii Khergiin Shuukh,” 321–322; Sarantuya Ts., “Origin, Development and84

Constitutional Review in Mongolia

Critical nominations and confirmations of justices are important because thesejudges would decide constitutional cases for six years or more as they can bereappointed. The people have the right to know the legal philosophy and character ofcandidates to the Tsets that exercises the significant power to quash the legislation
enacted by the parliament representing the people. Only legal professionals whose legal
philosophy is reasonable and whose character is trustworthy can make the wellreasoned judgments. Thus, legal scholars and media should publicize the legal
philosophy and character of candidates to the Tsets.
On the other hand, there is a lack of discussions on the qualification of candidates to
the Tsets. The nomination and confirmation of constitutional judges are not supported
by critical screening, allowing for the appointment of poorly qualified legal
professionals and non-legal professionals to the Tsets. There is no serious discussion on
constitutional philosophy and characters of justices during and after their nominationand confirmation in Mongolia. In 2007, 2010 and 2011 when seven judges wereappointed or reappointed to the Tsets, the media stated who was appointed as aconstitutional justice, but no scholar or commentator criticized what candidates thought
about controversial cases and what constitutional philosophy and characters they had
during the appointment. For example, in 2007 when three justices were appointed, themost qualified among the three candidates was Prof. Sarantuya. When Prof. Sarantuya
was reappointed for her second term in 2007, she was teaching the constitutional review
at the National University of Mongolia, and she had written many articles and books on
constitutional review. All of her writings were enough to show her philosophy andconvictions in 2007. The other two candidates were practitioners. Justice B. Purevnyam
had been an advocate since 1994, and Judge D. Munkhgerel was a prosecutor for sevenyears during the late socialist regime and had worked in the Ministry of Justice for 15
years. The profiles of these two candidates could not show what constitutional
philosophy and conviction they had because they had not published any constitutional
topic.
Politicians easily appoint and reappoint non-legal professionals to the Tsets because
scholars do not discuss seriously the qualification of candidates. For example, scholars
did not criticize publicly the appointment of former President of Mongolia Ochirbat P.
to the Tsets in 2005 and the reappointment of him in 2010. Justice Ochirbat, who was an

Urgent Tasks of the Constitutional Procedure Law in Mongolia,” 14–15; Chimid B., Undsen khuuliin
medleg, 402.

85

Chapter Three

engineer and one of Constitution framers, had neither legal education nor legal
experience before his appointment. If legal scholars and lawyers criticize strongly the
non-legal professional candidates, they can prevent, or at least reduce, the appointment
or reappointment of these candidates because the constitutional text allows only legal
professionals to be appointed to the Tsets.

3.2.2. The jurisdiction of the Tsets

The Tsets exercises abstract review of legislation and other decisions except for
decisions by ordinary courts, and it decides constitutional matters related to actions oromissions by, or status of, high-ranking officials. Not only certain authorities but also
citizens (actio popularis) can access to this court. This subsection discusses thejurisdiction of the Tsets, the access to this court and the differences between this court
and European constitutional courts.
The subject matters of the jurisdiction of the Tsets were defined in the Constitution,
the 1992 Law on the Constitutional Tsets, the 1997 Law on the Constitutional Tsets
Procedure, and constitutional case law. This court exercises abstract constitutional
review of legislation, international treaties,86 national referenda, and decisions of thepresident, the government, and the Central Electoral Organization after theirpromulgations. The Tsets reviews not only legislation, but also activities of the SGKh.87
This court also makes conclusions on whether the President, chairperson and membersof the SGKh, the prime minister, members of the government, the chief justice of theSupreme Court and the prosecutor general breached the Constitution and whether the
grounds for removal of the President, chairman of the SGKh and the prime minister andfor the recall of members of the SGKh existed (Mon. Const. art. 66.2). The conclusions
on constitutional violations by these officials or on grounds for their removals are final,

86
Like the Tsets, the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland also adjudicates the conformity of international
agreements to the Constitution (Const. of Poland, art. 188.1). However, most constitutional courts do nothave the power to review the treaties already ratified because this review might harm relationships withforeign countries and organizations.
87
For example, when the SGKh was enacting the Import Tax Law, the quorum of the session was
unsatisfied. However, the SGKh passed the statute because some MPs did more than one votes bypressing the buttons of other MPs who were absent. An MP submitted a notification to the Tsets, which
ruled that this voting process of the Law was unconstitutional. See Tsets, Jun. 21, 1997, Dugnelt No. 4;
Tsets, Dec. 17, 1997, Dugnelt No. 3

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Constitutional Review in Mongolia

and the SGKh must not discuss the merits of these conclusions.88 The court does notdeliver the abstract official interpretation (or advisory opinion) on the Constitution at
the request of any authority.
In addition, the Tsets exercises the power to determine the jurisdiction of legal
dispute, which is not constitutional review. Article 14 of the Law on the Constitutional
Tsets Procedure says as follows: “in the event of submission of complaints by citizens,public officials, governmental and non-governmental organizations to the Tsets fordetermination of jurisdiction of legal disputes, rejected by all courts, the Tsets shalldetermine jurisdiction of legal disputes and refer to the relevant court.” This power is
not a function directly related to the power to review whether or not the Constitution has
been violated, but “it can be a way to protect citizens, officials and organizations fromthe excessive inactivity of the courts.”89 In 1997, the Tsets decided a dispute overjurisdiction. Altantsog Ts., a former judge, filed a civil complaint to the courts.
However, the District Court, the Capital Court, and the Supreme Court all refused todecide on the complaint for eight months because they disagreed on the issue ofjurisdiction. Thus, Altantsog submitted a petition to the Tsets, which decided that thejurisdiction of the dispute belonged to the Supreme Court.90
The access to the Tsets is clearly defined in the Constitution. The Tsets examines andsettles constitutional disputes on its own initiative on the basis of petitions andnotifications received from citizens or at the request of the SGKh, the President, thePrime Minister, the Supreme Court, and the Prosecutor General (Mon. Const. art. 66.1).
The petitions, the notifications and the requests can be about any matter within thejurisdiction of the Tsets. The access to the Tsets is different from that to the European
constitutional courts in three ways: (1) only a majority in the SGKh can submit therequests; (2) not only the Supreme Court but also all inferior courts through theSupreme Court can send the request; and (3) any citizens can access to the Tsets.
First, unlike the European abstract review that can be initiated by a minority in theparliament, the Mongolian abstract review can be initiated by a majority in theparliament; that is, only a majority in the SGKh can make a request to the Tsets.91
According to Prof. Sarantuya, the SGKh has never submitted any request on

88

Tsets, Jan. 4, 1995, Dugnelt No. 1; Tsets, Sep. 7, 1995, Dugnelt No. 2
Sarantuya Ts., Undsen khuuliin processiin erkh zui, 112.
90
Tsets, Oct. 1, 1997, Magadlal No. 7
91
Tsets, Jan. 18 1995, Dugnelt No. 2.
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Chapter Three

unconstitutionality of laws (and other acts) to the Tsets because it amends any law itself
if it wants to do so.92 Members of opposition parties cannot make such a request to the
Tsets, but they often challenge laws by submitting notifications as citizens.93
There were several unsuccessful attempts to give the right to seize the Tsets to asignificant minority in the SGKh during and after the constitution making. Even though
the right of the parliamentary minority to access to Tsets was suggested by foreign
advisors,94 proposed by some framers, and inserted in the draft Constitution, it was not
finally included in the Constitution. For example, the draft had the clause that a request
to the Tsets could be submitted by a group of at least ten MPs.95 These ten MPs could
exercise this right when they disagreed with the parliamentary majority on theconstitutionality of the law.96 Nonetheless, this clause was deleted before the plenary
sessions of the Constituent Assembly. After the establishment of the Tsets, Lamjav D.
(framer) submitted a notification to the Tsets as a citizen, arguing for the power of asmall group of MPs to refer a request to this court. Nevertheless, the Tsets rejected
Lamjav’s interpretation of the Constitution.97 The SGKh dominated by a coalition of
democratic parties enacted a statutory amendment on May 1, 1997, allowing “theChairperson of the SGKh, no less than eight members of the SGKh, or party or coalitiongroup to submit the SGKh’s request to the Tsets.” However, after adopting thelegislation, this SGKh omitted this right of a parliamentary minority on October 3, 1997
for no clear reasons.
Second, unlike the constitutional question in European countries such as Germany,
which can be submitted by any judge, the request to the Tsets is submitted by theSupreme Court. The ordinary judges cannot submit a request directly to the Tsets, butthey can submit a proposal through the Supreme Court. If a judge finds
unconstitutionality in a law that is applied in concrete cases, he or she has to suspend
the proceeding and send a proposal to the Supreme Court.98 The Supreme Court may

92

Sarantuya Ts., Undsen khuuliin processiin erkh zui, 118.
For example, see Tsets, Jan. 7 1994, Dugnelt No. 1; Tsets, Jan. 12 1994, Dugnelt No. 1.
94
P.N. Bhagwati and Reed Brody, “Assistance to the Government of Mongolia relating to the draft
Constitution” (June 1991): 43
95
Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin tusul, Zuil 52.1[Article 52.1 of the draft of the Constitution ofMongolia] (Oct. 5, 1991), in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
96
See Byambajav J., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 152, in Mongol ulsiin undsen
khuuliin arkhiviin san.
97
Tsets, Jan. 18 1995, Dugnelt No. 2
98
Shuukhiin tukhai Khuuli [Law on the Court], art. 12, § 3-4 (2002); Undsen Khuuliin Tsetsiin tukhai
Khuuli [Law on the Constitutional Tsets], art. 10 (1992).
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Constitutional Review in Mongolia

decide to submit the request to the Tsets or send that proposal back to the judge who
initiated it. In the latter case, if the judge still thinks that the law is unconstitutional, heor she may file directly the notification to the Tsets as a citizen. The Supreme Court has
made only two requests without conferring concrete cases and mentioning whether the
lower court judges initiated these requests.99
Framers discussed whether all ordinary judges should have the right to submit arequest directly to the Tsets. Foreign experts recommended extending the right to seize
the Tsets to the Supreme Court, which would ensure that when the constitutional
validity of a law is in question during ordinary litigation, the Supreme Court or a lower
court, through the Supreme Court, might seek an advisory opinion from the Tsets inorder to dispose of the litigation.100 What these experts recommended was similar to thecurrent practice rather than the empowerment of all judges. Two framers proposed toallow not only the Supreme Court but also other courts the power to submit a request to
the Tsets as a way of ensuring that “a citizen’s dispute would reach the constitutional
court.”101 However, these framers failed to win the majority in the SSKh.102
The ordinary courts of Mongolia do not pay as much attention to the protection of
fundamental rights as the old courts of other new democracies. The Supreme Court ismostly illiberal (conservative). For example, this court supported two practices inheritedfrom the socialist legal system, which were disadvantageous to the defendant, whenconstitutionality of these practices was separately challenged before the Tsets.103 The
Supreme Court also sometimes interpreted statutes in a way that may imfringe upon
fundamental rights.104 Moreover, this court often approves the imposition of death
penalty. The ordinary courts of post authoritarian or totalitarian regimes were alsofrequently illiberal. After WW II, German judges thought that the protection of
fundamental rights was only a matter of the constitutional court, but they gradually

99

Tsets, Apr. 12 2006, Dugnelt No. 2/04; Tsets, Jun. 14 2006, Dugnelt No. 6.
P.N. P.N. Bhagwati and Reed Brody, “Assistance to the Government of Mongolia relating to the draft
Constitution” (June 1991): 43
101
See Ochirjav O., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 138; Byambajav J., UBKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 151, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
102
Gonchigdorj R., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 139, 152, in Mongol ulsiin undsen
khuuliin arkhiviin san.
103
Two legal practices are the higher court’s power to return the cases to the investigation stage or the
lower court and the Prosecutor General’s exclusive power to appeal to the whole chamber of the Supreme
Court. The Tsets did not strike down these two practices by making the poor interpretation of theConstitution. Tsets, Oct. 24, 2007, Dugnelt No. 10 and Tsets, Dec. 21, 2007, Dugnelt No. 13.
104
Tsets, May 14, 2008, Dugnelt No. 6 and Tsets, Oct 29, 2008, Dugnelt No. 8.
100

89Chapter Threechanged this thought.105
Third, not only the designated authorities but also citizens can initiate the abstract
review in Mongolia, which is similar to the Hungarian actio popularis. Citizens havethe constitutional right to file notifications and petitions “on any issue about theviolation of the Constitution” except the judicial decisions. 106 The Tsets has nodiscretion to reject notifications and petitions.107 If notifications and petitions meet theformal requirements defined in articles 20 and 21 of the Law on the Constitutional Tsets
Procedure, the Tsets has to examine and resolve them. Thus, citizens have been
initiating almost all constitutional cases for the last two decades. Citizens have filed
over 1000 constitutional petitions and notifications from 1992 to 2007.108 There is norequirement that the citizens filing notifications and petitions show a violation of theirown rights. Both petitions and notifications are made without the direct relationshipwith the ordinary court procedure although some petitions are related to concrete cases
decided by the ordinary courts.
The Tsets recently tends to make a loose distinction between notifications andpetitions following the works of scholars. 109 Citizens file notifications when theychallenge the statute and other acts that are not related to their own individual rights.
For example, in 2010, a citizen submitted a notification on whether a statutory provision
violated the constitutional provision on removal of a judge from a court of any
instance.110 On some other occasions, citizens make petitions to challenge the statuteand other acts that are directly related to their own rights. However, the distinction
between notifications and petitions is loose because the Tsets sometimes does not makedistinctions between the two terms, naming a notification petition or vice versa, andpetitions are often as abstract as notifications. If citizens file petitions having little
relationship with their fundamental rights, the Tsets has difficulty in classifying
notifications and petitions. There is no legal consequence according to the current law if
the Tsets does not make proper classification of notifications from petitions.

105

Kupper, discussion.
Tsets, Jan. 18, 1995, Dugnelt No. 2.
107
However, the Tsets can manage the caseload by interpreting article 66.1 of the Constitution, which
seems to give it the discretion to reject notifications and petitions. According to this article, the Tsets
examines and settles “constitutional disputes on its own initiative on the basis of petitions andnotifications received from citizens.”
108“Political Relevance to Decision of Constitutional Court (Tsets) of Mongolia,” 3.
109
Temuujin Kh., Jus Frast buyu Yost Ug, 231; Sarantuya Ts., Undsen khuuliin processiin erkh zui, 201.
110
Tsets, Nov. 24, 2010, Dugnelt No. 8
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Constitutional Review in Mongolia

The Mongolian notification has advantages and disadvantages comparable to the
Hungarian actio popularis because both refer to popular standings that have almost no
restriction. During the transitional period in Mongolia, citizens challenged theconstitutionality of many important political decisions of the SGKh and the government
by filing the notifications. In addition, the concept of popular standing allows legal
scholars and lawyers to challenge constitutionally doubtful statutes. However, thenotification system has three disadvantages. There is a danger of using the popular
standing as a political means.111 A notification may also overburden the Tsets in thelong run since it has no discretionary power to reject the notification. Moreover, anotification and even an abstract petition are inappropriate for creating constitutionalcase law and lively constitutional discourse, which requires concrete cases and facts.
What the framers intended to mean when they included citizen’s notification in 66.1of the Constitution is unclear, but the fact that they intended to create an independent
constitutional court rather than a political organization is clear. The notification, whichis equal to actio popularis, makes the Tsets more political and burdensome, and otherdisadvantages of actio popularis are discussed in this subsection and Section 2.4 of thisbook. Thus, the notification should be interpreted as amicus curiae (friend of court)
brief rather than actio popularis. A citizen, who has not been solicited by any of theparties, should have an opportunity to submit a notification to provide information thatis relevant to the case, but is not dealt with by the parties. The notification, which issimilar to amicus curiae brief, should indicate which party of the case the citizen
supports, and the Tsets should exercise a discretion to decide whether to admit the
notification. Under this new meaning of notification, citizens cannot initiate
constitutional review of any act or decision (however, they can initiate through apetition as this subsection showed), but they can submit their opinions concerning apending case to the Tsets because most of constitutional matters are not only about theparties of the case, but about the general public and basic principles of liberal
democracy.
Citizens submit petitions against violations of their own constitutional rights112 or111

For example, MP Gundalai, the former Minister of Health, was accused of the corruption by theprosecutor, which he accepted latter. As a citizen, Gundalai submitted a constitutional petition, alleging
that many of his rights are violated by a provision of the Criminal Procedure Code, but the Tsets found no
violations. Tsets, Apr. 16, 2008, Dugnelt No. 5.
112
See Tsets, May 29, 1996, Dugnelt No. 4 (several aged people submitted petitions that their right to beequal before law was violated by the SGKh resolution on the pension, which discriminated these people
on the basis of age. The Tsets found the violation of this right and struck down the resolution); Tsets, Jun.

91

Chapter Threeagainst violations of the Constitution that affects their own legitimate interests,
institution or territorial unit.113 The Tsets accepts this kind of petitions. For example,
Byambasuren D., the former Prime Minister (1990-1992), submitted a petition to thiscourt. Prosecutor’s Office investigated Byambasuren as a defendant in a criminal case.
Byambasuren filed a complaint to Prosecutor General Ganbayar N., saying that theprosecutor who was investigating his case violated the law. However, Ganbayar did not
reply to Byambasuren’s complaint. Thus, Byambasuren submitted a petition that
Ganbayar violated “his right to submit a complaint to the State bodies and officials”(Mon. Const. art. 16.12) because the official did not reply his complaint. The Tsets
found that Prosecutor General Ganbayar violated Byambasuren’s right to submit acomplaint.114

20, 1996, Dugnelt No. 5 (two citizen submitted petitions that their right to be elected was violated by theGeneral Committee on Election’s decision that deleted their names from the list of candidates to the
SGKh. The Tsets reasonably found no violation of this right); Tsets, Jun. 25, 1997, Dugnelt No. 5 (acitizen submitted a petition, arguing that he was fired due to the statute that violated the right to material
and financial assistance in old age and disability and other rights. The Tsets found no violation of theserights); Tsets, Jan. 28, 1998, Dugnelt No. 1 and Tsets, Jun. 17, 1998, Togtool No. 1 (a petitioner submitted
the petition that a clause of the Bank Law violated his right to appeal to the court and his right to be equal
before the law. Considering that the ordinary court rejected his complaint by applying this clause, theTsets struck down the clause because the clause violated these rights); Tsets, Feb. 24, 1998, Dugnelt No. 2(citizens submitted the petitions against violations of their right not to be discriminated on the basis ofoccupation and post and their right to material and financial assistance in old age. The Tsets foundviolations of these rights by the statutory provision, and struck down the provision); Tsets, Oct. 16, 1998,
Dugnelt No. 7 (an individual submitted a petition related to the case decided by the ordinary court, andchallenged the provisions of the statute. The Tsets found no constitutional violation); Tsets, June 7, 2004,
Dugnelt No. 2 (citizens submitted petitions that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court violated their rightto appeal to the court. The Tsets found no violation); Tsets, Jun. 17, 2005, Dugnelt No. 4 and Tsets, Dec.
14, 2005, Togtool No. 2 (citizens submitted the petition that the governmental resolution on the pension
violated their right to be equal before the law. The Tsets found a constitutional violation and struck down
the resolution); Tsets, Feb. 22, 2006, Dugnelt No. 2 (citizens submitted the petition that the governmental
resolution violated their right to property, but the Tsets found no violations); Tsets, Mar. 29, 2006, Dugnelt
No. 3 (a citizen submitted the petition that the Criminal Procedure Code violated his own right. The Tsets
found the violation and struck down the related part of the Code); Tsets, Feb. 20, 2008, Dugnelt No. 2(citizens of Khongor Soum that was polluted by the improper mining activities submitted petitions,
alleging that their right “to a healthy and safe environment, and to be protected against environmental
pollution and ecological imbalance” was violated. The Tsets ruled that their right is not violated); Tsets,
Apr. 16, 2008, Dugnelt No. 5 (as a citizen, a MP submitted a petition, alleging that many of his rights are
violated by a provision of the Criminal Procedure Code, but the Tsets found no violations); Tsets, Jul. 7,
2010, Dugnelt No. 4 (a citizen, a member of the environmental NGO, won the case against the illegal
decision of the Government).
113
Tsets, Jul. 5, 1997, Dugnelt No. 6 (the head of Erdenzuu Monastery submitted the petition thatPresident Ochirbat infringed the interest of his own Monastery by violating the Constitution. The Tsets
found violation); Tsets, May 6, 1998, Dugnelt No. 5 (the governor of Soum and the chairperson of the
Khural of Representatives of Citizens have submitted the petition that the SGKh violated the interest of
their prefecture when defining the border of prefectures. The Tsets found no constitutional violation).
114
Tsets, Jul. 25, 1994, Dugnelt No. 7.

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Constitutional Review in Mongolia

The petition to the Tsets is different from the constitutional complaint to some
European constitutional courts. Citizens of Mongolia cannot submit petitions against the
judgments of the Supreme Court, but they can do so against the statutes and some otheracts that violated their own constitutional right. This subsection examines why citizens
cannot make a constitutional petition against the decisions of ordinary courts in detailbecause it is one of main reasons of the poor protection of fundamental rights in
Mongolia.
Many framers understood the petition to the Tsets as a constitutional compliant.
These framers thought that citizens had not only the right to file notifications to the
Tsets but also the right to file petitions against any violation of their constitutionalrights.115 According to these framers, an individual could submit a petition when he or
she thought that his or her own constitutional right was violated after finishing theordinary judicial proceedings because the Tsets was the main institution to protect theserights.116 For example, framer Elbegdorj Ts. gave a hypothetical example of this rightof petition to the Tsets:
Let’s imagine that since individual X’s right was violated, she went the city court, andappealed to the Supreme Court. …If the Supreme Court says it [the decision of the city
court] is valid, X should have the right to appeal to the constitutional court. The
constitutional court should make a decision that her right protected under the Constitution
was violated and that the court made a wrong decision.117

115

Many framers argued for the citizen’s right to submit notifications concerning the violation of any
provision of the Constitution to the Tsets as a recent widespread trend in democracies. Tumur S., UBKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 37; Badarch I., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991):
17; Bolat A., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 147; Chilkhaajav D., UBKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 158; Dargakhuu J., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 23, 1991): 30;
Chilkhaajav D., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 23, 1991): 34, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
116
Tsog L., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 96; Tsog L., UBKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 141; Gonchigdorj R., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 147;
Byambajav J., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 151; Bolat A., UBKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 153-154; Ochirjav O., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 85-86;
Ganbayar N., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 29; Tsog L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 51; Purev D., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 23; Chimid B.,
AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 30-33; Munkhuu D., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel(Dec. 16, 1991): 30-33; Batuul E., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 60, 79-80; Zorig S.,
AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 85-86; Orsoo J., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16,
1991): 85; Tsog L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 34; Bolat A., AIKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Dec. 23, 1991): 28-29; Ulaankhuu P., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 23, 1991): 28-29;
Munkhuu D., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 23, 1991): 32; Chimid B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Dec. 23, 1991): 39, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
117
Elbegdorj Ts., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18, 1991): 91-92, in Mongol ulsiin undsen

93Chapter Three

In addition, framer Zorig S. strongly argued that the new Constitution of Mongolia
would change the old practice of violating human rights and protect these rights by
establishing three mechanisms.118 The first was to allow individuals to file a complaint
with the courts. The second was to give individuals the right to file a petition to the
Tsets if he or she thought his or her constitutional rights were violated. The third was tocreate a national human rights commission, a non-judicial mechanism. Zorig believedthat the Constitution could not guarantee the protection of these rights, the universal
foundation of free societies, unless it set up these three mechanisms. Shapiro also
criticized the absence of individual complaint in the earlier draft constitutions:
Not providing a more active judicial protection of fundamental individual rights is areally major issue. The general tendency in the world has been toward judicial protection.
Yet it is clear that courts do become very involved in policy making when they haveconstitutional review powers. It must be made clear that the various individual humanrights enshrined in this document, including property rights and voting rights are justhopes like those in the old Soviet Constitution in the absence of some way of legally
enforcing them—and now way is provided in this Constitution.119

Framers neither adopted nor rejected explicitly the constitutional complaint thoughmany of them understood constitutional review as the main mechanism for protecting
fundamental rights and argued for a system similar to this complaint. However, today
citizens cannot challenge constitutionality of decisions of ordinary courts andadministrative organs, which violate their basic rights, because these decisions are notincluded in the jurisdiction of the Tsets. The 1992 Law on the Constitutional Tsets,
which the framers adopted themselves just after the Constitution, does not allow the
Tsets to review court judgments. Prof. Chimid, who influentially participated in theconstitution making and signed the 1992 Law on the Constitutional Tsets, writes that the
Tsets is separate from the ordinary courts,120 which implies that the Tsets does notreview the judgments of the Supreme Court. According to Prof. Sarantuya, framers did
not adopt the right of individual complaint into the 1992 Law on the Constitutional Tsets

khuuliin arkhiviin san.
118
Zorig S., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 85-86, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
119
Martin Shapiro, “Comments on the Mongolian Draft Constitution” (1991): 44. See also P.N. Bhagwati
and Reed Brody, “Assistance to the Government of Mongolia relating to the draft Constitution” (June1991): 43; Amnesty International, “Mongol Ulsiin Baga khurald toliluulakh sanamj bichig” (August1992); The Republican Party of the U.S. (1991): 5, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
120
Chimid B., Undsen khuuliin medleg, 312.

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Constitutional Review in Mongolia

for two reasons: (1) the lack of comprehensive research on this topic; and (2) the
misunderstanding that “if the Constitutional Court reviews the final judgments of otherjudicial organs, it will be inconsistent with article 50 of the Constitution: ‘the Supreme
Court shall be the highest judicial organ.’”121
The Tsets neither doubts constitutionality of the Law on the Constitutional Tsets andthe Law on the Constitutional Tsets Procedure, which exclude individual complaint, nor
conducts constitutional review of the Supreme Court judgments. Temuujin Kh. filed
three notifications, reasonably arguing that these two laws were unconstitutional
because they did not establish the individual complaint mechanism already guaranteedin the Constitution.122 However, the Tsets refused to hear these notifications.123 This
court also refused to review constitutionality of court judgments. For example, the Tsets
found that the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the provisions of the Law on
Privatization violated citizen’s right to appeal to the court (Const. art. 16.14), but it
transfered the case to the Supreme Court, saying that “it lacks jurisdiction to decide
whether the statutory interpretation of the Supreme Court violates the Constitution.”124
In two cases, the Tsets also struck down provisions of the statutes because theinterpretation of these provisions by the Supreme Court was unconstitutional.125 In
these two cases, the Supreme Court could in fact interpret the provisions asconstitutional, but it did not do so. The Tsets did not strike down the unconstitutional
interpretation of the statutory provisions by the Supreme Court, but the very provisions
that could be interpreted as constitutional.

3.2.3. The two-stage procedure of the Tsets

This subsection does not discuss all issues related to the procedure of the Tsets, but
the core of this procedure. Unlike European constitutional courts, the Tsets has a uniqueprocedure in which it listens to the constitutional interpretation by the legislature though

121

Sarantuya Ts., Undsen khuuliin processiin erkh zui, 102, 129.
Temuujin Kh., Medeelel (January 4, 2007); Temuujin Kh., Jus Frast buyu Yost Ug, 58–67, 208–232,
238–239.
123
Tsets, Apr. 30, 2004, Magadlal No. 3/04
124
See Tsets, Aug. 29, 1994, Dugnelt No. 8. In 2004, this court also found a wrong practice of applying
the Civil Procedure Code, but did not strike down that practice. See Tsets, Jun. 7, 2004, Dugnelt No. 2.
125
Tsets, May 14, 2008, Dugnelt No. 6; Tsets, Oct 29, 2008, Dugnelt No. 8.
12295

Chapter Three

it alone makes the final judgment. This procedure can be called the two-stage procedure.
This subsection discusses the content of the two-stage procedure, the reasons for its
creation, its advantages, and its possible improvement.
The Tsets decides constitutional disputes through two stages of the procedureaccording to article 66 of the Constitution.126 In the first stage, a middle panel of fivejustices delivers the conclusion on constitutionality of the law and other decisions listed
in article 66.2 of the Constitution. If this panel finds a law or decision unconstitutional,
then that law or decision will be suspended until the final judgment of the Tsets. The
conclusion is submitted to the SGKh that must decide whether to recognize it within 15
days. In the parliamentary session discussing the conclusion of the Tsets, one of thejustices only reads the conclusion, and the MPs have no right to ask the Justicequestions.127 The conclusion becomes the final judgment and immediately enters into
force if the SGKh accepts it. However, if the SGKh rejects the conclusion,128 the second
stage starts. A grand panel of seven to nine justices reconsiders the grounds for therejection by the SGKh and delivers the final judgment (called the resolution) by a twothird majority. Moreover, if the SGKh does not respond to the conclusion of the Tsets
within due time (15 days) fixed by the law129 or if the SGKh reenacts the legislationthat the Tsets previously quashed as unconstitutional,130 the grand panel of the Tsets
directly completes a resolution without any decision of the SGKh. The resolution of the
Tsets can overrule the conclusion of the Tsets in deciding the same case if there areenough reasons to do so. If the resolution rules that a law or decision violates theConstitution, the law or decision will become null and void.

126

See AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 39-41, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
127
Tsets, Apr. 2 2010, Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, Jun. 9 2010, Togtool No. 2
128
The SGKh rejects most of the conclusions that find unconstitutionality of the legislation and otherdecisions. However, the SGKh once rejected the conclusion that found constitutionality of the General
Commission of Election decision that deleted the names of candidates from the majority party in the
SGKh. See Tsets, Jun. 20 1996, Dugnelt No. 5; SGKh, Aug. 1, 1996, Togtool, No. 24.
129
Tsets, Dec. 12 2008, Dugnelt No. 10; Tsets, Jun. 10 2009, Togtool No. 3. In this case, the Tsets sent a
conclusion to the SGKh. The SGKh did not make any decision for six months even though it had to makea decision in 15 days. Thus, according to Article 30.1.2 of the Law on the Constitutional Tsets Procedure,
the Tsets made the final decision, the resolution, without any decision of the SGKh, quashing the statutory
provision that the conclusion found unconstitutional. This decision has strengthened the jurisdiction of the
Tsets and the rule of law in Mongolia. Prof. J. Amarsanaa firstly had developed the basis of this decision.
See Amarsanaa J., Murun D., and Bold S., Undsen Khuuliin Tsetsiin Chadavkhiig Bekhjuulekh Ni, 38.
130
Tsets, May 27 2009, Togtool No. 2. This decision found that the SGKh reenacted the statutory clausepreviously quashed by the Tsets, and quashed the clause. See also Tsets, Jan. 23 2008, Togtool No. 1(which found that the SGKh did not reenact the statutory clause previously quashed by the Tsets).

96Constitutional Review in Mongolia

Since the two-stage procedure of the Tsets is unique, it is worth looking at why theConstitution framers adopted this procedure. Two different versions of the procedure,
the single-stage and the two-stage, were discussed during the constitution making
process. The two-stage procedure has been described above. The single-stage procedure
was the classic procedure of European constitutional courts; that is, these courts directly
make final judgments on constitutionality of legislation and other acts and do not submit
its judgments to the legislature. The single-stage procedure was included in some of theearly drafts of the Constitution: “a legislative act that violates the Constitution isconsidered invalid from the day that the decision of the Constitutional Tsets was
published in the state media, and the decision in question could not be appealed
against.”131 Although framers rejected the single-stage procedure early on, a few ofthem argued again for this procedure in the PGKh, but they could not gain majority
support.132
The framers adopted the two-stage procedure rather than the single-stage procedure
due to four reasons. First, there was a great deal of skepticism towards the legal
profession by the public. The image of the legal profession was generally negative
during the socialist regime because lawyers assisted and supported the regime.
Describing lawyers as the profession who subjected citizens to repression in theprevious regime, some framers, therefore, were afraid that if lawyers were given too
much power (constitutional review), they might abuse this power so that citizens would
suffer “brutal repression.”133
The second reason was the concern that the Tsets might interfere arbitrarily with theactivities of the parliament, the government, and other institutions as the Political
Bureau did during the socialist period. For example, framer Nyambuu B. made thefollowing remarks:
This Tsets would become more powerful than the Political Bureau and its few members
could never be removed. These few people’s term is for 9 years, and it can be extended
one more time. The Tsets will enjoy the ultimate power for 18 years… The Tsets

131
Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin tusul, [The draft of the Constitution of Mongolia] (Dec. 1990; Jan. 14,
1991; Mar. 4, 1991): 21-22, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
132
See Elbegdorj Ts., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 142; Gonchigdorj R., UBKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 145, 146; Tovuusuren, UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 18,
1991): 46, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
133
Lkhagvajav G., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 26. See also Choijiljav Kh., AIKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 8, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.

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Chapter Three

judgment will enter into force even when it is not accepted by the Great Khural. Thus, theTsets will take all of powers when its judgment enters into force.134

When many of the framers feared the Tsets and distrusted the legal profession in general,
it was hard to persuade a majority of framers to give the Tsets the power to directly
invalidate unconstitutional laws.
The third reason was that the two-stage procedure held a mark of respect for the
democratically elected SGKh as “the highest organ of State” (Mon. Const. art. 20) andas “the highest organ of legislative power.”135 According to Tsog L., if the Tsets
invalidated a law without letting the parliament know, it would become anotherparliament over the parliament.136 Tsog, therefore, argued for the two-stage procedure
while believing that this procedure would not blur the judicial nature of the Tsets
because the Tsets still had the power to nullify unconstitutional laws, and everyone
necessarily followed its judgments.
The fourth reason was that the two-stage procedure represented a peaceful way tosolve a constitutional dispute and to promote the mutual understandings between the
Tsets and the SGKh. This procedure lets the institutions such as the SGKh to correct
their own unconstitutional acts. Prof. Chimid explained as follows:
The two-stage procedure is a peculiarity of the Tsets. The principle of feedback isfollowed here. The Tsets decides whether a certain law or decision is unconstitutional, andallows the President, the Government, the Parliament, and perhaps the Supreme Court toinvalidate it. This is a peaceful, flexible way for the constitutional court and these
institutions to understand each other.137

Prof. Sarantuya also argued that the two-stage procedure allowed the Tsets to “clarify
again causes and reasons why the certain act that violated the Constitution was

134

Nyambuu B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 41; See also Dashbalbar O., AIKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 22; Enkhbaatar D., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16,
1991): 14, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
135
Sovd G., “Undsen Khuuliin Khyanaltiin Togtoltsoond Undsen Khuuliin Tsetsiin Ezlekh Bair Suuri[The Status of the Constitutional Tsets in the System of Constitutional Review],” 95.
136
Tsog L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 55-56, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
137
Chimid B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 39-41; See also Chimid B., AIKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 11-14, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san; Chimid B.,
Undsen Khuuliin Uzel Barimtlal: Niitleg Asuudal, 1:164; Chimid B., Undsen Khuuliin Uzel Barimtlal:
Khunii Erkh, Shuukh Erkh Medel, 2:179.

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made.”138
The two-stage procedure of the constitutional review is suitable to a new democracy.
Mongolia had neither a parliament before 1990 nor constitutional review before 1992.
The SGKh and the Tsets often made mistakes because both lacked experiences. If the
Tsets had the single-stage procedure where it directly made a final judgment on
constitutional matters as in Germany, it would be difficult to correct the judgment of the
Tsets. The only way to correct wrong judgments by this court would be theconstitutional amendment. However, frequent amendments to the new Constitution
would be not only difficult but also harmful to the culture of the rule of law. The twostage procedure is an institutional arrangement, in which the constitutional court could
make fewer mistakes in a transitional period.
The two-stage procedure promotes dialogue between the Tsets and the SGKhbecause the Tsets makes final judgments on constitutional matters after listening to theopinions of the SGKh. In the first stage, the representatives of the SGKh (mostly MP
lawyers) explain why the law is constitutional before the Tsets. This court then makes
conclusions as a first judgment and sends it to the SGKh. The SGKh in turn debates thisconclusion. The SGKh sometimes accepts the conclusions and agrees to correct
mistakes of its own or of other institutions such as the President or the government139
though it mostly rejects the conclusions. When the SGKh rejects the conclusions, theMPs explain to the Tsets why the SGKh rejects these conclusions and disclose reasons
discussed in the SGKh. After reassessing these reasons, the Tsets makes its final
judgments as the resolutions. The Tsets sometimes changes its previous poorconclusions due to reasons given by the SGKh.140 If the Tsets had no chance to makesuch changes, then poor judgments could harm Mongolian democracy.

138

Sarantuya Ts., Undsen khuuliin processiin erkh zui, 173.
The SGKh accepted partially or fully the following 24 conclusions of the Tsets: Tsets, Jan. 12, 1994,
Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, Aug. 29, 1994, Dugnelt No. 8; Tsets, Jan. 4, 1995, Dugnelt No. 1 (partially); Tsets,
May 29, 1996, Dugnelt No. 4 (partially); Tsets, Apr. 9, 1997, Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, Jul. 5, 1997, Dugnelt
No. 6 (unconstitutionality of the presidential decree); Tsets, Feb. 24, 1998, Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, Apr. 27,
1998, Dugnelt No. 4; Tsets, Mar. 23, 2001, Dugnelt No. 1; Tsets, Oct. 29, 2003, Dugnelt No. 3; Tsets, Apr.
21, 2004, Dugnelt No. 1; Tsets, Mar. 31, 2005, Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, Apr. 13, 2005, Dugnelt No. 3; Tsets,
Sep. 30, 2005, Dugnelt No. 7; Tsets, Dec. 7, 2005, Dugnelt No. 9; Tsets, Mar. 29, 2006, Dugnelt No. 3;
Tsets, Jun. 21, 2006, Dugnelt No. 7; Tsets, Dec. 13, 2006, Dugnelt No. 11; Tsets, Feb. 27, 2008, Dugnelt
No. 3; Tsets, May 14, 2008, Dugnelt No. 6; Tsets, Oct. 29, 2008, Dugnelt No. 8; Tsets, Mar. 4, 2009,
Dugnelt No. 1; Tsets, Mar. 11, 2009, Dugnelt No. 2 (partially); Tsets, Mar. 24, 2010, Dugnelt No. 1.
140
Tsets, Jan. 7, 1994, Dugnelt No. 1 and Tsets, Feb. 4, 1994, Togtool No. 1; Tsets, Mar. 13, 2000,
Dugnelt No. 2 and Tsets, Sep. 8, 2000, Togtool No. 1; Tsets, Jun. 26, 2002, Dugnelt No. 3 and Tsets, Nov.
13, 2000, Togtool No. 3. In these three cases, the Tsets changed its rulings in the final stage, following the
SGKh. The second case is analyzed in Section 6.3.
13999

Chapter Three

The dialogue between the Tsets and the SGKh may be improved if the Tsets makes
well-reasoned judgments. In its judgments, this court provides the arguments given by
two parties, mostly citizens and MPs representing the SGKh. However, the Tsets neither
makes enough analysis on these arguments nor provides its own reasons for the
judgment in most cases. Citizens and the SGKh have the right to know how this court
evaluates their arguments, which arguments are chosen, and which arguments are
rejected. With the judgments lacking reasoning, citizens and the SGKh cannot know
how the Tsets comes to a certain conclusion. If the Tsets gives reasons for its judgments,
then the SGKh may start to discuss not only the conclusion but also the reasons. If the
Tsets delivers good reasons in its judgments (conclusions), especially those judgments
concerning fundamental rights, then it will be difficult for the SGKh to reject the court
judgments. If citizens find that the judgment is well reasoned, then they will criticize
and blame the parliamentary action to reject that judgment. Therefore, to improve thedialogue between the SGKh and the Tsets, this court should always deliver wellreasoned judgments.
The Tsets can have both the single-stage procedure and the two-stage procedure
under the current framework of the 1992 Constitution. As Subsection 3.2.1 of this bookshowed, the interpretation that the petition in Article 66.1 of the Constitution is equal toconstitutional complaint rather than actio popularis is not only more reasonable but also
more congruent with the principled interpretation of constitutional text and results ofcomparative studies on constitutional review. If the petition in Article 66.1 of theConstitution is understood as a constitutional complaint that is practiced in Germany,
the Tsets should directly make final decisions on constitutional cases initiated by thepetition without sending a conclustion to the SGKh (the single-stage procedure), but it
can use the two-stage procedure to decide only cases inititiated by the request. The textof the Constitution indidates that the two-state procedure is limited to only the abstract
review of decisions and acts listed in Article 66.2 of the Constitution.

3.2.4. The Tsets as the European model of constitutional review

The two-stage procedure of the Tsets reflects a main influence of the Committee ofConstitutional Supervision of the USSR (the Soviet Committee). There are four major
similarities between the Tsets and this committee in spite of their differences. However,
the Tsets is a constitutional court on the European model because it meets the main100Constitutional Review in Mongolia

qualifications of the court of law. This subsection examines how the Soviet Committee
influenced the Tsets, whether the two-stage procedure has disadvantages and whether
this procedure makes the Tsets a semi-court.
The framers of the Mongolian Constitution formed the Tsets under the influences ofboth the Soviet Committee and the constitutional courts of Europe. A comparison
between the Soviet Committee and the Tsets shows the degree of these influences.
During Gorbachev’s perestroika, one of the legal reforms was the creation of
constitutional review as a step toward “a socialist state under the rule of law.” Soviet
scholars debated various models of constitutional review. These scholars rejected aversion of the American model because the Supreme Court of the USSR was incapableof exercising constitutional review. These scholars also declined to adopt the European
model as Herbert Hausmaninger explained:[The European model was attractive] but this model clashed with the deeply ingrained
principle of “supremacy” of parliament; the Supreme Soviet and the Congress of People’s
Deputies of the USSR (the USSR Congress) were the highest organs of state power in the
USSR and, as such, beyond judicial review. At least for the time being, this model was
rejected as being too radical…141

Therefore, the USSR established the Committee of Constitutional Supervision (theSoviet Committee) in the 1988 Constitutional Amendment (art. 125) and in the 1989
Law on the Constitutional Supervision in the USSR. Some Mongolian framers said that
the Soviet Committee was a failure because it could not protect the Constitution.
However, this committee existed only for two year, which made it difficult to be fully
evaluated.
The system of the Soviet Committee was complicated due to the complexity of theSoviet Union.142 Nevertheless, the arrangement and procedure of this Committee could
be explaned in simple terms for the sake of a comparison with the Tsets. The committee
influenced the Tsets in four ways. First, the qualification, appointment and renewable
term of members are similar. 27 members of the Committee were selected from among“specialists in the area of politics and law” for the renewable term (of ten years) by asimple majority vote in the USSR Congress upon the nomination of the Chairperson of141

Hausmaninger, “The Committee of Constitutional Supervision of the USSR,” 228.
Ibid., 305–307; Hausmaninger, “From the Soviet Committee of Constitutional Supervision to theRussian Constitutional Court,” 306–331; Quigley, “Soviet Union as a State Under the Rule of Law,” 211–
213.

142

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the Supreme Soviet.143 Likewise, nine members of the Tsets are appointed from among
citizens who have “high political, legal qualification” for the renewable term (of six
years) by a simple majority vote in the SGKh upon the nomination of three of them by
the SGKh, three by the President and the remaining three by the Supreme Court.
Second, both the Soviet Committee and the Tsets address issues at the requests ofvarious governmental bodies. Governmental organs such as the USSR Congress, onefifth of the People’s deputies, the Chairperson of the Supreme Soviet, the Supreme
Court, and the Prosecutor General could send a request to the Committee. Similarly, theSGKh, the President, the Prime Minister, the Supreme Court, and the Prosecutor
General can send a request to the Tsets. The Committee addressed issues on its own
initiative. However, the Tsets could not address issues on its own initiative, but it can doso at the petition and notification of citizens. The petition and notification of citizens
were added to the draft Constitution as Martin Shapiro suggested in his advice to thedraft Constitution of Mongolia.144
Third, the jurisdictions of the Committee and the Tsets are similar. The jurisdictionof the Committee permits it to review a variety of acts such as draft laws, laws,
international treaties, or actions of the Council of Ministries of the USSR for theirconformity with the Constitution. Likewise, the jurisdiction of the Tsets covers laws,
international treaties, decisions of the President, and government decisions (as well as
issues on high ranking-officials). The jurisdictions of both the Committee and the Court
do not extend to individual judgments of the ordinary courts and decisions of theadministrative organs (lower than the central government level). Unlike the Committee,
the Tsets does not review draft laws.
Fourth, the procedures of the Soviet Committee and the Tsets seem similar but
different in important aspects. Both of them have to send the conclusions on
constitutional matters to the legislatures (the Soviet Congress and SGKh). Theirconclusions do not suspend the applicability of laws or other decision.145 However, theconsequences of the conclusions are different in the two systems. The Tsets makes a
final judgment by a two-third majority of votes in case the SGKh rejects the conclusion

143

Hausmaninger, “The Committee of Constitutional Supervision of the USSR,” 300–301.
Martin Shapiro, “Comments on the Mongolian Draft Constitution” (1991): 42-43, in Mongol ulsiin
undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san; Chimid B., Undsen khuuliig deedlen shutekh yos, 49.
145
Nevertheless, in 2005, the SGKh amended the Law on the Constitutional Tsets so that if the Tsets
makes a conclusion of unconformity of a decision with the Constitution, the applicability of the law or thedecision is suspended.
144

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Constitutional Review in Mongoliaof the Tsets (the two-stage procedure). On the other hand, if the Soviet Committee madea conclusion with regard to constitutionality of congressional decisions or other acts,
then the Congress could reject the conclusion upon a two-third majority vote (1,500 of
2,250) at its next session. If the Congress rejected the conclusion in this way, then the
congressional decision or act would remain valid. If the congress lacked a two-third
majority vote, or it failed to take this action,146 the conclusion of the committee would
stand, and the act in question would immediately become invalid. However, thecommittee’s power on human rights was as strong as that of the constitutional courts in
Europe. If the committee found that a provision of a normative legal act violated humanrights and freedoms, the provision would immediately become invalid.
The procedure (the single-stage procedure) in the constitutional courts of Western
Europe replaced the procedures similar to the two-stage procedures of the Tsets in otherpost-communist countries. The Committee of Constitutional Supervision vanished withthe collapse of the USSR in 1991. The newly formed Russian Federation established aconstitutional court rather than the weak, semi-judicial body such as the previous Soviet
Committee. Thus, the decisions of the Russian Constitutional Court are directly final
and binding as with the European courts. Other post-socialist countries followed thesame path. Schwartz wrote that “in some countries – Romania, Poland, and Portugal –decisions of the constitutional courts have been subject to reversal by the parliament,
although such an action requires a two-thirds supermajority, equivalent to that often
required for a constitutional amendment in those countries.”147 Nevertheless, all ofthese countries later removed the parliamentary power to reject the constitutional court
decisions.148 Thus, the Tsets is unique from the comparative perspective as it maintains
the two-stage procedure.
The two-stage procedure should be replaced by the single-stage procedure thatallows the Tsets directly to make a final and binding decision on constitutional matters.

146

The organ that issued the unconstitutional or illegal acts had a three-month period to make theappropriate changes. If the nonconformity was not corrected within this period, the Committee might
request that the Congress, the Supreme Soviet, or the Council of Minister would change thenonconformity. The committee’s annulment stands unless the Congress rejects the Committee’s
conclusion by a two-third majority. See Hausmaninger, “The Committee of Constitutional Supervision of
the USSR,” 305–307.
147
Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 38. The two-stage
procedure of Mongolia and the parliamentary power to reject the constitutional court decisions, which
existed in Poland, look similar but different since the Tsets can re-adopt its decision in final and binding
form after the SGKh has rejected it.
148
Durr, “Comparative Overview of European Systems of Constitutional Justice,” 11103

Chapter Three

The two-stage procedure is suitable during a transitional period but not thereafter. This
procedure weakens the authority of decisions of the court because MPs sometimes
openly reject these decisions for partisan reasons. Moreover, the two-stage procedure
harms the independence of the court. Schwartz argued as follows: “Finality is crucial tojudicial independence. The refusal to accord finality to the constitutional courts’
decisions reflects an insistence on parliamentary sovereignty and a mistrust of both theconstitutional court and the separation of powers doctrine.” 149 In addition, some
Mongolian scholars are dissatisfied with the two-stage procedure. For example, Prof.
Sarantuya also argued against this procedure:
The decision of the Tsets is court’s decision and it is incorrect to put it for discussion inother organization. The conclusions passed by the Tsets in its middle panel session andgrand panel session are submitted to the State Great Khural. It leads to the wrong
understanding that the legislator must know and recognize court decision. Also it’s
illogical when the political organization discusses whether legal organization passed rightdecision or wrong decision. In such case we could not implement modern democratic
principles of power division, independency of the court and the rule of law.150

There is the criticism that the Tsets is not a court but a semi-court because it
continues with the two-stage procedure similar to the Soviet model (the USSR
Committee of Constitutional Supervision). Mongolian politicians sometimes raise thiscriticism when they dislike the decisions of the Tsets. Some framers also argued that the
Tsets was not a pure court but a mixture of the Soviet model and the European model
because the two-stage procedure allowed the Tsets to exercise both the advisory power
to submit a conclusion to the SGKh and the judicial power to make a final judgment.151
The Tsets is not a semi-court but a constitutional court regardless of its two-stage
procedure. Framers instituted the Tsets with its two-stage procedure as the most suitablemechanism for the Rechtsstaat and fundamental rights after long discussions on “whatmechanism can protect best the Constitution.”152 Moreover, the Tsets is a new term

149

Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 38.
Sarantuya Ts., “Origin, Development and Urgent Tasks of the Constitutional Procedure Law inMongolia,” 37. A draft Constitution prepared by young legal scholars in 2007 also excluded the two-stage
procedure. See Chapter 12 of the Draft Constitution of Mongolia, prepared by Open Academy and Asian
Initiative Institute (September 21, 2007).
151
Ganbayar N., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Jan. 9, 1991): 70; Ganbayar N., Ganbayar N., AIKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 93-95, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san
152
Ochirjav O., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 44; Bayar S., UBKh-n khuraldaanii
temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 90, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
150

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created for the purpose of calling a constitutional court. Early draft constitutions also
included the Tsets in the chapter on judiciary as other constitutions. 153 However,framers separated the Tsets from the chapter on the judiciary, and they created a newchapter without substantively modifying the main conception of this court.
The Tsets is a constitutional court because it makes a final and binding decision on
constitutional disputes through the judicial procedure initiated by disputing parties. First,
the Tsets solves constitutional disputes as ordinary courts decide civil and criminal
disputes. Framer Chimid argued as follows:
The court decides not only criminal and civil cases, disputes, but also disputes related toadministrative law and state [constitutional] law. It is a court since it solves disputes. It isa criminal court since it solves crimes. The Constitutional Tsets is a court because it
makes final decisions on [constitutional] mistakes by the Great Khural, the President, theGovernment, and other state organs.154

Second, the Tsets decisions on constitutional disputes are also final and binding(Mon. Const. art. 66.3, 66.4, and 67) though the SGKh has the chance to show its
objection to the decisions under the two-stage procedure. Many framers argued that amain characteristic of a court was the power to make a final decision on disputes, which
made the Tsets a constitutional court.155
Third, another judicial characteristic is that the Tsets makes a decision only when aconstitutional dispute is brought forward by the requests of certain authorities or thepetitions (or notifications) of citizens. In 1992, Sovd, future Chief Justice of the Tsets,argued that the Tsets is a court because it makes a decision only when it received a claim
from an individual, but the constitutional council (and the Committee of Constitutional
Supervision of the USSR) makes a decision on its own initiative.156

153
Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin tusul [the draft of the Constitution of Mongolia], Boti 92, Oct. 5, 1991:
169 (as well as Boti 92, Nov. 7, 1991: 205); Chimid B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991):
11-14; Tsog L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 38-39, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san.
154
Chimd B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 11-14 Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin tusul[the draft of the Constitution of Mongolia], in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliin arkhiviin san.
155
Tsog-Ochir L, Ochirjav O., UBKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Oct. 20, 1991): 87-88; Byambajav J.,
AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 68-69; Gonchigdorj R., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel(Dec. 14, 1991): 93-95; Tsog L., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 14, 1991): 50; Tsog L., AIKh-n
khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 32-33; Ochirjav O., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16,
1991): 9-10; Chimid B., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 20, 1991): 11-14, in Mongol ulsiin undsen
khuuliin arkhiviin san. See also Sarantuya Ts., Undsen khuuliin processiin erkh zui, 35
156
Sovd G. (Director of the Legal Institute), AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Jan. 9, 1992): 165. See also

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Fourth, the general process of how the Tsets works is judicial. 157 Like otherconstitutional courts, the Tsets has a typical (“triadic”) structure of the court defined by
Shapiro: a first party (mostly citizens), a second opposing party (mostly the SGKh andthe Government), and above them a separate impartial body (the Tsets) with theauthority to make a determination.158 The process of the Tsets also partially satisfies the
judicial process defined by Jeremy Waldron, which includes at least the following four
elements: (1) the opportunity to discuss arguments and evidences, (2) the open hearing,(3) the application of norms to individual cases, and (4) the reasoned judgments.159 The
Tsets satisfies the first two elements, but not the last two elements. The process of the
Tsets allows the disputing parties, mostly citizens and the SGKh, to present arguments
and to examine arguments of the other party in the open hearing. Each party also canpresent arguments and evidences at the end of the process and respond to those of theother party.
The current process of the Tsets needs to be improved to satisfy the last two elementsof the judicial process described by Waldron. First, the Tsets should apply constitutional
norms to individual cases, which is “the essential idea” of the court.160 Even though thisidea is sometimes controversial in the discussion on the abstract review of legislation, itis the common function of the leading courts of constitutional review in democracies
such as the U.S. and Germany. The establishment of individual complaint andconstitutional question can help the Tsets to perform this function. Today, the Tsets does
not apply constitutional norms to individual cases because of its sole abstract review.
Second, the Tsets should always make a reasoned judgment on constitutional cases.
According to Waldron, the importance of the reasoned judgment of the court is asfollows: in the judicial process, “both sides are treated respectfully, and above alllistened to by a tribunal which is bound in some manner to attend to the evidence
presented and respond to the submissions that are made in the reasons it eventually
gives for its decision.” 161 However, the Tsets neither responds to arguments andevidence provided by the disputing parties nor provides reasons in most of its judgments.

Ochirjav O., AIKh-n khuraldaanii temdeglel (Dec. 16, 1991): 9-10, in Mongol ulsiin undsen khuuliinarkhiviin san; Sarantuya Ts., Undsen khuuliin processiin erkh zui, 32-33.
157
The basic rules of the Tsets procedure are about the composition, openness of dispute resolution, oralproceeding, continuity of procedure, adversarial process, and independence of dispute resolution are
defined in the 1997 Law of Mongolia on Constitutional Tsets Procedure.
158
Shapiro, Courts, 1–37.
159
Waldron, “The Concept and the Rule of Law,” 20–24.
160
Ibid., 23.
161
Ibid.

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Constitutional Review in Mongolia

Conclusion

The Tsets is a creation by the Mongolian framers who deliberated on constitutional
review by considering the three models already covered in this chapter. This court isbased on the Soviet model, the USSR Committee of Constitutional Supervision, but it isdifferent from the Soviet model because it was influenced by experiences of
constitutional review in western and other post socialist countries. In addition, theMongolian framers made an innovation, the two-stage procedure, which has been
evolving for almost two decades. While the Tsets basically follows the European model,
its name, composition, appointment of justices, term of justices, jurisdiction, andprocedure are different from that of European constitutional courts. As Kelsen said, “itis impossible to propose a uniform solution for all possible constitutions: constitutional
review will have to be organized according to the specific characteristics of each ofthem.”162 Nevertheless, the institutional improvements of the Tsets according to theEuropean model should be made for the better protection of fundamental rights and therule of law.
As Introduction to this book mentioned, the Tsets does not protect fundamental
rights well for two reasons: institutional and cultural. Institutionally, the Tsets protects
these rights only through an abstract review. The Tsets adopts a constitutional
interpretation that it does not have the individual complaint procedure. Ginsburg argued
as follows: “under this interpretation, an individual’s rights, including those elaborated
under Article 16 of the Constitution, may be denied simply because an ordinary court
has looked at the matter. If an ordinary court violates a constitutional right through oneof its decisions, that decision will not be reviewable.”163 Ordinary courts also have nojuridical review power and rarely apply constitutional provisions to individual cases.
Thus, concrete cases of violations of fundamental rights cannot arrive at the Tsets or areout of the judicial review. The current abstract review insufficiently protects these rights,
so the citizens should have the right to petition against not only the legislation but also
any final decisions of the Supreme Court, which violate their rights. Scholars argue that
the Tsets should have the individual complaint procedure initiated by the citizens and

162
163

Favoreu, “Constitutional Review in Europe,” 38, 51.
Ginsburg, Judicial Review in New Democracies, 180.

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Chapter Three

the abstract review by specially designed authorities.164 Moreover, ordinary judges
rather than only the Supreme Court justices should directly submit the constitutionalquestion. Furthermore, the abstract review initiated by individuals (actio popularis) is
not suitable after the transition and the Tsets should be given the jurisdictions moreclosely related to concrete cases according to the similarities of the American andEuropean models. Allowing the Tsets to have the jurisdictions to concrete constitutional
cases and making other institutional improvements are necessary but not enough.
The second reason for the poor protection of fundamental rights is cultural. The
Tsets could have developed strong protection of fundamental rights through the abstract
review as the Hungarian Constitutional Court. However, the Tsets is not active inprotecting these rights because it often fails to provide reasons of its judgments andbecause it usually makes literal or originalist interpretations of the Constitution.
Chapters 4 will focuses on the issue of reasoned judgment and the constitutional
interpretation.

164

Temuujin Kh., Jus Frast buyu Yost Ug, 58–67, 208–232, 238–239; Amarsanaa J., Murun D., and Bold
S., Undsen Khuuliin Tsetsiin Chadavkhiig Bekhjuulekh Ni, 38–40; Sarantuya Ts., “Origin, Development
and Urgent Tasks of the Constitutional Procedure Law in Mongolia,” 1–40.

108Chapter 4
Constitutional Interpretation

This chapter investigates how the court should interpret the Constitution because thisbook aims to find theoretical and practical solutions to the poor interpretation of theConstitution by the Tsets. The court has the power to make final interpretation of theConstitution in constitutional democracies although there are other constitutional
interpreters including the legislature, the executive or the citizens. Section 4.1 defines
what reasoned judgment of the court and the constitutional interpretation are in general.
Section 4.2 looks into the constitutional interpretation in the U.S., examining different
interpretation methods. The U.S. Supreme Court has protected many fundamental rights
by an interpretation method called the moral reading of the Constitution as developedby Ronald Dworkin.1 Sections 4.2 therefore discusses how the moral reading is moreagreeable than two other methods, namely the strict constructionism and the originalism,and how originalism and majoritarian theories criticize the moral reading.
Section 4.3 illustrates the common usage of the moral reading of the Constitution.
Mongolia has the European model of constitutional review, but it can use the U.S.
theory of constitutional interpretation, the moral reading, to improve its protection of
fundamental rights as other jurisdictions also apply methods similar to the moral
reading. This Section shows that not only the U.S. Supreme Court but also theconstitutional and international courts of Europe interpret their constitutions and bills ofrights by interpretation methods similar to the moral reading even though their systems

1

The aim of this chapter is not to defend Dworkin’s whole theory of law, but to show what his theory of
constitutional interpretation is, why his theory is better than other interpretation theories, and whether the
Tsets can use his theory. Thus, the chapter does not discuss the famous debate between Dworkin and H. L.
A. Hart. See Dworkin, Justice in Robes, 140–240.

109

Chapter Fourof constitutional review (American and European models) are institutionally different.
There are transitional countries with successful constitutional courts that use the moral
reading of their constitutions. Thus, Section 4.3 focuses on the Hungarian Constitutional
Court that often makes the moral reading. Section 4.4 shows that constitutional
democracies have developed a common culture, which is important for the moral
reading of the Constitution and constitutionalism in general.

4.1. Reasoned judgment and constitutional interpretation

In the U.S. and constitutional democracies in Europe, the courts make reasoned
judgments on constitutional matters while interpreting their constitutions. Judges shouldinterpret the Constitution and deliver reasoned judgments. This section briefly discusses
why the courts should justify their judgments, what functions the justified judgments
play, and what methods of constitutional interpretation the courts use for justifying their
judgments in the American and European models.
In constitutional democracies, the courts have the duty to explain and justify its
decisions on constitutionality of legislation and other acts by referring to constitutionallaw. This judicial duty can be explained by comparing it to the duty of the legislature.
According to John Rawls, “the justices have to explain and justify their decisions asbased on their understanding of the Constitution and relevant statutes and precedents.
Acts of the legislative and the executive need not be justified in this way.”2 The
justifications by the courts and the legislature differ because the purposes of these two
institutions are different. The court is for the rule of law, and the legislature is for the
improvement of people’s situation and society as a whole. The court has to make legal
justifications because it enforces and follows the rule of law at the same time. Waldron
argues as follows:
A right to present evidence in one’s behalf, a right to make legal argument about thebearing of the evidence and about the bearing of the various legal norms relevant to thecase, and a right to hear reasons from the tribunal when it reaches its decision, which areresponsive to the evidence and arguments presented before it… are important parts of the2

Rawls, Political Liberalism, 216.

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Constitutional Interpretation

Rule of Law.3

The legislature aims not only for the implementation of the Constitution but also forgood social policy. Because of their purposes, the legislature and the court havedifferent procedures, compositions, and cultures. The courts are composed of legal
professionals, who are mostly appointed and exercise judicial power according to the
judicial procedure. On the other hand, the legislature is composed of politicians (notnecessarily legal professionals), who are elected by the people and exercises thelegislative power according to the legislative procedure. The powers of the legislatureand the court, therefore, are legitimized differently. MPs can vote for certain legislation
just because the people who elect them support that legislation. The legislature,
therefore, has elective legitimacy. The legislature should pay attention to the effects thata law has on individual rights of citizens in a constitutional democracy. MPs having
elective legitimacy can give their reasons and listen to reasons of a minority when
making a collective decision on individual rights of citizens. However, judges have togive legal reasons for their decisions, but they cannot rely just on the public opinion
because they have no elective legitimacy.
The lack of frankness as to the reasons relied upon in judicial judgments may seemappropriate for fear of the possible adverse reactions against these reasons. However,judges should frankly give reasons for their judgments regardless of the possible
reactions because the frankness indicates their adherence to the rule of law andpromotes public discussions on the reasons of the judgment. D. L. Shapiro argued forthe frankness of reasons in judicial judgments as follows:A requirement that judges give reasons for their decisions - grounds of decision that canbe debated, attacked, and defended – serves a vital function in constraining the judiciary’s
exercise of power. In the absence of an obligation of candour, this constraint would begreatly diluted, since judges who regard themselves as free to distort or misstate thereasons for their actions can avoid the sanctions of criticism and condemnation thathonest disclosure of their motivation may entail.4

The reasoned decisions of the court play three functions in a constitutional
democracy. First, the reasoned decisions show whether judges decide cases arbitrarily or

34

Waldron, “The Rule of Law and the Importance of Procedure,” 4.
Shapiro, “In Defense of Judicial Candour,” 737.

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Chapter Fourby making a judgment based on the facts and legal arguments according to the law.5
The reasoned judgments constrain not only the activities of the legislature, thegovernment, the ordinary judges, the administrators, and the citizens, but also that ofconstitutional court judges themselves by subjecting them to rules internal to normative
reasoning.6 The function of non-arbitrariness is more serious for constitutional law thanprivate or commercial laws because the constitutional adjudication abolishes thelegislation. If the court makes poor reasoning in its judgments, politicians and politicalparties may easily attack these judgments with partisan interests by saying that judges
are politically biased. Thus, the court should always make reasoned judgments andshow that these judgments are not politically biased but legally grounded. Second,judges making a reasoned decision respect the two parties of the case as rational andreasonable persons. The judicial decision should be just as reasonable to the losing party
as the winning one so that all could agree to the decision.7 When the court listens to thelegal arguments of parties and makes a reasoned decision responding to these arguments,
it respects the human dignity of these parties because it conceives of them as “beings
capable of explaining themselves” and “as bearers of reason and intelligence.”8 Whenthe court makes reasoned decisions protecting fundamental rights, people pay more
attention to constitutional issues and respect the court.9 Third, reasoned decisions
provide some degree of predictability as people can know what the law is and how it isinterpreted in other similar cases, and plan their lives accordingly.
In order to show that the reasons for their judgments are based on constitutional law,
courts have to interpret the Constitution. Courts implicitly or explicitly use similar
methods for interpreting the Constitution. Studies on American and European practices
demonstrate that the methods of constitutional interpretation are, “in most relevant
respects, largely similar.”10 The U.S. courts, notably the Supreme Court, use methods
such as strict constructionism, originalism, stare decisis, constitutional structure,11 and

5Gerhardt et al., Constitutional Theory, 24 (citing Martin Golding, Legal Reasoning 2-4 (1984)).
Sweet, Governing with Judges, 144–145.
7
Reasonable people may sincerely and consciously achieve different judgments and have “reasonabledisagreements” due to “burdens of judgments.” See Rawls, Justice as Fairness, 35–36.
8
Waldron, “The Rule of Law and the Importance of Procedure,” 14, 17.
9
For how the public respect constitutional justices more than politicians in Germany and Hungary
because their constitutional courts have been continuously protecting individual rights, see Kommers,“The Federal Constitutional Court in the German Political System,” 489; Orkeny and Scheppele, “Rulesof Law: The Complexity of Legality in Hungary,” 61.
10
Rosenfeld, “Constitutional Adjudication in Europe and the United States,” 660.
11
Though structural arguments are rarely employed today, but they “were more popular in the past,
particularly in the Lochner era.” Griffin, American Constitutionalism, 150. For example, in Lochner, the6112Constitutional Interpretation

moral reading.12 Similar to the U.S. Supreme Court, the European courts, notably theGerman Federal Constitutional Court, employ a variety of methods for interpreting theConstitution: grammatical methods, historical methods, systematic methods, andteleological methods.13 The European courts often use methods that originated in the
United States. For example, these courts interpret a law so that it would not violate theConstitution, they employ “the rule of reasonableness,”14 and they use methods similar
to the moral reading of the Constitution. Thus, the methods of constitutional
interpretation are similar in most constitutional democracies. However, there is adifference: the usage of originalism is limited to the United States. Unlike the U.S.
Supreme Court, the European courts such as the German Constitutional Court rarely use
originalism as a decisive interpretation method.
This book focuses on the methods to interpret the Constitution in the U.S. without
denying that other well-functioning constitutional democracies such as Germany havedeveloped valuable methods. This limitation is practical since one book cannot discuss
all methods of different jurisprudences in detail. There is also more substantive reason
to research the U.S. constitutional interpretation that is unfamiliar to Mongolia. The
Tsets provides a poor protection of fundamental rights because it often uses implicitly
methods similar to the American strict constructionism and originalism though
Mongolian judges and scholars do not discuss seriously these two methods. Thus, thischapter argues for the moral reading of the Constitution against strict constructionism
and originalism. If the Tsets actively applies a method similar to the moral reading
rather than strict constructionism and originalism, it can protect well the bill of rights.

4.2. American constitutional interpretation

Supreme Court based its arguments on the premise that “there is a limit to the valid exercise of the police
power by the state,” and the distinction between constitutional and unconstitutional exercise of the police
power was crucial to decide the case. See Lochner v. New York, 198 U.S. 45, 25 S.Ct. 539 (1905).
12
Scholars argue for one or some of these methods. Some also argue that pluralism is “the best
descriptive-explanatory account of constitutional interpretation… because the sources of American law
are plural.” Ibid., 148; See also Bobbitt, “The Modalities of Constitutional Argument.”
13
Rosenfeld, “Constitutional Adjudication in Europe and the United States,” 660; Kommers, The
Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany, 42–49; Magiara, “The Interpretationof the Basic Law”; Schlink, “German Constitutional Culture in Transition.”
14
Favoreu, “Constitutional Review in Europe,” 41–42.

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Chapter Four4.2.1. The moral reading of the U.S. Constitution

Judges have to define the meaning of constitutional clauses, which are precise or
abstract. The meanings of precise clauses are definitive, but the meanings of abstract
clauses such as fundamental rights are controversial. Dworkin makes the distinction
between the concept (an abstract idea) and the conception (an understanding of thatidea).15 This subsection demonstrates that this distinction can help to understand theinterpretation of abstract clauses and explain the landmark judgments of the U.S.
Supreme Court. This subsection also argues that judges should choose the best
conceptions of abstract concepts such as rights clauses with the best reasons, but thescopes of these choices are limited by the responsibility to respect the constitutional text
and integrity, and the duty to apply constitutional principles rather than social policies.
This subsection also discusses three levels of scrutiny in equal protection cases: rational
basis review, intermediate scrutiny and strict scrutiny.
In constitutional democracies, judges have the power to review whether or notlegislation and other public acts are constitutional. In order to exercise this power,
judges have to describe what the relevant constitutional clause means, what contents thelegislation or other public acts has, and whether these contents are consistent with themeaning of the clause. If judges answer the first question on the meaning of theConstitution, then it is relatively easer to answer the latter two questions. However,what a Constitution means is one of the most significant, but often disputed, questions.
To describe the meaning of the Constitution, judges should look at how
constitutional clauses are written by the framers. Liberal constitutions have two types ofclauses referred to as precise and abstract. The interpretations of precise clauses areoften uncontroversial. For example, Article II of the U.S. Constitution says that the U.S.
President has to be “at least thirty-five years old,” and it is almost impossible to say that
this clause is concerned with an emotional rather than chronological age. The
Constitution also includes abstract clauses such as the equal protection of the laws andthe prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, which protect individual rights against
the majority of citizens and the government.
Strict constructionism is unsuccessful in interpreting abstract clauses of the15

For his recent theory of interpretation in general, see Dworkin, Justice for Hedgehogs, 123–156.

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Constitutional Interpretation

Constitution. Unlike the precise clauses, these abstract clauses cannot be interpreted
literally. According to strict constructionism, constitutional interpretation should be
confined to the literal language of the text of the Constitution.16 Justice Hugo Blackliterally read Amendment I as saying that “Congress shall make no law …abridging thefreedom of speech, or of the press,” so he said that “no law means no law.”17 If Black
were consistent, he would have to say that handwritten letters could be censored since
the first amendment protects only the freedom of speech, or of the press, andhandwritten letters are neither speech nor press. Black’s literal reading is also forced toreject the Supreme Court protection “to “symbolic speech”-symbols, signs, and othermeans of expression-and to “speech-plus-conduct”-activities such as sit-ins, picketing,and demonstrating”18 because speech means literally a special “talk” given before an
audience.
As in the above example of free speech, strict constructionists provide weakprotection of fundamental rights and fail to interpret abstract clauses that rarely have theliteral meaning. Thus, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to adopt this method, forexample by interpreting broadly freedom of speech as freedom to express one’s own
opinions or ideas. Strict constructionism is not important today. According to O’Brien,“Strict constructionism is incomplete as a theory of interpretation and inadequately
deals with the fact that the Constitution was formed in generalities in order to express
general principles.”19 There is a need to interpret these general principles in abstract
clauses more broadly. Thus, American constitutional theories mainly focus on how tointerpret these abstract clauses.
The courts, legal scholars and other interpreters may interpret abstract constitutionalclauses differently. For understanding why abstract clauses are likely to be interpreted
differently, Dworkin suggests distinguishing between the concept and its conception,
which “philosophers have made but lawyers have not yet appreciated,” 20 and he
explains this distinction by his thought experiment as follows:

16

O’Brien, Constitutional Law and Politics, 2:76; Gerhardt et al., Constitutional Theory, 65.
Shanor, American Constitutional Law, 39.
18
O’Brien, Constitutional Law and Politics, 2:577. For example, see Texas v. Johnson 109 S.Ct. 2533
(1989).
19
Ibid., 2:79.
20
Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously, 134; After Dworkin introduced this distinction, lawyers over theworld started to appreciate it. Section 4.3 will discuss Dworkin’s influence on lawyers in otherdemocracies. For Dworkin’s influence on American lawyers, see Barber and Fleming, Constitutional
Interpretation.
17

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Suppose I tell my children simply that I expect them not to treat others unfairly. I no
doubt have in mind examples of the conduct I mean to discourage, but I would not accept
that my ‘meaning’ was limited to these examples, for two reasons. First, I would expect
my children to apply my instructions to situations I had not and could not have thought
about. Second, I stand ready to admit that some particular act I had thought was fair when
I spoke was in fact unfair, or vice versa, if one of my children is able to convince me ofthat later; in that case I should want to say that my instructions covered the case he cited,
not that I had changed my instructions. I might say that I meant the family to be guided
by the concept of fairness, not by any specific conception of fairness I might have had inmind.21As this thought experiment shows, the concept of fairness is an idea expressed
abstractly, and the conception of fairness is the particular understanding or meaning ofthat idea. There could be different conceptions of the same concept of fairness, and thefather’s instruction is followed as far as his children faithfully construct and follow thebest conceptions of the fairness. In other words, the children are free to change
conceptions their father had in mind if they have substantive reasons. Since abstract
constitutional clauses on basic rights are written as moral concepts, not particularconceptions, judges faithful to the Constitution as written have to think on their own anddecide themselves what these abstract clauses mean for the cases before them.
The U.S. judicial practice shows that many judges treat abstract constitutional
principles as moral concepts. These judges are ready to choose better conceptions ofthese principles over time when necessary by rejecting conceptions adopted by theframers, the legislatures or the previous courts. This feature of judicial practice isevident in two ways in Dworkin’s thought experiment by which the hypothetical father
could change his conception of fairness. First, constitutional moral principles areinterpreted in new situations that the framers, the legislatures or prior judges had not
and could not have expected. For instance, the Supreme Court overruled a precedent
concerning Amendment IV that “the right of the people to be secure in their persons,houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated.” In Olmstead v. United States (1929),22 this court held that Amendment IV did
not cover wiretapping according to the framer’s conception of “unreasonable searches

21

Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously, 134; For more explanation on this difference, see Dworkin, Law’s
Empire, 70–72, 90–101; To show the difference between concept and conception, Dworkin used lately
other concepts, semantic intention and expectation intention. Dworkin, “Comment,” 116–117.
22
Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1929).

116Constitutional Interpretationand seizure,” which barred only actual physical trespass by police. The framers who
ratified Amendment IV in 1791 could not have considered wiretapping because thetelephone was invented in 1876.23 The interpretation of Article IV in Olmstead failed totake into account a new situation, the technological development that created thewiretapping. However, in Katz v. United States (1967),24 the Supreme Court overruled
Olmstead with a new interpretation in which the principle in Amendment IV protects
individual privacy from electronic surveillance including wiretapping because “what aperson seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may beconstitutionally protected.” The court ruled that wiretapping did not mesh with abroader reading of principle of protecting individual privacy against governmental
interference.
Second, framers, legislatures or previous judges may misunderstand an abstract
moral principle in the Constitution by adopting a wrong conception of that principle.
For example, in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Supreme Court adopted abetter conception of the equal protection clause that was misunderstood by theframers. 25 Linda Brown, an African American child, applied to admission to theSummer School, which was nearer to her house, but the Board of Education denied herapplication due to her race. This school was open only for white children. The Browns
sued the Board of Education, alleging that the segregated school violated Linda’s rightto equal protection. The Supreme Court ruled that separate educational facilities were
inherently unequal, so the plaintiffs were deprived of the equal protection of the laws in
Amendment XIV to the Constitution.26
If the Brown Supreme Court ruled according to how the framers, the majority of themembers of Congress who voted for Amendment XIV, understood the equal protection
clause, it could not say that the racial segregation in the public schools violated thisclause. The abstract concept of equal protection is written in Amendment XIV: any
State should not deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of thelaw. The framers and the Brown Court would agree that a state should never harm
persons in special way nor treat persons as unequal, but they gave different answers to23“Telephone History.”
Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967).
25
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (Brown I), 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686 (1954). Brown
overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, 3 S.Ct. 18 (1896), which declared that segregation was legal
as long as facilities provided to each race were equal, and “laws permitting, and even requiring, theirseparation [of races] does not necessarily imply the inferiority of either race to the other.”
26
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (Brown I), 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686 (1954).
24

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Chapter Fourthe question whether separate school facilities were really equal or not. The framers had
a specific conception that separate school facilities were equal because they “themselves
sustained racial segregation in the schools of the District of Columbia” as Dworkinsaid.27 According to Tushnet, “the Amendment’s opponents routinely said that it would
lead to integrated schools, and its supporter routinely replied that it would not.”28
However, the Brown Supreme Court found that the conception of the equal
protection endorsed by the framers was just a mistaken way of understanding the true
effects of racial segregation on the educational opportunities of children in the publicschools. According to Dworkin, this court not only announced “an academic political
truth” but also called attention to “general standards of equality that were firmly fixed in…history though selectively ignored in …practice, standards that condemned arbitrary
discriminations serving no legitimate governmental purpose.” 29 The Brown Court
adopted a new conception based on the facts that segregated school facilities imposed astatus of inferiority on African American children; therefore, the segregation is unequal.
American scholars argued that “Brown has now gained extremely wide acceptance inthe legal community and in American society as a whole for its result, if not, amongcommentators, for the legal justifications given in the opinion.”30
The previous judges also may adopt a poor conception of an abstract constitutionalclause. For example, in Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), the Supreme Court upheld
constitutionality of a law making it a crime for consenting adults to engage in oral andanal sex when applied to homosexuals.31 However, in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), thiscourt overruled the Bowers decision, and upheld that such laws violated liberty under
the due process clause of the Amendment XIV. The majority in Lawrence said:
Had those who drew and ratified the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth Amendment or the
Fourteenth Amendment known the component of liberty in its manifold possibilities, theymight have been more specific. They did not presume to have this insight. They knew
times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought
necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress. As the Constitution endures, persons
in every generation can invoke its principles in their own research for greater freedom.32

27

Dworkin, “Comment,” 119.
Tushnet, Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts, 156.
29
Dworkin, Justice in Robes, 123.
30
Gerhardt et al., Constitutional Theory, 8.
31
Bowers v. Hardwick 478 U.S. 186 (1986).
32
Lawrence v. Texas 539 U.S. 558 (2003).
28

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Constitutional Interpretation

Judges’ way of thinking needs to be more “philosophical” in deciding constitutional
cases than in deciding ordinary cases because they are in charge of deciding which
conception is better to define constitutional principles, which are often controversial,though the conceptions they have chosen may not always be the best. The Constitution
as fundamental law may require judges to decide constitutional questions witharguments from political philosophy. Dworkin explained this requirement as follows:
The Constitution is foundational of other law, so …interpretation of the document as awhole, and of its abstract clauses, must be foundational as well. It must fit and justify themost basic arrangement of political power in the community, which means it must be ajustification drawn from the most philosophical reaches of political theory. Lawyers arealways philosophers, because jurisprudence is part of any lawyer’s account of what thelaw is, even when the jurisprudence is undistinguished and mechanical.33

The fundamentality of the Constitution and its interpretation may seem obvious
because it includes basic principles, particularly fundamental rights, is superior to otherlaws and is enforced by the courts. At least, the Constitution is foundational according
to Rawls because “it is more urgent to settle the constitutional essentials [the protectionof basic individual rights and the basic structure of government]; it is far easier to tellwhether those essentials are realized, and it seems possible to gain agreement on what
those essentials should be, not in every detail, of course, but in the main outlines.”34 A
poor interpretation of the Constitution seriously harms the political morality of ademocratic society as in Olmstead and Bowers. For these reasons, the interpretation of
the Constitution is foundational and important.
In order to make a strong moral reading of the Constitution, judges should have akind of philosophical attitude toward deciding a constitutional case, but this attitude ismore limited than that of political philosophers. The philosophical attitude means
thinking independently and critically, being ready to change one’s mind concerning
what the Constitution really means if there are enough reasons to do so. Sotirios A.
Barber and James E. Fleming made the following argument for this attitude of judges:“Judges certainly cannot follow the law of the American Constitution without thinking
for themselves… Plain words force judges to think for themselves because the words
refer to concepts like due process itself and equal protection itself, not to anyone’s

33
34

Dworkin, Law’s Empire, 380.
Rawls, Justice as Fairness, 49.

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specific conception of due process and equal protection.” 35 Unlike politicalphilosophers, a judge’s philosophical attitude on constitutional interpretation is limitedby their professional responsibility and background. According to Dworkin, “theinevitable conservativism of formal legal education, and of the process of selecting
lawyers for judicial and administrative office, adds further centripetal pressure [on theirinterpretation].”36 Judges should also think for themselves about what constitutional
abstract clauses mean only within the limitations given by their functions.
The judge’s latitude to interpret the Constitution is limited in two ways. The firstlimitation is a fidelity to the constitutional text. According to Dworkin, “constitutional
interpretation must begin in what the framers said”37 as noted early in this subsection.
The constitutional history is important to show what the framers intended to say in the
text of the Constitution. On the one hand, the U.S. framers intended to say the dated or
concrete rules in precise clauses like Article II that the President has to be “at least
thirty-five years.” On the other hand, the framers intended to say the principles ofpolitical morality (abstract moral concepts) when choosing the abstract language in theConstitution. As in Katz, Brown, and Lawrence, justices are faithful to the text of theConstitution when they interpret an abstract constitutional clause not by a specificconception of that clause, which the framers had in mind or the previous judges
accepted, but by the best conception of that clause. Thus, judges should not adopt any
moral concept, but they should interpret only moral concepts in the Constitution.
The second limitation is the integrity of constitutional law. Judges are not totally free
to adopt any conception about an abstract principle written in the Constitution because
their conception should respect the integrity of law. Dworkin explained the integrity of
constitutional law as follows:
Lawyers and judges faced with a contemporary constitutional issue must try to construct a
coherent, principled, and persuasive interpretation of the text of particular clauses, thestructure of the Constitution as a whole, and our history under the Constitution - aninterpretation that both unifies these distinct sources, so far as this is possible, and directs
future adjudication.38

The idea of integrity restricts the constitutional interpretation vertically and35

Barber and Fleming, Constitutional Interpretation, 163.
Dworkin, Law’s Empire, 88.
37
Dworkin, Freedom’s Law, 10.
38
Dworkin, Justice in Robes, 118.
36

120

Constitutional Interpretation

horizontally. Integrity holds vertically: a judge interpreting an abstract clause on rights
has to show that his or her conception of that clause is consistent with the mass of key
precedents and the basic structure of the Constitution. For example, according toDworkin, a judge cannot interpret the equal protection clause “as making equality of
wealth or collective ownership of productive resources because that interpretation
simply does not fit American history or practice, or the rest of the Constitution.”39
Dworkin also argued that “integrity holds horizontally: a judge who adopts a principle
must give full weight to that principle in other cases he decides or endorses.”40 For
instance, justices who decided Brown also applied their conception of equal protectionin their other similar cases.41
Constitutional integrity requires judges not only to overrule the poor precedents by abetter conception as in Katz, Brown, and Lawrence when they have enough reasons to
do so but also to respect the precedents providing the better protection of fundamental
rights. According to Dworkin, “[judge’s] attitude toward precedents would be more
respectful when he was asked to restrict the constitutional rights they had enforced thanwhen he was asked to reaffirm their denials of such rights.”42 For instance, in 2000, theSupreme Court refused to overrule an enhanced conception on the privilege ofprotection against self-incrimination in Amendment V, which it announced in Miranda
v. Arizona (1966).43 In the Miranda case, the court noted that the coercion inherent inmodern custodial police interrogation blurred the line between voluntary andinvoluntary statements, and therefore increased the risk that an individual would not be“accorded his privilege under the Fifth Amendment… not to be compelled toincriminate himself.” Consequently, the court ruled that evidence of any statement given
during custodial interrogation of a suspect would not be admitted unless the police
provided the suspect with the following warnings: a suspect has the right to remainsilent; anything he says can be used against him in a court of law; he has the right to thepresence of an attorney; and if he cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed forhim prior to any questioning if he so desires.
Even though the Miranda ruling was criticized, the Supreme Court refused to39

Dworkin, Freedom’s Law, 11.
Ibid., 83; See also Gerhardt et al., Constitutional Theory, 8.
41
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (Brown II), 349 U.S. 294, 75 S.Ct. 753 (1955);
Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1, 78 S.Ct. 1401 (1958).
42
Dworkin, Law’s Empire, 399.
43
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966).
40

121Chapter Four

overrule it in Dickerson v. United States (2000) and protected rights defined in Miranda.
Conservative Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the majority opinion of the court when
he wrote as follows:
Whether or not we would agree with Miranda’s reasoning and its resulting rule, were we
addressing the issue in the first instance, the principles of stare decisis weigh heavily
againstoverruling

it

now.

While

“

‘staredecisis

is

not

an

inexorable

command,’ ”…particularly when we are interpreting the Constitution…, “even in
constitutional cases, the doctrine carries such persuasive force that we have always
required a departure from precedent to be supported by some ‘special justification…’ ”…
We do not think there is such justification for overruling Miranda. Miranda has become
embedded in routine police practice to the point where the warnings have become part ofour national culture.44

The difference between policy and principle provides a kind of limitation on theconstitutional interpretation by the court because it generally distinguish between what
the legislatures should do and what the court should do in a constitutional democracy.
Dworkin has distinguished policy from principle.45 Policy is a matter of a goal to bereached to improve economic, political, or social conditions of the society. That is,policy is about the strategies to secure the general interest (for example, strategies on
how to develop economy and protect the environment). On the other hand, according toDworkin, principle is a matter of “a standard that is to be observed, not because it will
advance or secure an economic, political, or social situation deemed desirable, but
because it is a requirement of justice or fairness or some other dimension of morality.”46
That is, a legal principle is about individual rights recognized by the government. The
legislature may need to justify its decisions on reasons of policy, not necessarily reasonsof principles. Schwartz argued that political decisions sometimes might not need“justification or explanation, only the subjective satisfaction of the political decision
maker and those to whom he or she is answerable.”47 However, the court has to justify
its judgments on reasons of principle and not policy.

44

Dickerson v. United States, 120 S.Ct. 2326 (2000).
According to Rawls, John Stuart Mill’s writings for the priority of basic justice foreshadowed
Dworkin’s distinction between questions of principle and questions of policy as well as his idea of rights
as trumps. For example, Mill said “that justice is a more sacred thing than policy, and that the latter ought
only to be listened to after the former has been satisfied.” See Rawls, Lectures on the History of Political
Philosophy, 276.
46
Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously, 22.
47
Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 4.
45122Constitutional Interpretation

Fundamental rights of individuals have higher value than goals to be achieved forthe general interest so that a court has to overrule policy-decisions that violate theserights. Thus, fundamental rights as principles have priority over policy. According to
Rawls, the priority of liberty, the core of fundamental rights, means that “a basic liberty
can be limited or denied only for the sake of one or more other basic liberties, and neverfor a greater public good understood as a greater net sum of social and economic
advantages for society as a whole.” 48 For example, a restriction on freedom of
expression, which may help to advance economic development, could not be justified ina constitutional democracy. Ideally, the priority for basic individual rights is a main
character of such a polity.49
Judges using a moral reading of the Constitution should decline to replace a decisionof the legislature with their judgment when they think that a decision is mainly about
policy rather than principle. However, there were times when judges replaced politicaldecisions with their judgments in deciding issues more concerning policy. The U.S.
Supreme Court in the Lochner era (1897-1937) was wrong to overrule social legislation
limiting the number of working hours and establishing minimum wage as violations ofliberty of contract because the issues were in fact matters of policy rather than principle.
For instance, the Supreme Court overruled New York’s labor law limiting the number ofhours bakers could work as an interference with their liberty of contract in Lochner v.
New York (1905). 50 The law prohibited bakery employers from permitting theiremployees to work for more than 10 hours a day or 60 hours a week. Lochner wasconvicted and fined for permitting an employee to work in his bakery for more than 60hours in one week, or more than 10 hours per day. According to the Supreme Court,
liberty of contract was protected under Amendment XIV that “…nor shall any Statedeprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” Theprinciple of liberty in the court judgment was inconsistent with American practice,51
and the issue on the limitation of working hours was of economic policy for achieving agoal to create a balance between economic efficiency and protection of employees.
As mentioned in Section 4.1, judges should make reasoned judgments. When doing48

Rawls, Justice as Fairness, 111. “Liberty” in Rawls’s political philosophy is mainly limited to equal
political liberties, freedom of thought, liberty of conscience, freedom of association, liberty of the person,and rights and liberties covered by the rule of law. The priority of liberty practically has the samecharacter with the priority of constitutional rights over policies.
49
Rawls, Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy, 12.
50
Lochner v. New York, 198 U.S. 45, 25 S.Ct. 539 (1905).
51
Dworkin, Law’s Empire, 398.

123Chapter Fourthe moral reading of the Constitution, judges can employ different ways of
constitutional reasoning. Equal protection cases can illustrate such ways. Laws often
draw a distinction among people, and they may be challenged under the equal protection
clause. In the U.S. constitutional jurisprudence, three different levels of scrutiny areused depending on the type of distinction: strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, andrational basis review.52 This subsection briefly describes these three tests in order togive an idea of how the U.S. courts construct constitutional reasoning and the moral
reading.53 Under strict scrutiny, a law cannot be upheld unless the government provesthat the law is necessary to achieve a compelling governmental purpose, and thispurpose cannot be achieved through any less discriminatory alternative. The courts givestrict scrutiny to legislative classifications that work against members of suspect classsuch as race, ethnicity, national origin, or alienage. Moreover, the courts use strict
scrutiny for legislative distinctions and actions related to exercise of a fundamental rightsuch as speech, religion, voting, using the judicial process, travel, and privacy.
Moreover, there is the intermediate scrutiny test. Under this test, a law is upheld if
the government proves that the law is substantially related to an important governmental
purpose rather than a compelling purpose. Intermediate scrutiny rather than strict
scrutiny is used for distinction based on gender because in some cases there are alegitimate reason for different treatment of women and man. For example, the U.S.
Supreme Court upheld a statutory rape law that punished men for having sexualintercourse with women under age 18, but did not punish a woman for having sex with aman under age 18.54 This court reasoned that young women are more likely than men to
suffer from consequences of sexual activity and risk of pregnancy equalizes thedeterrent for both sexes. Moreover, intermediate scrutiny is used for distinctions against
nonmarital children. Strict scrutiny is not used in these cases “perhaps in part because
the roots of the discrimination rest in the conduct of the parent rather than the child, andperhaps in part because illegitimacy does not carry an obvious badge, as race or sex do,
this discrimination against illegitimates has never approached the severity or
pervasiveness of the historic legal and political discrimination against women and
Negroes.”55

52

For more explanation on these tests, see Chemerinsky, Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies,
667–789; Stone et al., Constitutional Law, 441–709.
53
Dworkin wrote how rational basis review and strict scrutiy could be used in deciding issues related to
freedom of religion. See Dworkin, “Is There a Right to Religious Freedom?,” 11–18.
54
Michael M. v. Superior Court, 450 U.S. 464 (1981)
55
Matthews v. Lucas, 427 U.S. 495 (1976)124

Constitutional Interpretation

Lastly, the U.S. courts use the rational basis review, the minimum level of scrutiny.
Under this test, a law will be upheld unless the challenger (not the government) provesthat the law is irrationally related to a legitimate governmental purpose. The
governmental purpose need not be compelling or important, but legitimate. The meanschosen only should be a rational way to achieve the purpose. “The constitutionalsafeguard is offended only if the classification rests on grounds wholly irrelevant to theachievement of the State’s objective. State legislatures are presumed to have acted
within their constitutional power despite the fact that, in practice, their laws result insome inequality. A statutory discrimination will not be set aside if any state of facts
reasonably may be conceived to justify it.”56 This test is the norm for most legislativeclassifications in social and economic legislations, and it is deferential to thegovernment.
The moral reading provides an improved understanding of constitutional practiceand better protection of fundamental rights. Though this term “moral reading” may not
be mentioned publicly, decisions resting on this method protect fundamental rights in
the U.S. jurisprudence.57 Many of these decisions were made especially between the
1950s and early 1980s, which influenced much on constitutional interpretations in otherjurisdictions. Claire L’Heureux-Dube argued as follows: “During these years,
particularly those of the Warren Court, the U.S. Supreme Court engaged in aredefinition, expansion and modernization of Bill of Rights interpretation. Cases like
Miranda v. Arizona and Brown v. Board of Education have had a large impact on thespirit and development of human rights protection worldwide.”58 Many foreign andinternational courts cite these cases not only because these cases are directly applicable,
but also because they stand for the moral reading taken by these courts as a method toconstitutional interpretation. 59 The method of moral reading correctly reflects

56

McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420 (1961)
In addition to Katz, Brown, Lawrence and Miranda, there are many other decisions resting on the
moral reading. For example, the Supreme Court accepted the right to use contraceptives and the women’s
right to early abortion by interpreting an abstract clause of Amendment XIV that no State shall “deprive
any person of liberty without due process of law” and developing the conception of the right to privacy.
See Griswold v. Connecticut, 391 U.S. 145, 85 S. Ct. 1678 (1965); Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct.
705 (1973).
58
L’Heureux-Dube, “Importance of Dialogue,” 20.
59
Ibid., 28. According to Justice L’Heureux-Dube, two Brown decisions were cited in judgments ranging
from a decision about the expulsion of a student from school in Trinidad and Tobago for wearing a hijab(Summayyah Mohammed v. Moraine & Another [1996] 3 L.R.C. 475 at 493 (Trin. & Tobago)), to a
judgment in New Zealand applying a treaty on Maori fishing rights (Te Rananga o Muriwhenua Inc. v.
Attorney-General [1990] 2 N.Z.L.R. 641, 656 (C.A.)).
57

125

Chapter Fourjurisprudence, provides the plausible treatment to constitutional moral principles,
encourages open discussion on the best conception of these principles, and restricts thelatitude of constitutional interpretation by the Constitution and its integrity.
Constitutional interpretations based on the moral reading show constitutional practice asa whole in its best light in order to achieve equilibrium between constitutional practiceand the best justification of that practice.60

4.2.2. Criticisms of the moral reading of the Constitution

Studies on any social theory are incomplete when they do not discuss criticisms ofthat theory. The moral reading of the Constitution is mainly criticized by two kinds oftheory: the interpretation theory of originalism and the majoritarian theory of democracy.
This subsection analyzes these two criticisms and presents responses to them, byshowing that originalism is not persuasive for interpreting abstract clauses in theConstitution and a sound conception of democracy cannot be based on only the
majoritarian rule.
The first criticism of the moral reading is originalist. Originalism appeals to themeaning of an abstract constitutional clause, which was accepted at the time the clause
was promulgated as supposedly intended by the framers. In the U.S., originalism ismore popular than strict constructionism today because the majority of the Supreme
Court justices tend to apply an originalist approach to the constitutional interpretation.
Justice Antonin Scalia, a strong proponent of originalism, says that “what it meant when
it was adopted it means today, and its meaning doesn't change just because we think thatmeaning is no longer adequate to our times. If it's inadequate, we can amend it.”61
According to Scalia, abstract constitutional clauses should be understood as they were
understood by the society that adopted them. Scalia, therefore, argued that “all sorts ofrights that clearly did not exist at the time of the Constitution don’t exist today.”62 For

60

John Rawls also argues that the court has the task to make the best interpretation of the Constitution:“it is the task of the justices to try to develop and express in their reasoned opinions the best interpretationof the Constitution they can, using their knowledge of what the Constitution and constitutional precedents
require. Here the best interpretation is the one that best fits the relevant body of these constitutional
materials, and justifies it in terms of the public conception of justice or a reasonable variant thereof.”
Rawls, Political Liberalism, 236.
61
Scalia, “A Theory of Constitutional Interpretation.”
62
Ibid.

126

Constitutional Interpretation

example, he denies the right to euthanasia since there were laws against suicide, and herefuses a woman’s right to early abortion since this right was not thought to exist in1791 or even at the time that amendments were adopted in the post-Civil War era.
Originalist critics say that the moral reading turns the judges into “a philosophicalking” since it allows them to choose any conception on an abstract principle. JusticeScalia asks for example “what binds the biases of judge.”63 Originalists contend that the
moral reading gives judges unlimited power to impose their own moral convictions on
the rest of society or input values they wish to have in the Constitution. However, even
originalism is based on judges’ conviction that the original meaning should prevail overother meanings, even better ones. Thus, judges’ interpretation of the Constitution is notfree from their own convictions of political morality without pretending to be so. The
method of moral reading argues that though judges’ convictions shape theirinterpretations, their interpretative power should be limited by the constitutional text
and integrity, and judges should show that their convictions and arguments for aninterpretation are more reasonable than that for other interpretations.
Moreover, originalists argue that originalism restricts a judge’s power of judicial
review because judges should understand and enforce abstract clauses of theConstitution by meanings that prevailed in the society that adopted the clauses.
Nevertheless, restricting the latitude of interpreting abstract constitutional ideas to theoriginal understandings is problematic in three ways. First, originalism is not always
faithful to what the Constitution says. Originalism is questionable in interpreting
constitutional abstract clauses because it treats these abstract clauses not as abstract
moral principles, but as a dated concrete rules though the framers used intentionally theabstract language in these clauses to expresses principles of political morality. The
moral reading is faithful to the Constitution because it suggests judges to adopt the best
conception of abstract clauses rather than a specific conception endorsed or accepted bythose who made that clause.
Second, originalism is indefensible in principle. Justice Scalia’s positions are
sometimes inconsistent with his originalism. Scalia has been rejecting betterinterpretations of “cruel and unusual punishment.” He disagreed with court decisions
that ruled the death penalty on the mentally retarded and juveniles under 18 as “cruel

63

Ibid.

127

Chapter Fourand unusual,”64 and he denies the idea that the death penalty in general was “cruel andunusual.” Nonetheless, Scalia is not always consistent in applying the originalunderstanding of “cruel and unusual.”65 For example, Scalia argued as follows:
What if some state should enact a new law providing public lashing, or branding of theright hand, as punishment for certain criminal offenses? Even if it could be demonstrated
unequivocally that these were not cruel and unusual measures in 1791, and even though
no prior Supreme Court decision has specifically disapproved them, I doubt whether any
federal judge -- even among the many who consider themselves originalists -- would
sustain them against an eight amendment challenge. …I am confident that public flogging
and handbranding would not be sustained by our courts, and any espousal of originalism
as a practical theory of exegesis must somehow come to terms with that reality.66

In this argument, Scalia thought that he practically could not sustain public flogging andhandbranding. However, if Scalia were consistent with his originalism, he would haveto sustain constitutionality of public flogging and handbranding because thesepunishments were not “cruel and unusual” according to the original understanding. If
Scalia rejected his originalism concerning public flogging and handbranding, he could
not argue for the originalist reading of “cruel and unusual” in cases concerning death
penalty.
Third, a consistent originalist will end up with conclusions, which are unreasonable
in a modern civilized society. If Scalia is consistent with his originalism, then he mustargue that not only public flogging and handbranding but also the execution of 7-yearold children are not prohibited by the original meaning of the Eighth Amendment
because all of these punishments were not counted as “cruel and unusual” when thisamendment was adopted in 1791. 67 The consistency requires originalists to argue

64
Atkins v. Virginia 536 U.S. 304 (2002) (Justice Scalia dissenting) and Roper v Simmons, 543 U.S. 551(2005) (Justice Scalia dissenting).
65
Scalia also ignored the original understanding of “takings.” See Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal
Commission, 505 U.S. 1003, 1028 n.15 (1992). Scalia thought as follows: “government regulations can
so destroy the value of a person’s property as to amount to a “taking” of that property for which theConstitution requires the government to compensate. Unfortunately, the historical record is about as clear
as these things get: The Framers simply did not think that there could be what we now call a regulatory
taking. To them, taking were physical invasions of property, and they happily imposed regulations that
destroyed the value of a piece of property without offering the owner any compensation. Faced with thishistory, Justice Scalia declared it “entirely irrelevant.” What mattered were the “historic understanding”
of the American people.” Tushnet, Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts, 157.
66
Scalia, “Originalism,” 861.
67
In his concurring opinion, Justice Stevens, with whom Justice Ginsburg joins, said “If the meaning ofthat Amendment had been frozen when it was originally drafted, it would impose no impediment to the128Constitutional Interpretation

against even the most enlightening decisions such as Brown because the framers did not
believe that “the school segregation, which they practiced themselves, was a denial ofequal status, and did not expect that it would one day be deemed to be so.”68 The
Brown case has become almost a criterion of any interpretation method of theConstitution. According to Mark Tushnet, “in the modern era you cannot defend an
approach to constitutional law that leads to the conclusion that Brown was wrong.”69 If
strict constructionism and originalism were applied in the cases where the courts
applied the moral reading, many rights necessary for democracy would not be protectedin the United States.
Originalism is not admired in other constitutional democracies. Originalism ispopular in the U.S. but unpopular in Europe. According to L’Heureux-Dube,“originalism, an extremely controversial question in the United States, is usually simply
not the focus, or even a topic, of debate elsewhere.”70 For example, unlike the U.S.
Supreme Court, the German Constitutional Court seldom uses originalism as a decisive
method in interpreting the Constitution.71 On the other hand, the method of moral
reading is widespread in not only American constitutional practice but also in practicesof other democracies. Section 4.3 will show that the European judges use this method
rather than the originalist reading. However, judges and scholars do not endorse themoral reading in Europe as much as in the United States. Dworkin argued the following:[The moral reading] has inspired all the greatest constitutional decisions of the Supreme
Court, and also some of the worst. But it is almost never acknowledged as influential
even by constitutional experts, and it is almost never openly endorsed even by judges
whose arguments are incomprehensible on any other understanding of their
responsibilities.72

Originalism would be a weak theory if it was only about the constitutional
interpretation. However, originalism is not only a method of interpretation but also a
democratic theory that gives much power to the legislature in defining individual rights.
Scalia argues that the court should adopt the original meaning of abstract clauses, and if

execution of 7-year-old children today.” Roper v Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005).
68
Dworkin, Freedom’s Law, 13.
69
Tushnet, Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts, 156.
70
L’Heureux-Dube, “Importance of Dialogue,” 33; See also Rosenfeld, “Constitutional Adjudication in
Europe and the United States,” 657.
71
Kommers, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany, 42.
72
Dworkin, Freedom’s Law, 3.

129

Chapter Fourthe original meaning fails to decide a case, then the legislature representing a majorityof citizens should make the decision. For example, Scalia wrote the following in his
concurring opinion in Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health, in which thecourt rejected the petitioner's argument for the right to die:…that American law has always accorded the State the power to prevent, by force ifnecessary, suicide -- including suicide by refusing to take appropriate measures necessary
to preserve one's life; that the point at which life becomes "worthless," and the point at
which the means necessary to preserve it become "extraordinary" or "inappropriate," areneither set forth in the Constitution nor known to the nine Justices of this Court any better
than they are known to nine people picked at random from the Kansas City telephone
directory; and hence, that even when it is demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence
that a patient no longer wishes certain measures to be taken to preserve her life, it is up to
the citizens of Missouri to decide, through their elected representatives, whether that wish
will be honored. It is quite impossible that those citizens will decide upon a line lesslawful than the one we would choose; and it is unlikely that they will decide upon a line
less reasonable.73

Scalia also holds the same position concerning the right to an abortion. According to
Scalia, “what was the situation, before Roe vs. Wade? If you wanted a right to an
abortion, create that right the way a democratic society creates most rights. Pass a law.
If you don't want it, pass a law against it.”74 According to originalism, the judges
should let the democratic process to define the meanings of abstract rights clauses ifthey cannot find their original meanings, and it will be undemocratic if the unelectedjudges decide the meanings of these vague clauses. In this sense, originalism is closely
linked to majoritarian theories of democracy, which will be discussed now.
The second criticism is majoritarian (populist) theories of democracy. These critics
say that the moral reading and constitutional review in general offends democracy, andthey suggest to improving democracy by promoting majority rule, 75 eliminating
constitutional review76 or arguing for the inappropriateness of this review “as a mode73

Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health, 497 U.S. 261, 110 S.Ct. 2841, 111 L.Ed.2d 224(1990). See also Scalia, “Originalism,” 862.
74
Scalia, “A Theory of Constitutional Interpretation.”
75
Parker, Here, The People Rule, 96. Parker argued as follows: “the mission of the modern constitutionallaw ought to be to promote majority rule. More fully, the goal inspiring argument about ‘interpretation’ of
the Constitution ought to be government of, for, and-to the extent it is feasible-by the majority of thepeople.”76
Tushnet, Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts, 154. Tushnet proposed the following: “Today,130Constitutional Interpretationof final decision making.”77 Since the usages and criteria of democracy are different inmajoritarian criticisms, it is better to issue a general description (conception) of these
criticisms.
The answer as to whether the moral reading offends democracy depends on theconceptions of democracy. Dworkin discusses two conceptions of democracy. The firstis the majoritarian conception, which defines democracy as the majoritarian rule thatreflects the will of a majority of citizens. Majoritarian-democrats think that theparliament elected by a majority should make all political decisions, even decisions on
the interpretation of individual rights. Thus, Dworkin argues that under the majoritarianconception, “there is no guarantee that a majority will decide fairly; its decisions may be
unfair to minorities whose interests the majority systematically ignores. If so, then the
democracy is unjust but no less democratic for that reason.” 78 From this view,
constitutional review that empowers judges to quash political decisions approved by amajority of citizens is anti-democratic as democracy means only majority rule.
The second conception of democracy is constitutional in the sense that popularlyelected officials representing a majority of citizens can make daily political decisions
only if they respect the basic individual rights in the Constitution and treat all citizens
with human dignity. According to this conception, democracy means the government issubject to conditions (democratic conditions) that require respecting human dignity.
Dworkin argues as follows:
When majoritarian institutions provide and respect the democratic conditions, then theverdict of these institutions should be accepted by everyone for that reason. But when
they do not, or when their provision or respect is defective, there can be no objection, in

however, the gains from further exercises of judicial review no longer exceed the losses. We havetherefore decided to end the experiment in 2003. We will no longer invalidate statutes, state or federal, on
the ground that they violate the Constitution… On balance, eliminating it is likely to help today’s liberals
a bit more than it would hurt them. True, without judicial review, liberals would have to give up theprospect of further constitutional gains for gay rights and run the risk that they would be unable to defend
abortion rights in the political arena. But without judicial review, conservatives would have to give up theprospects of further erosion of affirmative action programs and would have to fight campaign financereform in the political arena.”
77
Waldron, “The Core of the Case Against Judicial Review.” The Supreme Court of the U.S. decided
many cases on grounds of originalism. Because of these decisions and a conservative majority in thecurrent Supreme Court, majoritarian scholars criticize the judicial review and the moral reading. However,this book agrees with the argument that judicial review can make good rather than harm to democracy, inparticular new democracies such as Mongolia, in the long run.
78
Dworkin, Is Democracy Possible Here?, 131; See also Dworkin, Justice for Hedgehogs, 382–388.

131

Chapter Fourthe name of democracy, to other procedure that protect and respect them better.79

The most important democratic conditions set out in the Constitution are
fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and the equal protection. These rights
define the basis of human dignity. Thus, each individual is guaranteed the right to betreated with human dignity no matter the opinion of the majority. Since theconstitutional conception is based on human dignity, it requires that members of
democratic society as a whole should treat each other with the equal dignity when
making collective decisions. Therefore, political decisions that violate any basic rightare undemocratic regardless of whether they are made by elected officials representing amajority or minority of citizens.
The argument that constitutional review is undemocratic is weak when theconstitutional conception of democracy is adopted in a Constitution. The U.S. has arepresentative government, universal suffrage, and regular elections. According toDworkin, Americans also “embed fundamental freedoms in [their] Constitution, and[they] give judges the power to enforce those rights even against a majority’s will.”80
Thus, constitutional review promotes democracy when the court strikes down thelegislature’s decision that violates a basic individual right. A society is democratic when
all citizens are treated with equal human dignity and their basic individual rights areprotected.
Majoritarian critics of constitutional review mostly rely on the functioning of
democratic process when arguing against both of the moral reading and theconstitutional review system. These criticisms are mostly limited to advanced
democracies such as the United States and argue that if the legislature functions well,then it should decide controversial issues on the constitutional interpretation. According
to Waldron, the society should settle the disagreements about fundamental rights byusing its legislative institutions, and there is no need for decisions about rights made bylegislatures to be second-guessed by courts.81 According to Tushnet, there could be“systems in which the government has limited power and individual rights areguaranteed, without having U.S. - style judicial review.”82 Dworkin replied to these79

Dworkin, Freedom’s Law, 17.
Dworkin, Is Democracy Possible Here?, 146.
81
Waldron, “The Core of the Case Against Judicial Review,” 1360.
82
Tushnet, Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts, 165.
80132Constitutional Interpretation

criticisms.83 This study does not discuss all of these criticisms and responses to give auniversal answer as to which system of democracy (constitutional or majoritarian) is
better. However, this study argues that constitutional review is suitable and the moral
reading is feasible in Mongolia.
Both supporters and some majoritarian critics of constitutional review could
recognize the adoption of this review in new democracies such as Mongolia. The
democratic process improved by constitutional review is better than the same process
without this review in some situations. If not the legislature but the court is able toprovide a better protection of fundamental rights, constitutional review will be justified.
This situation often exists in the transitional countries, for at least in such countries
constitutional review is a more rational choice, which is accepted even by majoritarian
critics like Waldron.84 As with many other post-socialist countries, Mongolia never had
the prior liberal tradition to respect individual human rights and spent almost sevendecades under the socialist system that neglected human dignity and ignored the rule oflaw. The State Great Khural (the SGKh) is immature. Although this parliament has been
making many liberal reforms since 1992, it alone could not guarantee genuine liberal
democracy. The SGKh is unicameral, exercises much power, lacks the vigorous
committee examination, has no multiple levels of consideration, discussion, and voting,and pays scarce attention to individual rights. The framers chose the constitutional
conception of democracy with constitutional review. Chapter 5 will show that thisreview has improved democracy in Mongolia even though it still needs to be improved
institutionally and culturally.
The fact that the courts sometimes provide poor protection for basic rights andfreedoms cannot justify the rejection of constitutional review. There is no institutionthat always makes right decisions in a society. Waldron, a majoritarian critic, argues asfollows: “No decision-procedure will be perfect. Whether it is a process of
unreviewable legislation or whether it is a process of judicial review, it will sometimes
come to the wrong decision, betraying rights rather than upholding them. This is a factof life in politics.”85 Thus, a perfectionist argument could not be made against either
constitutional review or the democratic system without this review. According toDworkin, democracy is damaged when a court makes the wrong decision about the83

Dworkin, Freedom’s Law, 1–38; Dworkin, Justice for Hedgehogs, 395–399.
Waldron, “The Core of the Case Against Judicial Review,” 1386.
85
Ibid., 1372; See also Tushnet, Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts, 57.
84

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Chapter Fourindividual rights86 – “no more than it does when a majoritarian legislature makes awrong constitutional decision that is allowed to stand. The possibility of error issymmetric.”87
Some proponents of majoritarianism criticize the method of moral reading claimingthat constitutional arguments or theories do not have much impact on what justices do,and that justices do as they wish. For example, Parker and Tushnet argued that to date,constitutional theory on methods of reasoning has not had much impact on the practiceof the law.88 This criticism is unjustifiable, and there is no sound reason to denyconstitutional arguments’ impact on the legal (judicial) practice. Constitutional
democracy is possible and its citizens can repair its defects, if not making it perfect.89
The method of moral reading of the Constitution also represents “a traditional faith inreason, science, and the power of law to cope with reality.” 90 The histories of
constitutional democracies have not proved that this faith is false, and it confirms atleast that the constitutional arguments are not completely ineffective. The arguments
show how the reasoning of a judicial judgment is, whether a justice such as Scalia isconsistent with his theory, and whether a candidate to the court is qualified, which may
influence whether or not that candidate is appointed to the court. Moreover,constitutional arguments on whether a certain decision is correct or not effect whether
that decision is confirmed or reversed in the future. Judges also learn competing
constitutional arguments and develop their own understanding of the Constitution.
The moral reading of the Constitution can be done regardless of which institution
interprets the Constitution. Two important questions need explaining how the86

This study mentioned Plessy, Olmstead and Bowers. There are other regretful decisions by the U.S.
Supreme Court: Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. (16 Pet.) 539, 612 (1842) (striking down state legislationthat sought to protect African-Americans from slave-catchers); Dred Scott v. Sanford, 60 U.S. (19 How.)
393, 425-27 (1857) (ruling that African Americans held as slaves and their descendants could never be
U.S. citizens, so they could not sue in court and that slaves, as private properties, could not be taken awayfrom their owners without due process of law); Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919) (holdingthat criticizing conscription during WW I was like shouting fire in a crowded theater); Korematsu v.
United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944) (refusing to protect citizens of Japanese descent from internment
during WW II).
87
Dworkin, Freedom’s Law, 32–33.
88
Parker, Here, The People Rule, 74; Tushnet, Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts, 155.
89
Rawls, Political Liberalism, ix. Rawls said as follows: “We must start with the assumption that areasonably just political society is possible, and for it to be possible, human beings must have a moral
nature, not of course a perfect such nature, yet one that can understand, act on, and be sufficiently moved
by a reasonable political conception of right and justice to support a society guided by its ideals andprinciples.”90
Barber and Fleming, Constitutional Interpretation, 116.

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Constitution should be interpreted and who should interpret it, and the moral reading
concerns the first question no matter who is the interpreter of the Constitution. Dworkinclarified this point as follows:
The moral reading is consistent with all these institutional solutions to the problem of
democratic condition. It is a theory about how certain clauses of some constitutions
should be read-about what questions must be asked and answered in deciding what thoseclauses mean and require. It is not a theory about who must ask these questions, or about
whose answer must be taken to be authoritative.91

Thus, the popular legislature (as typically in the U.K.) may have the role of employing
the moral reading. However, the courts are more suitable than the legislature for thisrole because it is obliged to respect the integrity of law. The courts are also safer thanthe legislature for protecting the rights of political minorities because they are not as
vulnerable to populist, financial and political pressures as the legislators.92 All courts
such as the ordinary court, the constitutional court and the international court may do
the moral reading when they have the power of constitutional review. Therefore, themoral reading as a theory of constitutional interpretation can be applied not only in theAmerican model of constitutional review but also in the European model. The next
section will show how international and constitutional courts apply this method in theirbill of rights even though their institutional designs are different from the Americanmodel.

4.3. The moral reading of the Constitution in Europe

4.3.1. The moral reading of fundamental rights in constitutional and international
adjudications

The moral reading of the Constitution is not only limited in the U.S. jurisprudence.
Since liberal constitutions and international conventions on human rights include
abstract moral principles many of which are similar, this method is required to interpret91
92

Dworkin, Freedom’s Law, 34.
Ibid.

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Chapter Fourthese principles. Dworkin argues as follows:
The role of moral judgment is still more pervasive, but less deniable in constitutional
adjudication, because the pertinent constitutional standards are even more explicitly
moral: they declare rights of free expression, treatment as equals, and respect for life anddignity, and sometimes make exceptions for constraints ‘necessary in a democraticsociety’, for example.93

Thus, like the U.S. Supreme Court, the courts in other jurisdictions treat constitutions
and human rights conventions as a charter of principle and apply the moral reading
regardless of under which model of constitutional review (American or European) they
construct decisions. These courts have been considering a fresh understanding of
constitutional and international principles that they are responsible for interpreting andenforcing in their jurisdictions. This subsection shows that the European Court of
Human Rights, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, and the Italian
Constitutional Court use the moral reading of bills of human rights and reject strict
constructionism and originalism.
The European Court of Human Rights (the ECHR) applies the moral reading to theEuropean Convention on Human Rights (the European Convention). For example, thiscourt in Scoppola v. Italy (No. 2, 2009) overruled its own precedent, an interpretation ofa certain human right because it had sufficient reasons.94 Franco Scoppola, an Italian
citizen, was accused of murder of his wife among other crimes. At a preliminary hearing,
Scoppola requested to be tried under the summary procedure, “a simplified process
which entailed a reduction of sentence in the event of conviction.” In the version inforce at that time, Article 442 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provided that, if thejudge considered that the penalty to be imposed was life imprisonment, such a penalty
should be converted into 30 years imprisonment. On November 24, 2000, thepreliminary hearings judge found Scoppola guilty and indicted that he was liable to asentence of life imprisonment. However, the judge sentenced Scoppola to a term of 30
years as the trial had been conducted under the summary procedure.

93

Dworkin, “The Judge’s New Role,” 6.
The following two judgments of the ECHR also made the moral reading of the Convention. Case of
Tyrer v. The United Kingdom, the ECHR, 1978 (deciding that the judicial corporal punishment inflictedon the applicant amounted to degrading punishment within the meaning of Article 3 of the Convention);
Selmouni v. France, the ECHR, 1999 (deciding whether the certain acts that were not understood as
torture in the past should be understood as torture nowadays). Dworkin cited the latter case for arguingthe moral reading in other democracies. Ibid.
94

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Nevertheless, Scoppola’s imprisonment of 30 years was replaced by life
imprisonment due to the statutory amendment disadvantageous for him. Legislative
Decree no. 341, which had entered into force that very day, amended Article 442 of theCode of Criminal Procedure as follows: “in the event of trial under the summary
procedure, life imprisonment was to be substituted for life imprisonment with daytime
isolation if there were cumulative offences or a continuous offence.” Considering that
Scoppola’s sentence should have been life imprisonment rather than 30 years in view ofthe entry into force of the new version, the prosecutor appealed against the decision of
the preliminary hearings judge. The Rome Assize Court of Appeal sentenced Scoppola
to life imprisonment. Scoppola appealed to the Court of Cassation, arguing that he had
been convicted in breach of the fair-trial principles guaranteed by Article 6 of theEuropean Convention and on the basis of retrospective application of the criminal law –in the form of Legislative Decree no. 341 – in breach of Article 7 of the Convention.
The court dismissed that appeal.
Scoppola appealed to the ECHR and said that his life imprisonment had breached
Article 7 of the Convention, which provided the following:
No one shall be held guilty of any criminal offence on account of any act or omission,
which did not constitute a criminal offence under national or international law at the time
when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that wasapplicable at the time the criminal offence was committed.

In its previous decisions, the ECHR had constantly ruled that Article 7 did not guarantee
the right of the accused to a more lenient penalty provided for in a law subsequent to theoffence.95 This court used to offer the strict-constructionist reading of Article 7: thisarticle did not require an obligation for Contracting States to grant an accused thebenefit of a change in the law subsequent to the commission of the offence because it
did not expressly mention this obligation.96
However, in Scoppola, the ECHR decided to depart from case law and replaced thestrict-constructionist reading of Article 7 with the following moral reading of it:
Article 7 § 1 of the Convention guarantees not only the principle of non-retrospectivenessof more stringent criminal laws but also, and implicitly, the principle of retrospectivenessof the more lenient criminal law. …That principle is embodied in the rule that where there

95
96

Scoppola v. Italy (No. 02), 10249/03, the ECHR, 2009, para. 103.
Scoppola v. Italy (No. 02), 10249/03, the ECHR, 2009, para. 107.

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Chapter Fourare differences between the criminal law in force at the time of the commission of theoffence and subsequent criminal laws enacted before a final judgment is rendered, thecourts must apply the law whose provisions are most favourable to the defendant.97

In Scoppola, the ECHR did not regard the strict-constructionist argument of its caselaw as decisive by taking account of the emerging consensus in European andinternational levels:
While the Court is not formally bound to follow any of its previous judgments, it is in theinterests of legal certainty, foreseeability and equality before the law that it should not
depart, without cogent reason, from precedents laid down in previous cases. Since theConvention is first and foremost a system for the protection of human rights, the Court
must however have regard to the changing conditions in the respondent State and in theContracting States in general and respond, for example, to any emerging consensus as tothe standards to be achieved.98

This court showed that the American Convention on Human Rights (art. 9), theEuropean Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights (art. 49.1), and the statute of theInternational Criminal Court guaranteed the principle of retrospectiveness of a morelenient criminal law. The ECHR also argued that the Court of Justice of the European
Communities and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
affirmed this principle. According to the ECHR, a consensus slowly arose in Europe andinternationally around the fundamental principle of applying a criminal law providing
for a more lenient penalty, even one enacted after the commission of the offence.
The ECHR understood the non-retrospectiveness of more stringent criminal laws asa principle whose aim is to protect the defendant’s right. This court ruled that the
principle of non-retrospectiveness in Article 7 implicitly included the principle ofretrospectiveness of the more lenient criminal law. This court, therefore, ruled that the
Italian courts had acted in violation of Article 7 because Scoppola was “given a heavier
sentence than the one prescribed by the law which, of all the laws in force during theperiod between the commission of the offence and delivery of the final judgment, wasmost favorable to him.”99 The ECHR argued that “a failure by the Court to maintain adynamic and evolutive approach would risk rendering it a bar to reform or

97

Scoppola v. Italy (No. 02), 10249/03, the ECHR, 2009, para. 109.
Scoppola v. Italy (No. 02), 10249/03, the ECHR, 2009, para. 104.
99
Scoppola v. Italy (No. 02), 10249/03, the ECHR, 2009, para. 119.
98

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Constitutional Interpretation

improvement.”
Moreover, the constitutional courts of matured democracies in Europe apply amethod similar to the moral reading of the Constitution. The most noteworthy case is
the German constitutional jurisprudence. The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
used a method similar to the moral reading. However, Dworkin’s substantive positions
on constitutional rights sometimes differed to a great extent from those of the German
Court.100 For example, this court gave priority to an unborn child’s right to life over a
woman’s right to choose whether or not she would have an abortion, which stood incontrast to the position by the U.S. Supreme Court and Dworkin.101 According toJeffrey B. Hall, “the differences can be explained by examining the political morality ofeach society and tracing the FCC decisions to fundamental principles within
Germany.”102
The German Constitutional Court interpreted fundamental rights clauses in theConstitution with conceptions that reflected contemporary political morality but were
not known by the framers when adopting these clauses. For instance, this court ruledthat a clause of a statute, which regulated secret access to information technology
systems, violated the general right of personality “in its particular manifestation as afundamental right to the guarantee of the confidentiality and integrity of information
technology systems.”103 The court showed that this manifestation was required due tothe unpredicted development of information technology and its entailment of new typesof endangerment of personality. A summary of the court reasoning was as follows:
The general right of personality guarantees elements of the personality which are not the
subject matter of the special guarantees of freedom contained in the Basic Law, but which
are not inferior to these in their constituting significance for the personality... Such aloophole-closing guarantee is needed in particular in order to counter new types ofendangerment which may occur in the course of scientific and technical progress orchanged circumstances… The use of information technology has taken on significance100

Hall, “Taking ‘Rechts’ Seriously,” 197. Hall argued that elements of Dworkin’s theory could help
explain the jurisprudence of the Federal Constitutional Court, and there were similarities concerning
concepts such as the principle, the right, the human dignity, equality, the limitation of rights, human rights,
and judges’ duty in the jurisprudence of the Federal Constitutional Court and Dworkin’s theory.
101
Kommers, “Liberty and Community in Constitutional Law”; Kommers, The Constitutional
Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany, 335–356; Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973);
Dworkin, Freedom’s Law, 41–129.
102
Hall, “Taking ‘Rechts’ Seriously,” 197.
103
1 BvR 370/07, 1 BvR 595/07, The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, 2008.

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Chapter Fourfor the personality and the development of the individual which could not have been
predicted. Modern information technology provides the individual with new possibilities,
whilst at the same time entailing new types of endangerment of personality. The
fundamental rights guarantees contained in Article 10 and Article 13 of the Basic Law,
like those manifestations of the general right of personality previously developed in thecase-law of the Federal Constitutional Court, do not adequately take account of the needfor protection arising as a consequence of the development of information technology…
This manifestation of a right to the guarantee of the confidentiality and integrity of
information technology systems protects against encroachment on information
technology systems, insofar as the protection is not guaranteed by other fundamental
rights, such as in particular Article 10 or Article 13 of the Basic Law, as well as by theright to informational self-determination…104

The court’s recognition of a right to the guarantee of the confidentiality and integrityof information technology systems respected the integrity of constitutional law because
this right was consistent with the continuous protections of the personal and private life
under the right to personality in German case law. The court argued that the generalright of personality, in particular the guarantees of the protection of privacy, and of theright to informational self-determination, previously were manifested in its case law, butthese manifestations do not comply suitably with the special need for protecting the userof information technology systems.105 Therefore, as the court ruled, “in the same way
as the right to informational self-determination,”106 a fundamental right to the guaranteeof the confidentiality and integrity of information technology systems was based on
Article 2.1 in conjunction with Article 1.1 of the Basic Law. This right protects “thepersonal and private life of the subjects of the fundamental rights against access by thestate in the area of information technology also insofar as the state has access to theinformation technology system as a whole, and not only to individual communication
events or stored data.”107
A method similar to the moral reading of the Constitution is also found in the Italianconstitutional jurisprudence.108 For example, the Italian Constitutional Court protected
the interest of the minor by adopting the fresh conception on fairness, by making the104

Ibid., para. 101, 103, 104 and 115.
Ibid., para. 130.
106
Ibid., para. 135.
107
Ibid.
108
Zagrebelsky, “Ronald Dworkin’s Principle Based Constitutionalism,” 621.
105

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moral reading of a constitutional moral principle rather than the literal reading of thefamily law rule. Gustavo Zagrebelsky summarized this judgment:
A 1996 decision that examined the constitutional legitimacy of regulation of family law
that forbade adoption… in case where the child involved was more than forty years
younger than the adults seeking to adopt him or her. In the actual case, a little boy was
happily living with a family, following an order for foster care (a temporary measure thatusually precludes adoption). To remove him from the family seemed forced and unfair.
The regulation at issue was therefore declared unconstitutional and the court establishedthat a judge can order adoption “in the exclusive interest of the minor, even when one of
the two adoptive parents is more than 40 years older than the child to be adopted, in acase in which serious harm to the child could result from not being adopted, in a situation
which could not be otherwise avoided.” …The permitted difference in age for adoption
continues to be less than forty years, but only “so long as it does not defeat other key
principles,” such as the principle of protection of “the interest of the minor,” an unwritten
principle incorporated into the positive law.109

The decisions of the ECHR, the German Constitutional Court, and the Italian
Constitutional Court establish that these courts do treat human and civil rights clauses as
principles of political morality. Such courts replaced their own previous conception ofpolitical moral principle with a better conception when they have sufficient reasons.
These courts were able to adopt a new conception of a political moral principle byreflecting on new circumstances, which the framers could not have known, and they
respected the integrity of law in these judgments of replacement and adoption of a better
conception. These courts apply the moral reading of human and civil rights clauses
rather than the originalist or strict constructionist readings. The latter two readings areunpopular in Europe. Thus, this book agrees with the general conclusion by Jiri Priban:“in the judgments of a number of continental European constitutional courts, theinterpretive concept of law represented by the theories of Gustav Radbruch or Ronald
Dworkin prevailed over the concept of legislative legalism represented by the legal
philosophies of H.L.A. Hart or Joseph Raz.”110 Successful courts in newer democracies
use the moral reading of their Constitution.111 The next subsection will argue that the109

Ibid., 648.
Priban, “Judicial Power Vs. Democratic Representation: The Culture of Constitutionalism and Human
Rights in the Czech Legal System,” 386.
111
For the Polish Constitutional Tribunal’s interpretation on equality as a principle of political morality,
see Brzezinski, The Struggle for Constitutionalism in Poland, 165–175.
110

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Hungarian Constitutional Court applies this method as well.

4.3.2. The moral reading of the Hungarian Constitution

This subsection is limited in scope to the Hungarian constitutional jurisprudence in
1990-1998 as one of the successful examples of new constitutional review systems.112
As Section 2.4 mentioned, this book examines the Constitutional Court of Hungary
because its early decisions provided the relatively satisfactory protection of fundamental
rights through actio popularis, a system similar to the Mongolian notification, by
adopting the moral reading of the Constitution. This court protected fundamental rights
due to not only the positive institutional arrangement but also its effective usage of themoral reading. Both Hungary and Mongolia needed an activist court committed to themoral reading because unlike old democracies, they spent many decades under
totalitarian regimes and lacked the long liberal tradition. However, the moral reading by
the Tsets was weak. Thus, this subsection shows how the Hungarian Constitutional
Court conducts the moral reading, and how it can be useful for the Tsets.
The Hungarian Constitutional Court was influenced by the American and German
jurisprudences even though it adopted the European model of constitutional review justlike the Mongolian Tsets. This court followed the New York Times test113 and the“clear and present danger” test114 in deciding limitation to freedom of expression andinformation while importing the concept of human dignity from German constitutionalcase law.115 For instance, echoing the New York Times test, the Hungarian Court
declared that a defamatory statement was “only punishable if the …person knew that his
utterance is false or this person was not aware of the falsity of his claim because heneglected to pay the level of attention appropriate to his profession, the object of the112

Under the leadership of the first Chief Justice Laszlo Solyom, the Hungarian Constitutional Court
actively made the most important judgments protecting fundamental rights in the transitional period, andthese judgments are widely researched in English. After Solyom left in 1998, this court has become lessactive in doing the moral reading of the Constitution, and the following constitutional change weakened
the Constitutional Court.
113
The U.S. Supreme Court declared that public officials may win libel suits only on showing “actual
malice,” “knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.” The New
York Times Company v. Sullivan 376 U.S. 254, 84 S.Ct. 710 (1974).
114
Schenck v. United States, 429 U.S. 47 (1919).
115
Dupre, Importing the Law in Post-Communist Transitions; Peter, Twenty Years of the Hungarian
Constitutional Court, 46.

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claim, its expression and its intended recipients.”116
The application of the moral reading of the Constitution was evident in the
Hungarian constitutional jurisprudence of 1990s. The first Chief Justice Laszlo Solyom
expressly acknowledged “his faith in the Dworkinian principle as the basis of activism
and the moral interpretation of the Constitution.” 117 As Solyom concluded thejurisprudence of his court in the period 1990-1998, “the court exercised a moral readingof the Constitution, put the right to human dignity on the top of the hierarchy offundamental rights and connected it with equality: the right to equal dignity constituted
the base of the most important decisions.”118 As a justice in a new democracy, Solyom
considered comparative law as an important component of this method: “a moral
reading, wherein the relevant values may be determined on a broad theoretical andcomparative law basis referred to that particular right.”119 The moral reading was also
obvious in the court’s own understanding of the Constitution as “the invisible
Constitution” which expressed the Constitution as a system of principles.120 Solyom
said as follows:
The constitutional court must continue its effort to explain the theoretical bases of theConstitution and of the rights included in it and to form a coherent system with its
decisions, which as an “invisible Constitution” provides a reliable standard of
constitutionality beyond the Constitution, which nowadays is often amended out ofcurrent political interest.121

Many of the early Hungarian judgments rested on a moral reading of theConstitution. The Hungarian jurisprudence was full of judgments concerning
fundamental rights such as freedom of expression, the right to life and human dignity,
criminal and procedural guarantees, the right to association, the right to a healthy
environment, the right to property, and the equality before the law. The judgments onsuch rights concerned not only the classic and transitional problems already decided inmatured constitutional jurisprudences such as the U.S. and Germany but also modern
problems involving the death penalty, abortion, privacy, the media, homosexuality,

116

Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 39.
Halmai, “The Hungarian Approach to Constitutional Review:,” 200; See also Solyom, “The Role ofConstitutional Courts in the Transition to Democracy.”
118
Solyom, “The Role of Constitutional Courts in the Transition to Democracy,” 153.
119
Solyom and Brunner, Constitutional Judiciary in a New Democracy, 39.
120
Solyom, “The Role of Constitutional Courts in the Transition to Democracy,” 152.
121
Solyom and Brunner, Constitutional Judiciary in a New Democracy, 118, 126.
117

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separation of church and state, and environmental protection. Though the Hungarian
Court decided many of these problems by applying the moral reading, its judgments on
only two issues are analyzed here: (1) positive discrimination and (2) death penalty.
The Hungarian Constitutional Court’s judgments on positive discrimination weresimilar to Dworkin’s theory on the affirmative action (the reverse discrimination). The
judgments of this court did not mention Dworkin’s theory. However, Chief Justice
Solyom authoring these judgments stated that the conception of positive discriminationin the judgment resembled “Dworkin’s theory on affirmative action.”122 According toGabor Halmai, “the first rulings with reference to positive discrimination seemingly
follow [Dworkin’s] argumentation verbatim, according to which in the final analysis wemust reach a solution that in terms of usefulness to society creates equality, while as atool, it is equipped with inequality at the same time.”123
In 1990, the Constitutional Court explained the positive discrimination, the different
treatment of individuals in order to eliminate inequalities of their opportunity, when
considering a challenge to the special tax benefits to families with many children (thespecial tax benefit case). This court rejected the challenge to the special tax benefits
saying that “the prohibition of discrimination does not mean that any discrimination,
including even discrimination intended to achieve a greater social equality, isforbidden.” 124 The Court also argued that positive discrimination is constitutional
because it aimed to get rid of inequalities of opportunity, and that the anti-discrimination
clause (art. 70/A, the Hungarian Constitution)125 should be understood by a broadconception rather than a formal conception of equality:
The prohibition of discrimination means all people must be treated as equal (as persons
with equal dignity) by law – i.e., the fundamental right to human dignity may not be

122

Ibid., 31.
Halmai, “The Hungarian Approach to Constitutional Review:,” 200.
124
Decision 9, the Hungarian Constitutional Court, 1990. The English translation of this judgment is notavailable, but its main reasoning is cited in Decision 21, the Hungarian Constitutional Court, 1990.
Solyom and Brunner, Constitutional Judiciary in a New Democracy, 111.
125
The text of the Constitution could be interpreted very formally, but the Court used the Dworkinianidea to justify the positive discrimination. Article 70 of the 1949 Constitution of Hungary says as follows:“(1) The Republic of Hungary shall ensure the human and civil rights for all persons in its territory
without any kind of discrimination, such as on the basis of race, color, gender, language, religion, politicalor other opinion, national or social origins, financial situation, birth or on any other grounds whatsoever.
(2) Any kind of discrimination prescribed in Paragraph (1) shall be strictly penalized by the law.
(3) The Republic of Hungary shall promote the equality of rights for everyone through measures aimed ateliminated the inequality in opportunity.”
123

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impaired, and the criteria for the distribution of the entitlements and benefits shall be
determined with the same respect and prudence, and with the same degree ofconsideration of individual interest.126

This reasoning was directly influenced by Dworkin’s distinction between equality inthe sense of a “right to equal treatment,” and a sense that is inferior to “the right tobeing treated as an equal.”127 Dworkin made this distinction when discussing reverse
discrimination as being compatible with the equal protection of the laws.128 Though thespecial tax benefits to families with many children were not Dworkin’s typical idea ofreverse discrimination, the Hungarian Court interpreted the moral principle of the antidiscrimination by a broad conception of equality, not the formal equality under the law.
That is, the judgment was not just an adoption of Dworkin’s theory but “emancipation”
because it applied his theory in a new context where there were no ready-madedecisions.129
The Hungarian Constitutional Court consistently applied the Dworkinian conceptionof positive discrimination in several judgments, showing the due respect for the
integrity of the Constitution. An example was the judgment on compensation for
expropriated property.130 The prime minister of Hungary asked for an advisory opinion
on whether compensation program to provide for certain people’s former property(land) to be re-privatized while other people’s property would not be returned to themamounted to discrimination contrary to Article 70/A of the Constitution. The prime
minister argued as follows:
According to the Government, the general principle of privatization was that state
property was sold to new owners in exchange for payment while former owners received
partial compensation. The settlement of land ownership would be an exception to theseprinciples because in such questions either the original land would be returned in kind orother land offered in exchange.131

However, the Constitutional Court held that this compensation program would

126

Solyom and Brunner, Constitutional Judiciary in a New Democracy, 111.
Sadurski, Rights Before Courts, 204.
128
Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously, 223–239; Dworkin, “Affirmative Action,” 79–88.
129
Solyom, “The Role of Constitutional Courts in the Transition to Democracy,” 145.
130
Decision 21, the Hungarian Constitutional Court, 1990. The Court also used this conception of
positive discrimination in other judgments. For example, see the judgment on in the matter of the petition
on compensation: Decision 16, the Hungarian Constitutional Court, 1991. See Solyom and Brunner,
Constitutional Judiciary in a New Democracy, 108–117, 151–158.
131
Decision 21, the Hungarian Constitutional Court, 1990. Ibid., 108.
127

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Chapter Fouramount to discrimination in relation to the acquisition of property. The court reasoning
started with a citation on positive discrimination from the special tax benefit case:
The right to equal personal dignity may occasionally result in entitlement according towhich good and opportunities must be distributed (even qualitatively) equally to everyone.
If, however, a social purpose not in conflict with the Constitution or a constitutional rightmay only be achieved if equality in the narrower sense cannot be realized, then such a
positive discrimination shall not be declared unconstitutional.132

The court did not find sufficient constitutional justification for supporting such a
difference in the compensation program for expropriated property:
It was then necessary to consider two types of discrimination, first between the former
owner and non-owner and then between the former owners according to the type of
property. The constitutionality of the discrimination between former and non-ownerdepended on whether the interests of these two groups had been weighted with the same
degree of prudence and impartiality. If it were the case that, with the preferential
treatment of former owners, the distribution of state property would produce a morefavorable overall social result as regards the constitutionally mandated “marked
economy” than equal treatment would, then this would be permissible. In the latter
situation, it was necessary to ascertain whether the other former owners had had theirinterests considered as thoroughly and impartially as those of former landowners in orderto reveal the objective basis of the discrimination between former owners. Further, it had
to be proved that former non-landowners had to be put into a disadvantageous position inorder to achieve equality of persons as completely as possible in the future marked
economy. On its interpretation of Art. 70/A, the discrimination in the Act underconsideration would accordingly be unconstitutional.133

The second issue confronting modern courts that require the moral reading of theConstitution is the death penalty. Upon striking down the death penalty, 134 the
Hungarian Constitutional Court applied a moral reading to Article 54.1 of theConstitution, which declared that “in the Republic of Hungary, every human being has
the inherent right to life and to the dignity of man, of which no one can be arbitrarily
deprived.” This provision implied that a non-arbitrary deprivation of life (for example,

132

Decision 21, the Hungarian Constitutional Court, 1990. Ibid., 111.
Decision 21, the Hungarian Constitutional Court, 1990. Ibid., 109.
134
Decision 23, the Hungarian Constitutional Court 1990. Ibid., 118–138.
133

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one according to the reasons and procedures in law) would be constitutionallyacceptable. The Hungarian framers might not have intended to abolish the death penalty
when adopting the Constitution and might not have expected that the death penalty
would be unconstitutional.135 There was a very short period between the adoption of theright to life and dignity and the court ruling that would abolish the death penalty. A
majority of Hungarian citizens also were against the abolishment of death penalty.136
However, the court rejected these originalist and popular views on death penalty.
The majority judges treated the Constitution as a higher order of principles. Solyom
pointed out that the Constitution was “not merely the strict order of technicalregulations, but of principles,” and that the judges had to discern these principles “bytheir decisions, clarify, elucidate and apply them, because no one can determine themfrom mere one line paragraphs and simple sentences.”137 Therefore, as Dworkin argued
against the death penalty in the U.S., 138 the textual evidence was irrelevant forinterpreting Article 54.1 of the Hungarian Constitution in a principled rather thanconcrete and dated way. The court recognized that Article 54.1 “did not clearly exclude
the capital punishment,” but it ruled that this punishment was null and void because it
conflicted with Article 8.2 of the Constitution, which prohibited “limiting the essential
content of any fundamental right.” The court argued that by terminating a human life
totally and irreversibly, the death penalty violated the essence of the right to life andhuman dignity, so it was contrary to the prohibition against restricting the essence offundamental rights in Article 8.1 of the Constitution. A summary of the court reasoning
was as follows:
Article 8(2) did not permit any limitation upon the essential content of fundamental rights
even by way of legislative enactment. Since the right to life and human dignity was itself
the “essential content,” the State could not dispose of it. Consequently any deprivation of
it was conceptually “arbitrary.” The State would come into conflict with the wholeconcept of fundamental constitutional right if it were to authorize deprivation of the right

135

Sadurski, Rights Before Courts, 101.
Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe, 89; Sadurski, Rights
Before Courts, 101.
137
Halmai, “The Hungarian Approach to Constitutional Review:,” 202.
138
Dworkin argued that the death penalty offends the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against “cruel andunusual” punishments (Amendment VIII) even though the framers expected “that death would be
inflicted only after due process.” Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously, 35–36; Dworkin, “Comment,” 120–
121.
136

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Chapter Fourby permitting and regulating capital punishment.139

The reasoning of the constitutional court was also based on the international trend toabolish the death penalty. After examining the relevant provisions of the ICCPR, thiscourt cited the Sixth Additional Protocol and Article 22 of the European Declaration On
Fundamental Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, both of which declared theabolishment of death penalty. The constitutional courts in South Africa, Ukraine, andAlbania followed the decision of the Hungarian Constitutional Court140 and abolishedthe death penalty by making the moral reading of their constitutions.
The Hungarian constitutional jurisprudence is important for Mongolia because it
proves that the court can apply the moral reading under the constitutional review
initiated by actio popularis. Nonetheless, the individual complaint and constitutionalquestion are more suitable than actio popularis from the view of the moral reading. The
integrity of law in Dworkin’ theory is not very suitable for actio popularis and theabstract review. According to Dworkin, cases should be decided according to theintegrity of constitutional law, which is based on the constitutional text, structure andprinciples of cases. Case law will be more developed when the cases are real andconcrete rather than hypothetical and abstract.

4.4. Constitutional culture

Based on research on constitutional laws of the U.S., Germany and Hungary, thissection argues that five elements of constitutional culture are essential to the moral
reading of the Constitution and constitutionalism in general. The five cultural elements
are: (1) constitutional case law, (2) the publication of separate opinions of judges, (3)the appropriate usage of foreign judicial judgments, (4) the pervasive role of scholars,and (5) civic participation in the constitutional discussion.
The first is constitutional case law that shows what reasoning the judges make intheir decisions, how they interpret the Constitution and whether they respect
constitutional integrity. The constitutional precedents function similarly under both the139

Decision 23, the Hungarian Constitutional Court, 1990. Solyom and Brunner, Constitutional Judiciaryin a New Democracy, 118–119.
140
Peter, Twenty Years of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, 61–62.

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American and European models of constitutional review. In the U.S. and Continental
Europe, the courts respect constitutional precedents. As Section 4.2 has showed, the U.S.
judges mainly provide the principled interpretation of the Constitution consistent withthe bulk of precedents, the integrity of law. Among other principles, the U.S. judges
respect stare decisis, “the doctrine that principles of law established in earlier cases
should be accepted as authoritative in similar subsequent cases.”141 Precedents are
frequently used for interpreting the U.S. Constitution.
Unlike the U.S., most Continental European countries lack the formal doctrine ofstare decisis. However, European judges follow leading cases in practice whether theycite these cases.142 For instance, “German courts strive to be consistent with principles
and rulings determined by prior court decisions out of concern that the law be applied
equally,”143 and the Federal Constitutional Court’s opinions “brim with citations toprevious cases.”144 Section 4.3 has showed that not only the German Constitutional
Court but also the ECHR and the Hungarian Constitutional Court respect the integrity oflaw.
The crucial role of precedent in constitutional adjudication is justified in three ways.
First, an adherence to precedent promotes the rule of law, the idea that the law restricts
all public powers including the judiciary. Henry Paul Monaghan argued that “if courts
are viewed as unbound by precedent and the law as no more than what the last Court
said,” the public faith in the judiciary that enforces impartially the law while being
restricted itself by the law will be damaged.145 However, an adherence to precedent
does not mean that the court can never overturn improper precedent. As alreadydemonstrated, the courts can change the precedents when there exist enough reasons.
The use of precedent also helps citizens and the government to predict largely what ispermissible as a result of the reasonably settled decisions on law. Finally, the respect toprecedent lessens the politicization of the court. According to Geoffrey R. Stone, “itmoderates ideological swings and thus preserves both the appearance and the reality of
the Court as a legal rather than a purely political institution.”146

141

O’Brien, Constitutional Law and Politics, 2:1505.
Merryman and Perez-Perdomo, The Civil Law Tradition, 3rd Edition, 47; Shapiro, Courts, 135–138,
141, 143–148.
143
Eberle, Dignity and Liberty, 33–34.
144
Kommers, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany, 42.
145
Monaghan, “Stare Decisis and Constitutional Adjudication,” 753.
146
Stone, “Precedent, the Amendment Process, and Evolution in Constitutional Doctrine,” 70.
142

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Chapter Four

The second cultural element is the publication of an independent opinion of thejudge. Most constitutional democracies allow their judges to write and publish an
opinion separate from a majority opinion of the case. Judges sometimes disagree witheach other about important questions such as which fact is important and how tointerpret the provision of the Constitution. In democracies including the U.S., Germany,and Hungary, there are the following two kinds of separate opinions, a concurring
opinion and a dissenting opinion. Scholars define these two opinions as follows:
Justices writing separate opinions may concur in the holding of the case - that is, theyagree with the outcome and support the operative rule of law announced by the holding but disagree with the reasoning of the justice announcing the decision... In addition,
justices frequently disagree with each other more deeply, and write dissenting opinions –sometimes rhetorically caustic or sarcastic – that reject the holding as well as thereasoning of those who support the decision.147

Published separate opinions are important for applying the moral reading of theConstitution. In studying different opinions, the public can compare the reasoning andconclusions and see which interpretation of the Constitution is better and respect
constitutional integrity. Moreover, the quality of the judicial judgment is improved
because judges openly give reasons for their opinions while criticizing the reasons ofother judges. The publication of separate opinions also allows judges to show theirfidelity to the Constitution and the rule of law. Judges who are not allowed to publish aseparate opinion cannot express and discuss what they really believe to be the bestinterpretations of the facts and the constitutional clauses.148
The third cultural element important for the moral reading of the Constitution is
judges’ references to constitutional judgments of foreign and international courts as away of judicial reasoning.149 In many countries, judges have been making reference tojudgments in foreign courts. L’Heureux-Dube argued for “the fact that considerations offoreign decisions is becoming standard practice for more and more courts throughout

147

Murphy et al., American Constitutional Interpretation, 29–30.
Independent opinions are prohibited in France and Italy as in Mongolia. As a result, decisions of theirconstitutional courts are relatively short and declaratory of the law. See Sweet, Governing with Judges,
145–146.
149
Most originalists are against the reference of foreign decisions. According to Justice Scalia, “Equallyirrelevant are the practices of the “world community,” whose notions of justice are (thankfully) notalways those of our people. We must never forget that it is a Constitution for the United States of America
that we are expounding.” Atkins v. Virginia 536 U.S. 304 (2002) (Justice Scalia dissenting). See also
McCrudden, “Common Law of Human Rights?,” 510, 524–525, 530.
148

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Constitutional Interpretation

the world” thanks to similar issue, the international nature of human rights, advances oftechnology, and personal contact among judges.150 When judges of democracies decideissues related to basic human rights and principles, many of which are similar innational constitutions and international human rights treaties, they tend to look at how
judges in other jurisdictions have decided similar issues and have interpreted similar
rights and principles. These similar issues range from basic standards of criminal justice,free speech, freedom of religion, the death penalty to privacy rights. Moreover, theadvancement of communication technology creates the possibility of easy and cheap
access to a wealth of case law, statutes, and other materials in a broad range ofjurisdictions. Anyone with a connection to the Internet can obtain recent decisions (ortheir translations) of highest courts of the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Germany, and
Hungary, as well as the ECHR. In addition, judges often discuss common problems,
mutual interests, and recent developments in conferences, formal and informal meetings,
by e-mails, and over the telephone.
The highest courts of new constitutional democracies frequently receive and use thecases from courts of older democracies because they mostly are short of thejurisprudence of protecting fundamental rights. In their early years, the courts of India,
Canada, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Israel, and Hungary regularly
cited sophisticated constitutional case laws of matured courts like the U.S. Supreme
Court, the German Constitutional Court, and the ECHR.151 L’Heureux-Dube argued asfollows:
Since drafters of human rights protection instruments have drawn on earlier documents, it
only makes sense for judges to make use of the expertise and experience of interpreters ofsimilar documents. Because the legal protection of human rights is new to many countries,
there is sometimes little or no domestic jurisprudence to consult in giving them meaning,and judgments from elsewhere are particularly useful and necessary. Foreign decisions
are often used as a “springboard” to begin development of human rights jurisprudence,and to fill in gaps when no precedent exists. …reference to foreign jurisprudence is mademost frequently when human rights protections are new, such as in Canada in the 1980s

150

L’Heureux-Dube, “Importance of Dialogue,” 23–26; McCrudden, “Common Law of Human Rights?,”
20; Slaughter, A New World Order, 71–73, 96–99; Barak, The Judge in a Democracy, 197–212.
151
Kommers, “Foreword,” xi–xii; L’Heureux-Dube, “Importance of Dialogue,” 17–27; McCrudden,“Common Law of Human Rights?,” 506, 518; Slaughter, A New World Order, 65–103; Barak, The Judgein a Democracy, 197–112; Solyom and Brunner, Constitutional Judiciary in a New Democracy, 5, 8, 12,
58; Solyom, “The Role of Constitutional Courts in the Transition to Democracy,” 144.

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Chapter Fourand early 1990s and in New Zealand, Israel, and South Africa today.152

However, the nature of referring to foreign judicial decisions has changed.
L’Heureux-Dube discussed this change: “the process of international influence haschanged from reception to dialogue. Judges no longer simply receive the cases of otherjurisdictions and then apply them or modify them for their own jurisdiction.” 153
Constitutional judges in different countries mutually read and use each other’s
judgments relevant to issues before them. Moreover, judgments of some of new courts
have become so important that other courts often refer to them. Anne-Marie Slaughter
wrote the following:
The South African Constitutional Court and the Canadian Supreme Court have both beenhighly influential, apparently more so than the U.S. Supreme Court and other older andmore established constitutional courts… [These two courts are] each looking around theworld and canvassing the opinions of its fellow constitutional courts and eachdisproportionally influential as a result.154

The South African Court also took up the reasoning of the Hungarian judgment on thedeath penalty.155
Even the highest courts of America and Germany also sometimes look at the foreign
jurisdictions. Though the U.S. Supreme Court rarely refers to cases in otherjurisdictions,156 some recent judgments have referred to foreign jurisdictions.157 When
the U.S. Supreme Court held that the impositions of the death penalty for crimes
committed by mentally retarded offenders or juveniles fewer than 18 was “cruel andunusual punishment” prohibited by Amendment VIII, this court, in opinions by Justices
John P. Stevens and Anthony Kennedy, supported its rulings partly by mentioning theoverwhelming disapprovals of these impositions within the world community, in

152

L’Heureux-Dube, “Importance of Dialogue,” 24.
Ibid., 17.
154
Slaughter, A New World Order, 74.
155
The State v. T Makwanyane and M Mchunu para. 83-85, 90, 132, 308, 326 (The Constitutional Courtof South Africa 1995); Solyom and Brunner, Constitutional Judiciary in a New Democracy, 118.
156
L’Heureux-Dube, “Importance of Dialogue,” 27–40; McCrudden, “Common Law of Human Rights?,”
508–510; Slaughter, A New World Order, 74.
157
Eberle, Dignity and Liberty, 11. In Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702, 734 (1997), the Supreme
Court, in an opinion by Chief Justice Rehnquist, reviewed the treatment of assisted suicide in othercountries including the Dutch in rejecting a constitutional rights to die. In Printz v. United States, 521 U.S.
898, 976-77 (1997), Justice Breyer, in his dissent, examined extensively federal systems of Switzerland,
Germany, and the European Union in clarifying a proper relationship between the federal and state
governments in the United States.
153

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Constitutional Interpretation

particular Europe.158 Moreover, the German Constitutional Court sometimes examines
comparative law and foreign judicial judgments. For instance, in the judgment that
accepted a fundamental right to the guarantee of the confidentiality and integrity of
information technology systems, this court heard statements by comparative law
experts.159
When deciding issues concerning fundamental human rights, the courts refer tojudgments of not only transnational but also regional and international courts.
According to Slaughter, constitutional courts often cite the ECHR alongside thedecisions of foreign courts, not only within Europe but also around the world.160 For
example, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a state law criminalizing “sexualintercourse” between homosexuals, it supported its decision partly by mentioning aparallel case from the ECHR.161 The South African Constitutional Court also referredto the ECHR decisions when ruling death penalty unconstitutional.162 Moreover, thedecisions of the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe that corporal punishment was cruel andunusual cited the ECHR decisions. In addition, national courts protected human rights
in international conventions that their countries ratified, and they use the interpretationsof these rights by other courts and institutions.163
The courts assist and benefit comparative constitutional law by publishing its own
decisions in English (or any of widely used languages). Comparative lawyers have been
studying judgments of matured courts like the U.S. Supreme Court and the German
Constitutional Court. Judges of new democracies frequently cite these matured courts.
The new courts also should publish its judgments in English to get feedback from theforeign audience and to improve the quality of their judgments.164 Judges need todevelop the reasoning of their judgments if they do not want to be criticized by foreign

158

Atkins v. Virginia 536 U.S. 304 (2002) and Roper v Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005).
1 BvR 370/07, 1 BvR 595/07 82, The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, 2008.
160
Slaughter, A New World Order, 66 (listing citations of the ECHR judgments by constitutional courts).
161
Lawrence v. Texas 539 U.S. 558 (2003).
162
The State v. T Makwanyane and M Mchunu, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, 1995, para. 8385, 90, 132, 326.
163
For a comprehensive analysis on the judicial application of human rights law in the domestic, regional
and international levels, see Jayawickrama, The Judicial Application of Human Rights Law.
164
New courts can publish their judgments in the Bulletin on Constitutional Case Law of the Venice
Commission. This bulletin reports on the most significant decisions of constitutional courts and courts ofequivalent jurisdiction in Europe and other continents, as well as those of the ECHR and the Court ofJustice of the European Communities. See “Bulletin on Constitutional Case-law and CD-Rom
CODICES.”
159

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Chapter Fourscholars.165
Foreign constitutional decisions do not have the binding authority but the persuasive
authority. Slaughter explained the persuasive authority as follows:
For judges favoring the use of persuasive authority, looking abroad simply helps them doa better job at home, in the sense that they can approach a particular problem morecreatively or with greater insight. Foreign decisions are persuasive because they offer new
information and perspective that may cast an issue in a different and more tractable
light.166

As Justice Breyer said, examining foreign examples may help a judge “learn about
relevant consequences, about potential alternative ways of approaching a difficult
practical problem, and about how other courts, foreign courts, have decided with greateror lesser success to reconcile similar conflicting values.”167 In addition, references toforeign judgments may grant judges a kind of security of checking whether or not theirown judgments are along with the common tendencies in democracies. Slaughter argued
that “references to the activity of fellow courts in other states can act as… a security
blanket… [B]y pointing to the actions of fellow states, a national court can reassure
itself (and its government) that it will not disadvantage the nation in dealing with othernations.”168 Foreign examples might be more helpful for judges in newly establisheddemocracies where the theories on constitutional interpretation have not fully developed
and used in judicial judgments.
Judges should scrutinize decisions of the foreign courts and distinguish goodarguments from bad ones. Foreign decision may serve as a check of judges’ reasoning
and conclusion. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, “the opinion of the worldcommunity, while not controlling our outcome, does provide respected and significant
confirmation for our own conclusions.”169 However, foreign decisions do not always
provide a better solution to a question as shown in the decisions of the U.S. Supreme
Court in Bowers and Olmstead. Domestic contexts also may require judges to decidedifferently on a human rights issue.
The fourth cultural element is the role of scholars in the constitutional discussion.

165

Kupper, discussion.
Slaughter, A New World Order, 77.
167
Breyer, Active Liberty, 164.
168
Slaughter, “A Typology of Transjudicial Communication,” 116.
169
Roper v Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005)
166

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Constitutional Interpretation

Scholars include law professors, legal researchers, political scientists, and politicalphilosophers. Liberal democracy cannot endure long without scholars who support its
fundamental principles and values. According to Rawls, “one of many reasons why the
Weimar Constitution failed was that none of the main intellectual currents in Germany
was prepared to defend it, including the leading philosopher.”170 Thus, scholars have a
responsibility to write good theoretical and philosophical works like Locke’s Second
Treatise, Kant’s The Metaphysics of Morals, Mill’s On Liberty, Rawls’s books andDworkin’s books, or at least translate such works on liberal democracy into their own
languages. These scholarly writings support not only the well-functioning constitutional
review but also constitutional democracy as a whole because they strengthen the basesof democratic thought and attitudes in civil society.171
Moreover, scholars have the professional responsibility to direct and restrict judges’
interpretation of the Constitution by way of their criticisms, arguments, and examples.
Though the process of constitutional interpretation by judges is restricted by what theframers intended to say in the Constitution and what constitutional integrity requires,judges are not perfect. Tushnet argued that “we want them [judges] to enforce
constitutional rights, but they can get those rights wrong.”172 Thus, the court may makea bad decision as any other human institutions such as the legislature and the executive.
A bad decision is not made because the court has the power of judicial review, but
because it adopts a poor conception on a constitutional moral principle as in Bowers,
and Olmstead. According to Dworkin, “the vice of bad decisions is bad argument andbad conviction; all we can do about those bad decisions is to point out how and where
the arguments are bad.”173 No procedure can guarantee that the judges choose the best
conception in each case.
Legal scholars should not only criticize the bad judgments of the court but also
admire the good ones, which will show students, lawyers and judges how strong the
judgments are and will encourage them to think the issues more deeply. This is an
important relationship between lawyers and legal scholars. In addition, scholarly writingis helpful for the ordinary people and journalists. Journalists often write about theconclusions of the judgment, but they rarely talk about the reasoning. The rule of law isabout both the conclusion of the judicial judgment and the reasoning. Scholars who

170

Rawls, Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy, 6.
Ibid., 7.
172
Tushnet, Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts, 96.
173
Dworkin, Freedom’s Law, 10.
171

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Chapter Fourhave time to research judgments have to show which are good so that the ordinary
people and journalists can understand them. Moreover, when the court makes thecorrect judgments against strong political interests that may disagree, scholars need tosupport the judgment by their writings. In this way, scholars contribute to the rule of law.
This section has argued that judges need to look at the judgments of foreign courts
when deciding similar issues. Legal scholars can help judges and lawyers by translating
the best of foreign judgments because reading the foreign judgments may be difficult
for judges and lawyers due to the busy work and the language barriers. If scholars of
new democratic polities introduce foreign constitutional case law in their own language,
then law students, lawyers and judges will learn how the high courts of matured
democracies interpret their constitutions and make the well-reasoned judgments, andhow the judgments of their own court can be analyzed and improved. As a result, thejudicial reasoning and case law would gradually develop in these polities.
The tradition of common law has been thought as a law of judges, so legal scholars
have less of a role in the adjudication. However, this tradition has been changing at leastin the United States. American scholars analyze conceptions on constitutional moral
principles in the judicial decisions, criticize weak arguments, or offer new conceptions,as well as write constitutional casebooks with the analysis. In this way, scholars develop
constitutional theories. For example, Dworkin has developed his theory partially byanalyzing the liberal decisions of the Supreme Court. Furthermore, constitutional
theories may influence judicial decisions. Some American scholars argue that “thedebates over constitutional theory have helped to shape the future direction of
constitutional decision making as well as the meanings and significance constitutional
scholars and others assign to its past.”174 For example, people, scholars, politicians, andjustices have been debating the decision of Roe vs. Wade, which acknowledged awomen’s right to early abortion.175 Among other theories, originalism argues against
Roe, but the moral reading argues in its favor.176 Upon deciding on the case of Planned
Parenthood,177 the Supreme Court could have overruled Roe in 1992, but it improved
its arguments for the right to early abortion.178 Constitutional theories also influence
foreign courts as Dworkin’s theory has done with the Hungarian Constitutional Court.

174

Gerhardt et al., Constitutional Theory, 1.
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705 (1973)
176
Dworkin, Freedom’s Law, 44–129.
177
Planned Parenthood of South Eastern Pennsylvania et. al. v. Casey 505 U.S. 833 (1992)
178
Dworkin, Freedom’s Law, 117–129.
175

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Constitutional Interpretation

In addition, scholars often write articles on the constitutional issue before and after a
judicial decision. For instance, Dworkin wrote several articles on the right to early
abortion protected in Roe before the Supreme Court decided Planned Parenthood.179
Professors, students, political groups, and other interested citizens also file amicus
curiae (friend of the court) briefs to the Supreme Court before it decides oncontroversial cases.
Moreover, American scholars provide necessary information on whether candidates
to the Supreme Court are qualified by reviewing and analyzing the political convictionsof the candidates. Dworkin points out as follows:
The abstract moral propositions of the Bill of Rights do not enforce themselves, andthough the interpretive latitude open to any judge on any constitutional occasion islimited by history and integrity…, a judge’s political convictions will in many cases
figure in his or her account of which interpretation is the most accurate.180

Therefore, during the nomination and confirmation of the U.S. justices, scholars like
Dworkin writes articles on what moral convictions and interpretation theories thecandidates prefer, what they think about controversial cases, and what experience andcompetence they have.181
The persistent scholarly influence is well known in civil law countries like Germanyand Hungary. According to John Henry Merryman, “the teacher-scholar is the realprotagonist of the civil law tradition. The civil law is a law of the professors.”182 The
majority of justices of European constitutional courts are law professors. Moreover, thescholarly contribution is evident in constitutional law of Germany. Donald P. Kommers
argued as follows:[The German Constitutional Court] owes much to West Germany’s community ofscholars… German commentators form an ever-widening interpretive community
organized around a deepening interest in the court’s work. …the commentators seethemselves engaged in a common enterprise with the German Constitutional Court. Their
constructive criticism and increasing assertiveness have been stimulated in part by the use

179

Ibid., 44–129.
Ibid., 263.
181
For example, Dworkin has written on the nominations of Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, John
Roberts, Samuel A. Alito, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. See Ibid., 263–347;“The Articles Contributed by Ronald Dworkin.”
182
Merryman and Perez-Perdomo, The Civil Law Tradition, 3rd Edition, 56.
180

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Chapter Fourand popularity of the court’s own dissenting opinions.183

The Hungarian Constitutional Court also owes much to scholars. Solyom discussed thispoint: “Professors of law, who are predominantly in the constitutional court, tend to
produce long, theoretically based opinions on a comparative law basis, and have thus
provided a channel for assimilating foreign constitutional standards and developing theConstitution into a definite system in the early stage of the transition.”184
The fifth cultural element is civic participation in the constitutional discussion andcivic support of democracy. Citizens participate in the constitutional discourse formallyand informally. First, the civic participation is formal. Citizens use the court to protect
their fundamental rights and make themselves official participants in the judicial
procedure by means of the concrete petition in the U.S., the constitutional complaint inGermany or the abstract petition (actio popularis) in Hungary and Mongolia. The
constitutional review related to the concrete cases is more important than mere abstract
review. Second, citizens informally join constitutional discussion before and after the
judicial judgment related to fundamental rights. The free media plays an important role
here. This kind of informal participation is important though there may be some tension
between the judicial independence and the excessive criticism of judicial judgment.
A democracy can exist only when a majority of its citizens support it. According to
Rawls, there is a general fact that “an enduring and secure democratic regime, one notdivided by bitter doctrinal disputes and hostile social classes, must be willingly andfreely supported by at least a substantial majority of its politically active citizens.”185
Otherwise, a democratic regime may collapse. For example, Currie mentioned the
Weimar Republic as an example of this collapse:
The Weimer Republic was a democracy without democrats. The voters never managed toagree on a stable parliamentary majority, and when things got really tough they ended upby handling the state over to its enemies. The latter responded naturally enough byabrogating the major features of the Constitution itself.186

Thus, citizens should be educated so that they understand basic principles of democracy,
make judgment on major political issues according to these principles and support these

183

Kommers, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany, 57.
Solyom, “The Role of Constitutional Courts in the Transition to Democracy,” 136.
185
Rawls, Justice as Fairness, 34.
186
Currie, The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, 7.
184

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principles in spite of their disagreements on particular issues. Citizens respect the
judicial judgment, even judgments ruling against them, when the court functions
independently and protect fundamental rights in general. There is a correlation between
the court that protects these rights and the civil respect of that court.187 In places wheresuch correlations exist, citizens tend to support the constitutional review and democracy
in general.
An important feature of constitutional interpretation by judges of legislation in
general is its educational role. In democracies like the U.S., Germany, and Hungary,judges have the power to say final answers on important questions of political morality,
and their answers and its reasons are often so controversial that politicians and citizens
are divided on them and continently discuss. In this process of discussion, citizens learn
fundamental values of democracy. Rawls described the educational role ofconstitutional review:
Citizens acquire an understanding of the public political culture and its traditions ofinterpreting basic constitutional values. They do so by attending to how these values areinterpreted by judges in important constitutional cases and reaffirmed by political parties.
If disputed judicial decisions - call forth deliberative political discussion in the course ofwhich their merits are reasonably debated in terms of constitutional principles, then eventhese disputed decisions, by drawing citizens into public debate, may serve a vital
educational role.188

Constitutional review and other institutions of democracy have their own educationalrole, but they are insufficient. As Dworkin suggested, an effective mechanism could be
to make a Contemporary Politics course a part of every high school curriculum.189 This
course could include the most critical political controversies related to certain
fundamental rights and the different interpretations of these rights. In a way suitable forthem, students could study political ideas and principles developed by philosopherssuch as Locke, Kant, Mill and Rawls, and learn to apply them in deciding politicalissues of the day. If students disagreed with any of judicial judgments like the one that
rejected the right to die, they would be challenged to say their reasons. Citizens who
participate in a deliberative discussion on political issues would support the well-187

Kommers, “The Federal Constitutional Court in the German Political System,” 489; Orkeny and
Scheppele, “Rules of Law: The Complexity of Legality in Hungary,” 61.
188
Rawls, Justice as Fairness, 146.
189
Dworkin, Is Democracy Possible Here?, 148–150.

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Chapter Fourreasoned judgments of the court and basic principles of democracy.

Conclusion

The institutional improvement of the constitutional court is important, but it is notenough for protecting fundamental rights and other principles of the Constitution. Basedon American constitutional law, Chapter 4, thus, argues that a court doing constitutional
review can protect these rights and principles when it provides reasoned judgments andproper interpretation of the Constitution. The court interprets the Constitution properly
when it uses a method of constitutional interpretation such as the moral reading
practiced by the U.S. Supreme Court and explained by Dworkin. According to thismethod, the judges should make the best interpretation of abstract moral principles suchas the fundamental rights in the Constitution, but their interpretations are limited by theconstitutional text, the basic structure of the Constitution and the mainstream
interpretations in case law. The method of moral reading is better than other methods
such as strict constructionism and originalism. Successful constitutional andinternational courts in Europe also apply the moral reading of their constitutions andhuman rights conventions regardless of difference in their institutional designs.
Moreover, the Hungarian Constitutional Court not only has good guarantees of
independence and qualified justices but also uses this method, so it is relatively
successful. As with the Hungarian court, the Tsets of Mongolia can make the moral
reading of the Constitution even through its current actio popularis, and if possible, itwould do much better if it were allowed to exercise the classic complaint procedure.
The next chapter will argue that the Tsets can use the moral reading for better protectionof fundamental rights just like the courts in the U.S. and Europe do. Chapter 4 hasdiscussed the five cultural elements important to the moral reading andconstitutionalism in general, and Chapter 5 also will examine each of these elements in
the Mongolian constitutional politics.

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Chapter 5
Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

The court should always provide a reasoned decision and apply an appropriate
method to interpret the Constitution in a constitutional democracy. Most of decisions of
the Mongolian Tsets lack the reasons or apply methods similar to the strict
constructionism or originalism, which weaken the protection of fundamental rights andfreedoms. The Tsets can improve its constitutional interpretation and constitutionalism if
it always delivers reasoned decisions based on a method similar to the moral reading as
courts do in other democracies. A few decisions of the Tsets are well reasoned, and theroots of the moral reading of the Constitution exist in the constitutional jurisprudence ofMongolia.
First, this chapter defines the patterns in the decisions of the Tsets and describes a
standard form for analyzing constitutional cases. Second, this chapter makes a detailed
analysis of four selected cases in order to show and evaluate the reasoning and themethod of constitutional interpretation by this court. Third, this chapter draws general
conclusions concerning the interpretation of the Mongolian Constitution based on thecase analysis and case law in general. Fourth, this chapter defines the elements ofculture crucial to the moral reading and constitutionalism and discusses the ways toimprove them in Mongolia.

5.1. Case method in constitutional law

The criteria of selecting cases decided by the Tsets and the approach of study about
these cases are important. This section illustrates why Mongolian constitutional case161

Chapter Fivelaw should be examined, how this book chooses the cases to be analyzed, what patterns
the judgments of the Tsets has, and what standard form is efficient and logical for thescholarly analysis of constitutional cases.
Mongolian constitutional case law is worth researching because the number of the
Tsets decisions has been increasing (see Appendix 2) and these decisions have a vital
impact on the lives of individual citizens and the culture of the rule of law. By
submitting petitions or notifications to this court, citizens challenge the constitutionalityof almost all decisions on important political issues such as mining, elections,legislative power, and fundamental rights. The court has received more than 1000
petitions and notifications from citizens and a few requests from high-ranking officials
and organizations since 1992.1 The Tsets through the sessions of its middle and grandpanels has decided 130 cases and made more than 160 decisions as of 2011. The Court
has found unconstitutionality of legislation in many of these cases. Tsets’ invalidations
or validations of legislation and other acts have practical impacts on the political life.
A selection of cases is necessary because analysis of all cases in a single book would
be difficult. The following four cases are selected according to the criterion that issues
in the cases are important for strengthening constitutionalism: (1) the Nyamdorj Case I,
II (2007), (2) the Constituency Grant Case (2007), (3) the Dashdendev Case (1993),
and (4) the Suffrage Case (1993). These cases remain essential for safeguarding the ruleof law, protecting fundamental rights, and improving the democratic process. The
Nyamdorj Case I, II (2007) and Constituency Grant Case (2007) are selected as
exemplar cases because the court decided politically significant issues against the
majority institutions (the SGKh) with good reasoning. The Dashdendev Case (1993) and
Suffrage Case (1993) are selected not only because they concern the protection ofcertain fundamental rights, but also because they show the poor quality of the moral
reading by the Tsets. In these two latter cases, the Tsets refused to protect fundamental
rights at stake by offering poor reasoning and failing to apply the moral reading to theConstitution. Section 5.2 analyzes these four cases in detail. Section 5.3 discusses
commonalities in the Tsets judgments on not only these four cases but also others.
Section 5.2 does not discuss cases whose issues are not politically important, while
Section 5.3 offers general conclusions on these and other cases. The selection of fourcases for detailed analysis does not mean that there are no other important cases.

1

Byambadorj J., “Mongol Ulsiin Undsen Khuuliin Khyanalt: Tuluv Baidal, Tsaashdiin Khandlaga,” 17.

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Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

The decisions of the Tsets have a consistent pattern of writing. The typical decision
starts with a brief statement of the issue (whether a certain clause of a statute violates a
related provision of the Constitution); proceeds with a comprehensive presentation of
the arguments of both sides, first on behalf of the petitioner or the requester, and then on
behalf of the respondent, mostly the State Great Khural (the SGKh); continues with thecourt’s own reasoning on the merits; and ends with the court’s conclusion. This pattern
is similar but not the same as the decision making pattern of the German Constitutional
Court.2 The reasoning part in a Mongolian decision is short in most of the cases
although the reasoning part in a German decision is long. The decisions of the U.S.
Supreme Court are full of reasoning and analysis of facts and laws. The pattern of the
Tsets decisions is not suitable for scholarly analysis of a case since it does not discuss
the background, the relevant issue, and the significance.
In order to systematically analyze four selected cases, the book adopts a standard
form of preparing a “brief” (summary) of constitutional case, which American law
professors, students and lawyers often use to deepen understanding and refresh
memories. According to American scholars, the standard form of briefing requires
defining facts (the context), issue, holding, reasoning, concurrences and dissents, andsignificance in each case.3 This book uses this standard form with few changes thatreflect the Mongolian context. Section 5.2 identifies the following six elements of eachof selected cases: (1) title, (2) background, (3) issue, (4) holding, (5) reasoning and (6)significance.
1. Title. This element includes the title of the case, the name of the court as well as
the name, the number and the date of the Tsets judgment. Mongolian constitutional
cases include the date and number of the case and a vague description of issue (thename of the statute and numbers of statutory provisions) at the beginning of eachdecision. However, the Mongolian decision lack official titles unlike American cases(for example, Brown v. Board of Education (1954)) and as with German cases. 4
Mongolian researchers and lawyers seldom use titles. Unlike a German decision and aswith the American on, the Mongolian decision gives explicitly names of the individual
citizens who have submitted petitions or notifications and names of authorities who
have submitted requests.5 Thus, this book uses titles for each selected case in the2

Kommers, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany, xvii–xviii.
Murphy et al., American Constitutional Interpretation, 28–31.
4
Kommers, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany, xvii–xviii.
5
For that a German decision lacked names of the individual citizens who have submitted complaints to3

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Chapter Five

Mongolian context, following the American practice. Cases in this book are given
names for identification. Depending on the context of each case, the titles illustrate thepetitioner or the requester, issues, official, or institution. The case title is not only
convenient for the writers but also helpful for readers to remember the case. If just casenumber is referred to, when a lot of cases are discussed, the writing becomes complex
and confusing.
2. Background. Readers, particularly foreigners, need background information ofMongolian constitutional politics. The background of a constitutional case aims toillustrate governmental policy (or practice) and the constitutional right of the individual(or other constitutional provision) at stake. The background answers questions on thecontents of the policy and the constitutional provisions at stake, the related terms ofstatutes, regulations, executive orders, or constitutional clauses, and the nature ofconflict between the policy and constitutional provisions. 6 The background also
describes relevant facts that help make sense of the conflict. Almost all Mongolian
constitutional cases are abstract unlike American cases, so they have no particular facts.
However, when the facts are available, they are defined in this book. Anotherbackground question is who appeals to the Tsets, whether a citizen submits a petition or
notification or whether an official or an institution submits a request. Ordinary citizens,lawyers, legal scholars, the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General, the President, andMPs mostly appeal to the Tsets.
3. Issue. The issue of the case addresses the fundamental question or questions ofconstitutional meaning the case represents and the Tsets is asked to resolve.
4. Holding. The holding replies to questions concerning the legal rule or principlethat the Tsets announced or regarding the answer the Tsets offered to the constitutionalquestion (the issue) raised in the cases. The holding refers to the conclusion part of thedecision by the Tsets.
5. Reasoning. The reasoning of a judicial opinion answers the questions as to what
interpretation method and supportive justifications are employed, which considerations
are emphasized, and which put aside. In short, the reasoning shows the way the opinion
writer transports the reader from the question to the answer. According to Walter F.
Murphy and his co-authors, the reasoning of the judgment is “the trickiest part, a

the Constitutional Court, see Ibid.
6
Murphy et al., American Constitutional Interpretation, 29.

164Constitutional Interpretation in Mongoliacomplex task that requires careful and close analysis of the opinion.”7 The reasoning
may be based on precedents, on interpretations of constitutional principles or generalprinciples of law, on the originalist understanding of the Constitution, on the strict
constructionist reading of the constitutional text, or on combination of two or more ofthese reasons. Since the Law on the Constitutional Tsets does not allow individual
judges to publish concurring and dissenting opinions, there is only one opinion offeredby the Tsets and mainly written by the judge reporting the case. If the reasoning of ajudgment is short, the whole reasoning will be translated into English. If the reasoning
is long, then it will be summarized and the important points will be illustrated throughthe case analysis.
6. Significance. The significance of the case responds to questions regarding thegeneral constitutional principle or rule for which the case stands and regarding thecontribution that the case makes to the understanding of the Constitution. Moreover, thepart on significance critically comments on the case concerned and evaluates comments
given by other scholars if available.

5.2. Selected constitutional cases

5.2.1. Nyamdorj Cases I and II (2007)

1. Title. Lamjav D. et al., v. Nyamdorj Ts., Chairperson of the SGKh, the Tsets,
Dugnelt 4, March 2, 2007 (Nyamdorj Case I); Lkhagvajav B. et al., v. Nyamdorj Ts.,
Chairperson of the SGKh, the Tsets, Dugnelt 6, May 23, 2007 (Nyamdorj Case II ).8
2. Background. The Nyamdorj Cases I and II concerned the final edit and ratification
stages in the legislative process. The SGKh Resolution on Parliamentary Procedure (theSGKh Procedure) described the procedure of making, checking, and signing the final
edit of law (and resolutions). After the plenary session of the SGKh passed law, therelevant Standing Committee and the Secretariat of the SGKh prepared the final edit oflaw. The secretary general of the SGKh Secretariat checked the final edit of law and

7
8

Ibid.
“English Translation of Nyamdorj Case I”; “English Translation of Nyamdorj Case II.”

165

Chapter Fivesubmitted it to the chairperson of the SGKh. After checking the final edit of law, thechairperson gave the permission to introduce the law into the plenary session of the
SGKh (the SGKh Procedure, art. 51.1.3). While checking the final edit of law, thechairperson and the secretary general might change and correct only the composition,
word, order, and structure of laws without changing the content, policy and principles(the SGKh Procedure, art. 51.2). After the SGKh had approved the final edit of the law
and gave the permission to sign it, the chairperson had to sign the law within three days
(the SGKh Procedure, art. 51.4).
Nyamdorj J., Chairperson of the SGKh, changed and corrected the following fourlaws after the SGKh’s approval of their final edits: the Anti-corruption Law, the Mineral
Law, the Law on Value-added Tax and the Law on Corporate Income Tax. He failed topresent his changes and corrections of these four laws to the SGKh, and he ratified(signed) them only after the due date had passed. For example, Nyamdorj signed theAnti-corruption Law on September 8, 2006, and the Mineral Law on August 5, 2006
even though he had been supposed to sign them by July 25 because final edits of these
two laws were introduced into the plenary session of the SGKh on July 20, 2006 and thechairperson was obliged to sign laws within three days after the SGK’s approval of their
final edits. The chairperson made many changes and corrections on not only thecomposition, word, order, and structure but also the content, policy and principle ofthese two laws. For instance, according to the final edit of the Anti-corruption Law
introduced into the plenary session of the SGKh, the SGKh appointed the head and thevice-head of the Anti-Corruption Agency upon the nomination of them by the President.
According to the edit changed by Nyamdorj, the SGKh appointed the head and the vicehead of this agency upon the nomination of them by the Chairperson of the SGKh.
Nyamdorj also abolished the objective to protect the field of exploration and the vicinityof mining claim from the objectives of the Mineral Law.
[However,] the subject matter of the dispute was not about what changes were introduced
but about the fact that [Nyamdorj] did not present the edits to SGH [the SGKh], and hesigned laws without permission of SGH in breach of provision 51.1.3 [of the SGKh
Procedure]. This provision was a regulation, which protected the lawmaking authority ofpeoples’ representatives.9

In Nyamdorj I case, two groups of citizens submitted notifications on the above-

9“English Translation of Nyamdorj Case II,” 8.

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mentioned failures and misconducts by Chairperson Nyamdorj to the Tsets. Lamjav D.
(framer) and Burmaa R. (the future candidate from Democratic Party in the 2008 SGKhelection) submitted a notification on the Anti-Corruption Law. Prof. Byambaa J. (former
constitutional judge), Khurts Ch., Avirmed S., Tsog L. (framer), and Bold P. submitted a
notification on the Mineral Law. In the Nyamdorj II case, two groups of citizens
submitted separate notifications. Lkhagvajav B. submitted a notification on Law on
Value-added Tax and Law on Corporate Income Tax, and the Law on Repeal of Law.
Lamjav D. and Burmaa R. also submitted a notification on the removal of Nyamdorj inthis case.
Citizens claimed that by changing and correcting final edits of the four laws, which
had been finally approved by the SGKh, Nyamdorj violated the following four articlesof the Constitution: the legislative power shall be vested solely in the SGKh (art. 20);
the SGKh shall exercise the exclusive power to enact and amend laws (art. 25.1); basic
principles of the State shall be democracy and respect for law (art. 2); and activities ofall organizations and citizens shall be in full of conformity with the Constitution (art.
70.1).
Chairperson Nyamdorj remains one of the influential leaders in the MPRP (the MPP),
and he has been a MP since 1992, being appointed twice as Minister of Justice (20002004 and 2008-2012). Nyamdorj’s main argument for editing laws and signing themwithout the approval of the SGKh was as follows:
There isn’t time for editing the laws and therefore I have obtained such authority from
SGH. Under the condition that I will not change content, that editing will affect only style,language, composition and sequence and obtained permission to ratify with the consent of
57 MPs present at session.10

In 2006, Nyamdorj edited and signed Anti-Corruption Law and Mineral Law
without presenting them to the SGKh, and these two laws were officially publishedwithout the final approval of the SGKh. However, after citizens submitted notifications
concerning the constitutionality of edits and signs by Nyamdorj, these two laws, which
had already been in force, were presented to and approved by the SGKh on February 7,
2007. Through this presentation, the SGKh violated its own procedure that required thepresentation of laws to the SGKh before their publication and enforcement.

10

Ibid., 10.

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Chapter Five

3. Issue. There were two main questions in Nyamdorj Case. The first question waswhether Chairperson Nyamdorj had the power to change the final edit of law, which had
already been approved by the SGKh, and to sign that law without permission of the
SGKh. The answer to this question depends on the meanings of the principle to respectlaw, the legislative power of the SGKh, and the supremacy of the Constitution. If thechairperson did not have the power to change and sign laws in such a way, then thesecond question would be whether Nyamdorj’s change and signature were a ground for
his removal from the position of chairperson.
4. Holding. For the first question, the Tsets in Nyamdorj Case I and II ruled that
Chairperson Nyamdorj violated the legislative power of the SGKh (Const. art. 20 and25.1) and the principle to respect law and democracy (Const. art. 1.2), but it said that hedid not violate the supremacy of the Constitution (Const. art. 70.1). For the second
question, the court in Nyamdorj Case II announced that these violations of theConstitution by Nyamdorj were the ground for removing him from his position as thechairperson of the SGKh.
5. Reasoning. The Tsets collected evidences that Chairperson Nyamdorj failed tosign the four laws by the due time (within three days). Furthermore, he changed
contents, policies, and principles of these laws whose final edits were alreadyintroduced into the SGKh, and he signed these laws without the permission of the SGKh.
These acts by Nyamdorj were a violation of the SGKh Procedure and thus a violation of
the legal provision that requires the legislative activities to follow this procedure. Thus,
Nyamdorj breached the principles of democracy and respect for the law and thelegislative power of the SGKh.
In defense of his acts, Chairperson Nyamdorj claimed that he had received
permission for the continued editing of laws after final edits of law were presented to
the SGKh. However, the Tsets refuted the legitimacy of this claim by giving two
reasons:[This kind of permission] is not regulated in the Law on the State Great Khural and in thelegislative procedure of the State Great Khural… [1] The universally recognized principleof the Rechtsstaat requires that any state organization and any official be prohibited to dowhat is not permitted by law. The explanation of Chairperson Nyamdorj that MPs gave
him a permission to edit laws after their final edits have been heard and approved by the
SGKh and the fact that he ratified [signed] laws without presenting additional edits to
SGKh are inconsistent with the above mentioned principle [of the Rechtsstaat]. [2] While
Chairperson Nyamdorj claims that he acted upon permission of SGKh, the permission

168Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

does not satisfy the requirements that the decision of the State Great Khural should be in
11

the form of legal act, and that it should not be inconsistent with other relevant legal acts.

In Nyamdorj Case I, the Tsets failed to decide whether there is a ground forremoving Nyamdorj from his position as the chairperson of the SGKh by denying thecitizen’s right to submit a petition on the removal of high-ranking officials. This court
said as follows: “the Constitutional Tsets makes a conclusion whether the ground for theremoval of the President, the Chairperson of the State Great Khural, and the Prime
Minister existed at the request of the appropriate organizations and officials. Thus, it is
impossible to decide the citizens’ request on this issue.” 12 However, the Tsets in
Nyamdorj Case II ruled that the fact that Nyamdorj violated the Constitution and thelegislation was a ground for removing him. According to this court, “the fact that the
Chairperson of SGKh Nyamdorj Ts. edited laws after hearing and approval of final editsof law, encroaching on the lawful authority of the State Great Khural and breaching theConstitution, justifies grounds for his removal.”13 Concerning the supremacy of theConstitution, the Tsets just said that no reason has been found for showing that thisprinciple was violated.
6. Significance. The Tsets reasoning in Nyamdorj Case I was against the vertical
integrity of constitutional law. The Constitution and the statutes had no restriction on thecontent of the citizen’s right to notification. In its earlier judgments, the Tsets explicitly
recognized the citizen’s right to submit a notification to the Tsets on any constitutional
issues including whether the ground for the removal of the high-ranking officials existed
or not.14 Nevertheless, the Tsets in Nyamdorj Case I ignored the Constitution, thestatutes, and the precedents without any reason and ruled that the citizen had no right tomake a notification on whether the ground for the removal of the chairperson of the
SGKh existed. The petitioners immediately criticized this poor ruling.15 After receiving
several more notifications, the Tsets in Nyamdorj Case II found the ground for removing
Nyamdorj from his position as a chairperson, but it did not explain this inconsistentreasoning on the two cases.
However, the Nyamdorj Case stands as one of Mongolia’s clearest proclamations of

11

Tsets, May 23 2007, Dugnelt No. 6.
Tsets, March 2 2007, Dugnelt No. 3.
13
Tsets, May 23 2007, Dugnelt No. 6.
14
Tsets, Jan. 18, 1995, Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, Dec. 7, 1995, Dugnelt No. 4.
15
Lamjav D., “Undsen Khuuliar Irgend Olgogdson Negen Erkhiig Semkhen Khuraaj Avakhiig Oroldson
Baina.”
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Chapter Five

the Rechtsstaat (the rule of law). The evidences made it clear that Chairperson
Nyamdorj seriously violated the legislative procedure and therefore the respect for law
principle. According to the Tsets, the “universally recognized” understanding of the
Rechtsstaat required that government officials could not exercise a power not given by
the Constitution and the legislation. If an official exercised a power not given by theConstitution and the legislation, then it would be a ground for his or her removal fromoffice. This understanding of the Rechtsstaat was the oldest understanding of the rule oflaw, which existed in Athena (ancient Greece) where the law bound the government and“citizens were free to operate as they pleased outside what the law prohibited.”16 The
Tsets affirmation of this understanding endorsed by Mongolian scholars was a step
toward the rule of law.
The Tsets judgments here contributed to the culture of the rule of law because they
helped the Constitution to trump the unconstitutional exercise of political power in thiscase. After the Tsets judgments, the majority party in the SGKh, the MPRP, voted
against removing Nyamdorj from the position of chairperson. Nevertheless, Chairperson
Nyamdorj resigned due to the pressures from the opposition parties, the people and the
media, which generally supported the court judgments. This was the first case in whicha high-ranking official resigned because of his unconstitutional acts although there wereother Tsets judgments finding that the President, members of the SGKh and theProcurator General violated the Constitution. Moreover, because this Court incorporated
one of the principles of the Rechtsstaat into its constitutional case law through the
Nyamdorj Case, it could incorporate other principles of the Rechtsstaat too. The term
Rechtsstaat is not written in the Constitution though the principle to respect for law,which is equivalent to this term, is included in Article 1.2 of this primary document.
The Nyamdorj Case illustrated the poor quality of the law making process andshowed the improvement of this process by the Tsets. According to the petitioners,
statutes edited and signed unconstitutionally by Chairperson Nyamdorj were four of 20
statutes whose final drafts were passed by the SGKh within one day.17 Within one day,the SGKh could not have discussed carefully the final drafts of 20 statutes in detail.

16
17

Tamanaha, On The Rule of Law, 10, 34.
Tsets, May 23 2007, Dugnelt No. 6.

170Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

5.2.2. Constituency Grant Case (2007)

1. Title. Khaidav N. v. the SGKh, the Tsets, Dugnelt 2, February 23, 2007; Khaidav
N. v. the SGKh, the Tsets, Togtool 2, June 22, 2007 (Constituency Grant Case)18
2. Background. The SGKh allocated 250 million tugrugs (the currency unit ofMongolia) to each MP for the electoral constituency in the 2007 State Budget Law (100million tugrugs in 2006). Justice Munkhgerel defined this constituency grant:
During the discussion of the draft 2007 State Budget Law submitted by the Governmentof Mongolia, the State Great Hural (Parliament), based on the proposals made by someMembers of the Parliament during the plenary session, has received fund expenditure lists
from each Member of the Parliament, and allocated equal investments in the amount of
250 million Tugrug for each electoral district (19 billion Tugrug in total), and passed the2007 Budget Law, disguising this grant in the portfolio of budget governors.19

In December 2006, Khaidav N., a citizen active in challenging constitutionality of
the legislation, submitted a notification to the Tsets. Khaidav claimed that such
distribution of money from the state budget to MPs was in breach of seven clauses of
the Constitution (art. 1.2, 3.2, 23.1, 38.2.2, 62.1, 62.2, and 70.1).
3. Issue. The central issue was whether the SGKh decision to allocate each MP 250
million tugrugs to be spent at his or her discretion was constitutionally justified. The
Constituency Grant Case concerned six questions: (1) whether the constituency grant
was in breach of any of basic principles such as equality and respect for law (Const. art.
1.2); (2) whether this grant was illegal seizure of State power (Const. art. 3.2); (3)whether MPs spending the state budget in their constituencies acted against the idea of a
MP as an envoy of the people and against the interests of all the citizens (Const. art.
23.1); (4) whether the constituency grant infringed on the Government’s power to workout the State budget, to submit it to the SGKh, and to execute it (Const. art. 38.2.2); (5)whether this grant encroached upon the autonomy of the local self-governing bodies(Const. art. 62); (6) whether the SGKh undermined the principle of constitutional
conformity by violating the Constitution (Const. art. 70.1).

18

For the English summaries of the Tsets judgments and hearings, see Munkhgerel D., “Important
Decisions of Recent Years”; Batmunkh Sh., “Court Annuls Tg250 Million ‘Constituency Grant’ to MPs.”
19
Munkhgerel D., “Important Decisions of Recent Years,” 2.

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Chapter Five

4. Holding. The Tsets answered affirmatively to five of the six questions but thesecond question concerning the illegal seizure of state power. Thus, the middle panelsession of this court concluded (the first decision in the two-stage procedure) that theconstituency grant to MPs was unconstitutional, so the grant was suspended
immediately. This conclusion was sent to the SGKh, but it was rejected by the SGKh.
Therefore, the grand panel session of the Tsets reconsidered the issue and announced theresolution (the final decision), which affirmed the conclusion of its middle panel andinvalidated the unconstitutional regulations.
5. Reasoning. The Tsets proved that the SGKh provided the constituency grant to
MPs in the 2007 Budget Law. The public heavily criticized the constituency grants, and
the President vetoed the previous constituency grant to MPs in 2006. Thus, the SGKh
did not use the term “election constituency” in the 2007 Budget Law, but it used theterm “investment in local development.” However, the Tsets found evidences that “theinvestment in local development” was actually identical to the constituency grant in
substance. This court checked the lists submitted by MPs to the Ministry of Finance.
According to a newspaper report, “all the projects enumerated as requiring support fromthe investment fund were mentioned constituency-wide. According to the Tsets, it isnatural to conclude that the MPs had approved the budget with constituency-based
projects very much in their mind.”20
The Tsets supported its decision by citing arguments made by some of the MPs in
the SGKh sessions and by President Enkhbayar N. in his presidential veto. This court
answered each of the six questions.
(1) The court ruled that constituency grant was in breach of fundamental principles
of democracy, justice, freedom, equality, national unity and respect for law (Const. art.
1.2). The respect for law was violated since the SGKh failed to obey the law making
procedure fixed in law. According to the Tsets, the principles of equality and justicewere also breached because the grant created the unequal conditions, in which thepotential candidates and parties would compete with incumbents in the SGKhelections.21 This court argued as follows:
The principles of justice and equality are violated because there is too much difference inthe amounts of costs for building the same objects due to the fact that MPs gave

20
21

Batmunkh Sh., “Court Annuls Tg250 Million ‘Constituency Grant’ to MPs.”
See Tsets, Feb. 23, 2007, Dugnelt No. 2

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separately their individual opinions concerning the costs of objects. For example, …thesame office building of Bagh governor costs 20 million tugrugs in Kherlen Soum, Dornod
Aimag, 50 million tugrugs in Shaamar Soum, Selenge Aimag, and 70 million tugrugs in
Buren Soum, Tuv Aimag… some MPs plan to spend the state budget for repairing theprivatized apartments of their electors, for instance, in Songinokhairkhan District and in
Bayangol District, Ulaanbaatar.22(2) The Tsets simply said that the constituency grant to each MP was not the illegal
seizure of state power (Const. art. 3.2). However, this court did not give reasons for thisruling (the lack of reasoning).
(3) The Tsets ruled that MPs spending the state budget in their constituencies acted
against the idea of an MP as an envoy of the people and against the interests of all thecitizens and the state (Const. art. 23.1):
According to the Election Law effective at the time, the territory of Mongolia has been
divided into 76 electoral districts, where each member was elected from one mandate
electorate. Therefore, it is plausible to conclude that by allocating 250 million Tugrug toeach member’s electoral districts, the members protected the parochial interests of own
electoral district.23(4) According to the Tsets, the constituency grant to MPs infringed on the
Government’s power to work out the State budget, to submit it to the SGKh, and to
execute it (Const. art. 38.2.2). This grant also violated article 7.1.3 of the Law on Public
Sector Management and Finance, which gave the Government “the power to prepare thebudget based on each year’s budget statement consistent with the agenda of theGovernment.” According to Justice Munkhgerel, the SGKh has increased “the 2007
State budget by 19 billion Tugrug through allocating 250 million tugrugs to eachelectoral district during discussion of the Draft 2007 Budget even though this grant was
not planned in the original Draft 2007 Budget submitted by the Government.”24(5) The Tsets argued that the constituency grant encroached upon the autonomy of
the local self-governing bodies (Const. art. 62) as follows:
The territory of Mongolia is divided into administrative units…and administration of

22

See Tsets, Feb. 23, 2007, Dugnelt No. 2
Munkhgerel D., “Important Decisions of Recent Years,” 2.
24
Ibid., 3.
23

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Chapter Fivethese units is implemented through combining the local self-governing principles withstate administration… The local self-governing body, the Citizen’s Representative
Council, in conformity with the Constitution has the full right to resolve independently
the issues pertaining to the social and economic aspects of life on the territory of thegiven unit. Yet, the State Great Hural has disregarded the will of the local public and theofficial positions of the local representative bodies, and has decided equal grant of funds
to parliamentary electoral district based solely on the proposals of the members of
Parliament, thereby infringing upon the rights of the local representative bodies andviolating respective clauses of the Constitution. It is indisputable that electoral districts
are units established for the purpose of Parliamentary elections, and are not administrative
units of the national level.25(6) The Tsets ruled that the respective clauses of the SGKh decision on theconstituency grant breached the principle of constitutional conformity as they violated
the Constitution (Const. art. 70.1).
When the Tsets found the constituency grant unconstitutional in the 2007 decision, it
rejected the precedent-based argument of the SGKh without any reason. MP Ochirkhuu,
the representative of the SGKh, explained why the SGKh had done no wrong, citing a
2003 precedent. In 2002, the government passed a resolution that distributed 10 million
tugrugs to each MP for the investment of their election constituency. Law prof.
Mendsaikhan T. challenged this resolution as a citizen by submitting a notification
claiming that 10 million tugrugs allocated to each MP based on the election
constituency violated the Constitution (art. 1.2, 20, 21.2, 23.1, 25, 33.1.2, 38, and 59.1).
A constitutional judge reviewed the notification and found no merit. Mendsaikhan
appealed the decision of the judge. At the appeal, the Tsets in the session of the minor
panel of three justices discussed whether or not the decision of the judge was reasonable,
and it ruled that the government resolution did not violate the Constitution without
providing the reasons.26 This 2003 ruling of the Tsets was the basic reason why the
SGKh later did not accept the 2007 Tsets conclusion that found the constituency grant
unconstitutional. The SGKh argued that the underlying principle remained very muchthe same even when the sum of money involved might vary. Thus, the SGKh asked why
the Tsets was taking a different view in 2007. However, this court said that the issues inthe decisions of 2003 and 2007 were very different and irrelevant without any

25
26

Ibid., 2.
See Tsets, Feb. 11, 2003, Magadlal No. 1.

174Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

explanation.
6. Significance. The judgments of the Tsets in this case represented good reasoning
and adoption of better conceptions on abstract moral principles. The general principles,for which Constituency Grant Case (2007) stood, were procedural and substantive. The
first principle was procedural. Regardless of whether the grant violated the substantive
constitutional principles, the constituency grant was unconstitutional because the SGKhbreached the legal procedure of approving the state budget and thus breached theconstitutional principle of respect for law. The second principle was substantive. The
constituency grant to each MP was unconstitutional because it violated the following
constitutional principles: democracy, justice, and equality; the interests of all thecitizens; the Government’s power to work out and to execute the governmental budget;and the jurisdiction of local self-governing bodies.
The Tsets should have been more explicit about the reasons why it overruled the2003 judgment. This court failed to explain why it thought that issues in the 2003 caseand in the 2007 case were “very different” and “irrelevant.” The only differences were
who made the decision of the constituency grant and how much money was allocated tothe constituency. The government allocated 10 million tugrugs to each MP in 2002, andthe SGKh made a 250 million tugrugs constituency grant. However, the substances of
the two cases were same because the MPs received and spent the certain amount ofmoney from the state budget in their constituency. The Tsets, therefore, had to justify
why it overruled the 2003 judgment of its minor panel session rather than just saying
two cases were different. The two parties, the petitioners and the SGKh, had the right toknow why the court thought these cases were different.
The public always criticized the constituency grant that was initiated and supportedby the MPRP majority in the SGKh. Some MPs of the MPRP attacked the 2007
conclusion of the Tsets, saying that it was better to “dissolve” this court. On the other
hand, the public widely supported both the conclusion and the resolution of this court.
Journalists, scholars, activists of civil movements and some MPs of the opposition party
criticized the budget law, arguing that MPs abused their power by spending this money
for the 2008 election campaign to have privilege over their competitors. According to aninternet-poll conducted by a prestigious newspaper in 2007, 84 percent of participants
said “this money was wrongful because it was real corruption.”27 President Enkhbayar

27

Amarsanaa J., “Political Relevance to Decision of Constitutional Court (Tsets) of Mongolia,” 11;175

Chapter FiveN., who initiated the constituency grant for the first time as Prime Minister in 2002, also
vetoed the Budget Law in 2007 (as well as in 2006), saying that the grant in this law
violated the Constitution, but the SGKh overruled the veto.
The Tsets invalidated 250 million tugrugs grant to each MP in the 2007 judgments,
but the enforcement of these judgments was problematic. Although the constituency
grant was in force, it was suspended from February 23, 2007 by the conclusion of the
middle panel session of the court, and it was invalidated by the resolution of the grandpanel session on June 22, 2007. According to a newspaper report, “with no figuresavailable for how much has already been disbursed for which project recommended bywhich Member of Parliament, it is not clear how the Government will meet thesituation.” 28 In 2007, the Tsets did what it could do by declaring the grant
unconstitutional in its judgments. The problem of enforcement was not legal but cultural.
The opposition party did not strongly oppose the initial grant to MPs at the first place in
2003, and it even supported this grant after sharing some posts in the coalition
government with the MPRP since 2004. In this context, the SGKh led by the MPRP
reintroduced the constituency grant to the MPs in 2007 and later.
The SGKh reenacted some constituency grants to each MP in the 2009 Budget Law
against the Tsets’ valid judgments and widespread criticism. The amount of grant toeach MP has increased to one billion tugrugs, 100 times larger than that in 2003. In
2009, new President Elbegdorj Ts. vetoed this part of the Budget Law, but the SGKh
overruled the veto. Two citizens, Khaidav (the petitioner in the 2007 Constituency
Grant Case) and Munkhuu B., submitted notifications to the Tsets separately against theconstituency grant. This court did not make any official hearing. On the other hand, on
January 29, 2010, Chief Justice of the Tsets Byambadorj J. sent an official letter to the
SGKh that asked the SGKh to correct its unconstitutional budget grant to theconstituency according to the 2007 Tsets judgments. The SGKh never officially
responded to this letter though it planned to discuss about it. When the SGKh amended
the 2009 Budget Law, it did not touch the core of the constituency grant. Surprisingly, in
an interview, the chief justice announced that the SGKh corrected its unconstitutional
provisions because the government submitted the same proposal of constituency grant
to MPs.29 Nonetheless, this grant was unconstitutional even if the SGKh corrected the“Odoogiin Sanal Asuulgiin Ur Dun 1.”
28
Batmunkh Sh., “Court Annuls Tg250 Million ‘Constituency Grant’ to MPs.”
29
Byambadorj J., “Yaritslaga: Songuuliin Margaaniig Shuukh Shiidverledeg Togtoltsoo.”176

Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

errors by following the law-making procedure because the grant still violated
substantive principles. The Tsets in the Constituency Grant Case (2007) found that the
grant was in violation of legal procedure and substantive principles such as equality andjustice in the Constitution.

5.2.3. Dashdendev Case (1994)

1. Title. D. Dashdendev et al v. the SGKh, the Tsets, Dugnelt 2, January 12, 1994
(Dashdendev Case).
2. Background. The Mongolian Empire was known by historians for its tolerance fordifferent religions such as Nestorian Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Shamanism in
the 13th century. 30 Buddhism was introduced several times in Mongolia. Tibetan
Buddhism was introduced in the 16th century, and it became the main religion alongwith the Shamanism, the indigenous religious faith. During the socialist period, freedomof religion was denied to Mongolian citizens. Almost all Buddhist monasteries weredestroyed, and most monks were killed, deported or forced to become an atheist during
the communist purges. Even though freedom of religion was included in the socialist
Constitution of 1960, religious activity was barely tolerated by the government and thecommunist party (the MPRP). The government ended bans on all religious practices in
1990, and the 1992 Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion for the first time. Since
then, Buddhist, Islamic and Shamanist activities increased, and new religions such as
Christianity were introduced. Around 90 percent of the 2.7 million people are Buddhist(Tibetan Lamaist), around 5 percent of the population (the ethnic Kazakhs) are Muslim,
and more than 4 percent of the population are Christian.31 Mongolian citizens havebeen enjoying freedom of religion for two decades.
The SGKh led by the MPRP majority passed the Law on the Relationship between
the State and the Church-Monastery in 1993 (the LRSCM). Just after the LRSCM wasenacted, three petitions were submitted to the Tsets, claiming that most clauses of thislaw discriminated against religious minorities and foreigners and gave a preference to30

Lundendorj N., Tur, erkh zuin setgelgeenii khugjliin chig khandlaga, 204; Baabar, Mongolchuud, 2006,
1:60–62; Sabloff, “Why Mongolia?,” 30; Weatherford, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern
World.
31
2009 Report on International Religious Freedom - Mongolia.

177

Chapter Five

Buddhism. MPs Gonchigdorj R. and Lamjav D., two members of the opposition party(the Social Democratic Party), submitted the first petition. Dashdendev D. submitted thenext petition. This case was called Dashdendev because Dashdendev was one of theChristian believers, who were adversely affected by the LRSCM. According to
Dashdendev, this law restricted freedom of Christians and discriminated against them.
Altanchimeg N. and Tserendash B. submitted the third petition.
Petitioners claimed that eleven clauses of the LRSCM violated the Constitution, andthe first eight of them are as follows: teaching, instructing and advertising of religions
except Buddhism, Islam, and Shamanism are prohibited outside of their churches andmonasteries (art. 7.6); those who want to establish churches-monasteries of Buddhism
or Islam shall take an official conclusion of the central body of that religion in Mongolia(art. 9.2); foreign citizens and stateless persons are prohibited from conducting religious
advertisement unless explicitly invited to Mongolia for that purpose at the request of areligious organization (art. 12.2); in order to esteem the Mongolian people’s unity andthe historical tradition of civilization, the State shall respect the principal position of
Buddhism in Mongolia, but this shall not be obstacles for the citizens to follow otherreligions (art. 4.2); religious activities organized outside the country to introduce foreign
religions within Mongolia are prohibited (art. 4.7); the state shall control and regulate
the absolute number of lamas and priests, and the locations of churches and monasteries(art. 4.8); churches and monasteries shall be in full conformity with their internal rules
about the tradition of that religion, and they are prohibited from doing activities thatclash with tradition and custom of the Mongolian people (art. 7.5); the Khurals of theRepresentatives of the citizens in aimag and the capital shall check the citizens’
applications for establishing the church and the monastery and their charters, and decide
whether to grant the permission for the establishment (art. 9.1). The central
administrative organization in charge of the legal affairs (the Ministry of Justice) shallregister the church and the monastery based on the permission granted.
The petitioners argued that the eight clauses of the LRSCM (just listed above)
violated the five articles of the Constitution (art. 16.15, 18.5, 14.2, 10.3, and 1.2)
without distinguishing which clause of the LRSCM violated which article of theConstitution. Petitioners also claimed that these eight clauses violated article 18 of the
ICCPR, which stated the following:178

Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This rightshall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom,either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his
religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching…
2. No one shall be subject to coercion, which would impair his freedom to have or to
adopt a religion or belief of his choice.
3. Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as
are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals
or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.

Moreover, petitioners challenged article 8.2 of the LRSCM, which stated that
religious instructions and meetings were prohibited in state-owned schools and otherpremises and that this provision was irrelevant to scientific instructions in the religious
culture and knowledge. According to petitioners, article 8.2 of the LRSCM violated“freedom of thought, expression and assembly” protected in article 16.16 of theConstitution.
Petitioners also challenged two articles of the LRSCM, which defined the penalties
for violations of some of clauses above mentioned. These two articles were as follows:
if a breach of articles 3.5, 4.3, or 12.2 of the LRSCM is not subject to the Criminal Code,the court shall impose a fine of up to 15,000 tugrugs (art. 13.2); if a breach of articles
3.2, 3.3, 4.6, 4.7, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, or 8.2 is not subject to the Criminal Code, the court shall
impose a fine of 5,000 to 25,000 tugrugs (art. 13.3). According to petitioners, these two
articles of the LRSCM violated article 19.1 of the Constitution, which defines theState’s responsibility to the citizens for the creation of economic, social, legal and otherguarantees ensuring human rights and freedoms.
The Tsets received letters from institutions, officials, and citizens, and it cited theseletters in its decision. The coordinator of the Presidential Council for Religious Affairs,
the Gandan Monastery (the Mongolian Center of Buddhism) and 70 citizens sent lettersto the Court claiming that the challenged provisions of the 1993 LRSCM wereconsistent with the Constitution. On the other hand, MP Elbegdorj Ts., member of the
opposition party (framer, the former Prime Minister and the current President), and four
citizens submitted letters arguing that many provisions of the LRSCM infringed on
freedom of religion.

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Chapter Five

3. Issue. The petitioners claimed that 11 clauses of the LRSCM violated theConstitution and the ICCPR, but they did not explain these violations in detail. The
following eleven issues existed in the petitions: (1) whether individuals believing in
religions except Buddhism, Islam and Shamanism had the right to teach, instruct andadvertise their religions outside of their churches and monasteries (the LRSCM, art. 7.6)
and whether the prohibition of doing so discriminated against religious minorities; (2)whether individuals had the right to establish churches-monasteries of Buddhism orIslam without an official conclusion of the central body of that religion (the LRSCM, art.
9.2); (3) whether foreign citizens and stateless persons, who were not explicitly invited
to Mongolia for the religious purpose at the request of a religious organization, had theright to conduct religious advertisement (the LRSCM, art. 12.2); (4) whether thedeclaration of the principal position of Buddhism violated religious freedom andequality (the LRSCM, art. 4.2); whether the national unity required the principal
position of Buddhism and whether the state organizations and officials could respect the
principal position of Buddhism without hindering citizens from following otherreligions; (5) whether the prohibition of religious activities organized outside thecountry to introduce foreign religions within Mongolia encroached on religious freedom(the LRSCM, art. 4.7) and whether this clause discriminated against foreigners on thebasis of religion; (6) whether the State control and regulation of the absolute number oflamas and priests and the locations of churches and monasteries breached religious
freedom and separation between the state and religion (the LRSCM, art. 4.8); (7)whether the churches and monasteries had the right to disobey traditional rules of theirown religions (the LRSCM, art. 7.5); (8) whether the churches and monasteries retained
the right to do activities that clash with the tradition and custom of the Mongolian
people (the LRSCM, art. 7.5); (9) whether the prohibition of religious instructions andmeetings in state-owned schools and other premises disregarded freedom of thought,
expression, and assembly (the LRSCM, art. 8.2) and what was scientific instruction in
the religious culture and knowledge; (10) whether the power of the municipal bodies (inaimags and the capital) to give a permission for establishing the church and themonastery and the power of the Ministry of Justice to register the churches andmonasteries inhibited freedom of religion (the LRSCM, art. 9.1); (11) whether the
penalties (fines) for violations of articles 12.2, 4.7, 7.5, and 7.6 of the LRSCM wereconsistent with the State’s responsibility for ensuring human rights and freedoms (theLRSCM, art. 13.2 and 13.3).
4. Holding. The answers to the first three issues (1, 2, and 3) were affirmative. The
Tsets struck down articles 7.6, 9.2, and 12.2 of the LRSCM because they violated180Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

articles 10.3, 14.2, and 16.15 of the Constitution. However, the answers to the rest of theissues (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11) were negative. The Tsets ruled that articles 4.7, 4.8,
7.5, 4.2, 9.1, 8.2, 13.2, and 13.3 of the LRSCM were constitutional.
5. Reasoning. The Tsets did not make much reasoning in the Dashdendev Case.
Even the reasoning for issues 1, 2 and 3 was short and simple. The Tsets struck down
three clauses of the LRSCM, which violated religious freedom and freedom fromdiscrimination on the basis of religion as stated in the Constitution and in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. This court ruled that article 7.6 of the LRSCM violated“the right to teach, instruct, and advertise religions of believers whose church andmonasteries do not exist in Mongolia.” According to the court, article 9.2 of the
LRSCM was unconstitutional because it concerned government intrusion into internalaffairs of a religious organization. The court said that article 12.2 of the LRSCM
violated “the inalienable right to religion” and “the right of foreign citizens and statelesspersons - other than those who have come for a religious purpose – to advertise theirown religion.”
Concerning issue 4, the Tsets ruled that Article 4.2 of the LRSCM was constitutional“because it was a symbolic provision made according to the Preamble of theConstitution to cherish national unity and inherit the traditions of national statehood,history and culture, and Article 9 of the Constitution, which stated that ‘the State shallrespect its religions.’” This one complex sentence was the whole explanation on thisissue.
Concerning issue 5, the Tsets wrote the following one sentence: article 4.7 of the
LRSCM did not violate the Constitution and articles 18 and 19.3 of the ICCPR because
its content was a restriction of intentionally propagating to Mongolia by any religious
sects whose activities are so inhuman that they harm national unity, security, publicorder, public health, Mongolian people’s historic tradition and custom.
Concerning issues 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, the Tsets said in one sentence that articles 4.8,
7.5, 8.2, 9.1, 13.2, and 13.3 of the LRSCM were constitutional because these articles
were included in the scope of regulating the relationship between the State and churchmonasteries by law (Const. art. 9.3).
6. Significance. The judgment was not immune to criticism from a perspective of themoral reading of the Constitution. In the first three issues (issues 1, 2, and 3), the Tsets
protected freedom of religion and the right not to be discriminated against. The court’s
reasoning for these issues was short, writing just one sentence for each of the three181

Chapter Fiveissues. Nevertheless, the rulings on these three issues were important because the court
eventually protected religious freedom of a tiny Christian minority in Mongolia and theautonomy of religious organization from the improper interference of the government.
Thanks to these rulings, religious minorities and foreigners enjoyed the right to teach,
instruct and advertise their religions, and Buddhists and Muslims enjoyed freedom to set
up their churches and monasteries. However, this judgment lacked integrity as it failed
to apply the same principles to all the issues in the case. The Tsets decided the first threeissues by the conceptions of religious freedom and the right not to be discriminatedagainst. These conceptions were applicable to the rest of the issues, but the Tsets did not
apply them without offering any reason. The consistent application of these conceptions
required quashing almost all of the challenged provisions of the LRSCM. Thus, thecourt horizontally violated the integrity of constitutional law.
The Tsets ruling on issue 4, the principal position of Buddhism (the LRSCM, art.
4.2), was not an argument but just a statement because it failed to show the reasoning in
support of the conclusion, and it only listed the constitutional provisions and thechallenged provision of the LRSCM in one sentence. This statement on issue 4 was an
example of the lack of the reasoning. The legal recognition of the principal position of
Buddhism discriminated against other religions (Const. art. 14.2), violated theseparation between the state and the religion (Const. art. 9.2), and misinterpreted theConstitution (Const. art. 9.1 and the Preamble).
First, the legal recognition of the principal position of Buddhism in society violated
the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of religion and the separation
between state and religion because it allowed the state to support Buddhism. Though the
Tsets contended that the declaration of the principal position of state support for
Buddhism was symbolic (the meaning was ambiguous), this declaration had substantive
outcomes since many activities of the government and the President explicitly supported
this religion. The President issued decrees to support the reestablishment of the ancient
tradition of worshiping the mountains and the creation of Buddha image.32 Politicalfigures including the President often attend Buddhist and Shamanist ceremonies as apublic official, and even some state budget is spent for the religious purposes.
According to a local Christian organization, the Ministry of Education, Science, andCulture was also favoring Buddhism by releasing three textbooks about Buddhist

32

Yerunkhiilugchiin Zarilig [the Presidential Decree], No. 110, May 16, 1995; Yerunkhiilugchiin Zarilig,
No. 129, May 31, 2007.

182

Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

history and distributing them to secondary school students. 33 The distribution ofreligious textbooks was against the principle that prohibits the state institutions fromengaging in religious activities (Const. 9.2).
Second, the Tsets misinterpreted article 9.1 of the Constitution, which stated that“the state shall respect its religion(s),” when it ruled that the principal position of
Buddhism was consistent with this clause. The Tsets implied that the term “itsreligion(s)” in Article 9 meant only Buddhism. However, this term means all religionsthat are worshipped in Mongolia. If the term “its religion(s)” meant only the Buddhism(with Shamanism), it would discriminate against the minority religions such as Muslim
and Christianity and it would make Mongolia a religious state. This reading of Article
9.1 was not intended by the framers because it was denied by constitutional structure
and principles such as freedom, equality (Const. art. 1.2), the separation between thestate and religion (Const. art. 9.2), equality before the law (Const. art. 14.1), the rightnot to be discriminated against on the basis of religion (Const. art. 14.2), and religious
freedom (Const. art. 16.15). Article 9.1 clearly requires the state to respect equally all
religions including Buddhism, Christianity, and Muslim because the religions include
not only Buddhism but also any other religion. If the framers intended to mean only
Buddhism, they should have explicitly said that the state would respect Buddhism. The
framers did not say so because they indented to protect freedom of conscience byrepealing the previous socialist system that had denied this freedom and made Marxism
the principal ideology of the state.
Third, the Preamble of the Constitution did not justify the principal position of
Buddhism. The Tsets mistakenly said that the principal position of Buddhism in society
was based on the Preamble of the Constitution. By the Preamble, the Mongolian people
aimed to defend the national unity, protect equally everyone’s fundamental rights
including freedom of religion, and develop a humane, civil and democratic society. The
protection of these rights allows people of different religions to coexist peacefully. In
contrast, laws and other governmental acts that discriminate against minority religions
and give higher status to one religion tend to destroy peace and injure national unity.
The following two facts defined by Rawls are valid in any liberal democracy such as
Mongolia:

33

2009 Report on International Religious Freedom - Mongolia.

183

Chapter Five

[First, there is the fact of reasonable pluralism.] To elaborate, the diversity of religious,
philosophical, and moral doctrines found in modern democratic society is not a mere
historical condition that may soon pass away; it is a permanent feature of the public
culture of democracy… A second and related general fact is that a continuing sharedadherence to one comprehensive doctrine [like the Buddhism] can be maintained only by
the oppressive use of state power, with all its official crimes and the inevitable brutality
and cruelties, followed by the corruption of religion, philosophy, and science.34

If the Tsets were to make an interpretation, then it might argue that the idea to“inherit the traditions of national statehood, history and culture” in the preamble
legitimize the principal position of the Buddhism because a majority of people havebelieved the Buddhism for several centuries. However, this argument is not sound. The
Mongolian Constitution does not tolerate the dominance of one religion by law because
it was made to protect certain individual rights such as equality and freedom no matter
how the majority wants to do and no matter how the history was in the past. The
Mongolian tradition, history, and culture are important values, but they are inferior tothe constitutional principles as a result of the supremacy of the Constitution (Const. art.
70.1). Thus, the Preamble of the Constitution means to inherit only the traditions thatare consistent with constitutional principles.
The Tsets failed to provide solid reasoning when it upheld constitutionality of theprovision that activities organized outside Mongolia to introduce foreign religions wasprohibited within the country (the LRSCM, art. 4.7) and ruled that this provision did not
violate religious freedom (issue 5). The Tsets listed several reasons for restricting
freedom of religion without any explanation. This court mentioned national unity,
public security, social order, and public health, which could be reasons for restricting
fundamental rights widely recognized in international and constitutional laws. The court
also mentioned Mongolian people’s historic tradition and custom, which were doubtful
reasons for restricting freedom of religion because they protected the religion of the
majority and restricted the religions of the minority. Buddhism and Shamanism wereclosely related to tradition and custom of the Mongolians, an ethnic majority. Other
minority religions including Muslim and Christianity were alien to, even conflicting
with, the tradition and custom. Thus, article 4.7 of the LRSCM discriminated against
citizens believing in religions other than Buddhism and Shamanism. The court ruling34

Rawls, Justice as Fairness, 33–34.

184

Constitutional Interpretation in Mongoliathat listed many vague reasons for restricting religious freedom without concrete
definitions gave the SGKh the power to restrict this freedom. Fortunately, the sanction
was minor and was rarely enforced in practice.
In one sentence, the Tsets said that articles 4.8, 7.5, 8.2, 9.1, 13.2, and 13.3 of the
LRSCM (issues 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11) were constitutional because these articles wereadopted according to Article 9.3 of the Constitution, which stated that “the relationshipbetween the State and the Church shall be regulated by law.” Article 9.3 of theConstitution did not allow the SGKh to make just any law because the Constitution
protected religious freedom (Const. art. 16.15), equality (Const. art. 1.2), and separation
between religious and political activities (Const. art. 9.2). Surprisingly, the Tsets did not
mention these three basic principles in the decision. As a result, the court approved theconstitutionality of statutory provisions that violated freedom of religion and theseparation principle by allowing the state to decide on internal issues of the religions
such as how many monks or priests the churches or the monasteries have, where they
are located, and whether they follow their own religious norms. In addition, this law
discriminated against non-traditional religions such as Christianity by prohibiting
freedom to believe differently from the Mongolian custom and tradition closely
connected to Buddhism and Shamanism.
Moreover, when the Tsets ruled that these restrictions were within the legislative
power to regulate the relations between the State and church, it failed to mention Article
19 of the Constitution. This article declared that constitutional rights in case of a state of
emergency or war could be subject to limitation only by a law, but the law could notaffect freedom of thought, conscience and religion. According to Article 19 of theConstitution, freedom of thought, conscience and religion should never be violated evenin an extreme situation such as state of emergency or war while law might restrict someother rights and freedoms. Thus, this article implies that the priority of freedom ofthought, conscience and religion is higher than that of other fundamental rights in termsof statutory restriction. In Dashdendev Case, the Tsets ruled in favor of constitutionalityof restrictions on this freedom without considering its higher priority in the Constitution.

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5.2.4. Suffrage Case I (1993)

1. Title. Sergelen U. et al v. the SGKh, the Tsets, Dugnelt 4, Dec. 22, 1993 (Suffrage
Case I).35
2. Background. The State Small Khural, the standing legislature that discussed thedraft Constitution and submitted it to the PGKh, passed the 1992 Law on the Election of
the SGKh (the 1992 Election Law), which adopted the system of multi-member
electoral districts. According to this law, the first election of the SGKh was held in 1992.
The MPRP became super majority in the SGKh. The MPRP won 71 of 76 parliamentaryseats, and the newly established democratic parties won only five seats even though the
MPRP received 56.9 percent of the total votes and other parties got 43.1 percent ofvotes.36 In 1993, Sergelen U. (with his lawyer Enkhbat A.) and Baasanjav N. submitted
abstract petitions challenging the constitutionality of the 1992 Election Law, but they
did not seek to dissolve the SGKh.37 Enebish B., an expert in the Secretariat of theSGKh, also submitted an opinion at the request of the constitutional judge.
The petitioners claimed that the 1992 Election Law violated three principles: (1)equal suffrage, (2) free suffrage, and (3) universal suffrage. First, petitioners and theexpert of the SGKh Secretariat argued that the 1992 Election Law violated the equal
suffrage because it did not include the equal suffrage. Even though the term “equal
suffrage” was not mentioned in the Constitution, the absence of the protection of equal
suffrage in the 1992 Election Law was alleged to have violated the Constitution
according to two arguments. The first argument said that equal suffrage was protected
constitutionally because it was included in the UDHR and the ICCPR to which
Mongolia was a party. Article 21 of the UDHR said that “the will of the people shall be
the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic andgenuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held bysecret vote.” Article 25 of the ICCPR also said that every citizen should have the right“to vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal andequal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of thewill of the electors.” Not the petitioners but Enebish, expert of the SGKh Secretariat,

35

Tsets, Dec. 22, 1993, Dugnelt No. 4.
Tsets, Dec. 22, 1993, Dugnelt No. 4
37
Tsets, Dec. 22, 1993, Dugnelt No. 4.
36186

Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

made the second argument that equal suffrage was constitutionally protected by equality
before the law in Article 14.1 of the Constitution. At the time, Enebish said that “theright to be equal is illustrated in articles 21 and 14 of the Constitution.”
Though the claim on equal suffrage was generally abstract, petitioners and therepresentatives of the SGKh had two different understandings. According to petitioners,
the condition of equal suffrage would be satisfied when electors voted for the equal
number of candidates in each constituency. The petitioners argued as follows:
Mandates of 76 members of the SGKh could be distributed into 38 constituencies, andeach constituency could have two mandates. Otherwise, they could be distributed into 19
constituencies, and each constituency could have four mandates. However, the State
Small Khural created 26 constituencies eight of which have two mandates, 12 of whichhave three mandates and six of which have four mandates, following the administrative
and territorial units. Thus, it seems to discriminate against residents on the basis of theterritory they live.38

On the other hand, representatives of the SGKh argued that equal suffrage was not
violated in the 1992 SGKh election, and their explanation was as follows:
The following approach is used for the purpose that each electoral mandate [theparliamentary seat] represents approximately similar number of people. There are
1,098,543 people who are over 18. When this number was divided by 76 [the total
number of parliamentary seats], the average number of electors for each mandate was
14,457. If we divide the number of electors in a constituency by this average number, thenumber of mandates for that constituency will be found. The number resulted from thiscalculation is made into the whole number… Therefore, it is unreasonable to say thecondition of equal suffrage is not satisfied because the number of electors for eachmandate is approximately the same in all constituencies. In other words, the individual
weight of each vote is approximately the same even though the number of mandates andthe number of electors are different in constituencies.39

Second, the petitioners argued that two articles of the 1992 Election Law violated
free suffrage: (1) article 33.3 that “surnames and first names of candidates, which areclassified according to the party and coalition they belong, shall be written into the38
39

Tsets, Dec. 22, 1993, Dugnelt No. 4.
Tsets, Dec. 22, 1993, Dugnelt No. 4.

187

Chapter Fivevoting sheet in the order of applications submitted by parties and coalitions;” and (2)article 35.2 that “the elector shall circle the numbers of names of candidates as many as
the numbers of mandates… listed in the voting sheet.” Petitioners claimed that due to
Article 35.2, “an elector has to give votes to the candidates that she does not want toelect.”40 Therefore, petitioners said that Article 35.2 of the 1992 Election Law violated
the free suffrage, the right to be equal before the law and the right to elect and to beelected (Const. art. 21.2, 14.2 and 16.9). Enebish B., the expert of the SGKh Secretariat,
admitted the claim of violation of free suffrage, saying article 35.2 of the 1992 Election
Law forcibly hampered electors’ opportunity to freely express their votes.
Third, the petitioners argued that the 1992 Election Law violated universal suffrage.
Article 1.2 of the 1992 Election Law said that Mongolian citizens residing within
Mongolia had the right to vote. According to the petitioners, this article violated
universal suffrage (Const. art. 21.2) because it blocked the right to vote of Mongolian
citizens residing within foreign countries.
3. Issue. There were three groups of issues in Suffrage Case I. The first issue
concerned whether the citizens had the constitutional right to equal suffrage and what
this right meant in a democracy. The second issue was about what the right to freesuffrage meant and whether this right was violated by the statutory regulation that put
voters into a situation where they might need to give a vote to a candidate whom they
did not want to vote. The third issue was related to what the right to universal suffragemeant and whether the exclusion of Mongolian citizens residing within foreigncountries from the election infringed this right.
4. Holding. The Tsets said no to all questions raised. In other words, this court ruledthat the Mongolian Constitution did not protect equal suffrage, and the 1992 Election
Law (art. 1.2, 33.3, 35.2, 36.3, and 38.2) did not violate the principle of free anduniversal suffrage.
5. Reasoning. The Tsets neither argued against nor for the arguments of petitioners,
the expert, and the representatives of the SGKh. However, this court delivered a very
short reasoning for each of the three issues. First, the Tsets gave two short arguments to
support the ruling that the Mongolian Constitution did not include the principle of equal
suffrage. The first argument was that “Article 21 of the Constitution does not containlegally the equal suffrage.” The court’s second argument was that “there is no proposal

40

Tsets, Dec. 22, 1993, Dugnelt No. 4.

188Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

on equal suffrage in the several records of the People’s Great Khural that discussed andpassed the Constitution.” Second, for the ruling that free suffrage was not violated, theTsets just stated that “no evidence proved that the free suffrage principle was violated
because electors were forced to vote for the candidates they did not want to elect when
the number of candidates they wanted to elect was less than the number of mandates in
the constituency.”41 This was not an argument but a statement. Third, in the reasoning
part of its decision, the Tsets said that articles (art. 1.2, 33, 35, 36, and 38) of the 1992
Election law, which concerned free and universal suffrage, were not well developed, butthey were constitutionally adopted by the State Small Khural because these issues were
contained in the scope of the constitutional provision that the procedure of the electionof the SGKh shall be determined by law (Const. art. 21.4).
6. Significance. The moral reading of the Constitution was important for three issues
in the Suffrage Case because the equal, free, universal suffrage was an abstract moral
principle. The first issue concerned the equal suffrage. According to the understanding
common in matured democracies, equal suffrage is the right that is satisfied in the
majoritarian system of election if voters in each constituency have the approximately,
but not perfectly, equal number of representatives (MPs) in the parliament. This
subsection proceeds to examine whether the past SGKh elections violated the principleof equal suffrage according to this understanding although the election laws did notprotect this principle. Equal suffrage was not seriously denied in the 1992 election. The
difference between the constituency having the lowest average number of MPs and thehighest number of MPs was not too much in this election. One MP from theconstituency No. 22 represented 16,666 electors, but one from the constituency 14
represented 10,198 electors.42 The inequality between these two was 38 percent.
However, equal suffrage was violated in the 2008 election of the SGKh because the
distribution of parliamentary seats into constituencies did not reflect the changes in the
demography of the population. In the 1992 SGKh election, the rural constituencies had
57 (75%) of 76 parliamentary seats, but Ulaanbaatar had 19 (25%). In all other SGKhelections (1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008), the rural constituencies had 56 (73.6%) of 76
parliamentary seats, but Ulaanbaatar had 20 (26.3%). This ratio of distribution ofparliamentary seats into the rural and urban constituencies has not changed despite thedemographic changes. The population has been moving from the rural areas to the urban

41
42

Tsets, Dec. 22, 1993, Dugnelt No. 4.
“UIKh-iin 1992 Onii Ankhnii Udaagiin Songuuliin Negdsen Dun.”

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Chapter Fiveareas, particularly Ulaanbaatar, since 1990s. In 1992, 27 percent (301,546 voters) of all
voters (1,085, 129 voters) were in Ulaanbaatar,43 but in 2008, 38 percent (590,304) of
all voters (1,542,617) were in Ulaanbaatar.44 Equal suffrage was seriously denied in the2008 election according to the common understanding because the number of votersrepresented by each MP in the constituency having the highest number of parliamentaryseats was three times bigger than the number of voters represented by each MP in theconstituency having the lowest number of seats. For example, one MP fromconstituency No. 22 in Ulaanbaatar represented around 39,741 electors, but one fromthe constituency No. 14 in Tuv Aimag represented around 13,399 electors. 45 The
inequality between these two constituencies was 67 percent, so electors in theconstituency No. 22 were denied equal representation in the SGKh.46 The 1993 Tsets
decision that failed to protect equal suffrage allowed for this kind of unequal
representation between urban and rural constituencies.
Analysis of the elections in 1992 and 2008 shows the consequence of the Tsets’1993 decision declining to protect equal suffrage. This decision lacked the concrete
understanding about equal suffrage in spite of explanations given by the petitioners andthe representatives of the SGKh. According to the common understanding just described,
the petitioners misunderstood equal suffrage. The representatives of the SGKh offered abetter understanding of equal suffrage, but they did not accept that the Constitution
protected equal suffrage. This study examines what the petitioners really claimed, whatkind of arguments the Tsets constructed, and whether or not the Constitution protects
the principle of equal suffrage.
The Tsets disregarded the arguments given by the petitioners and the expert. The
petitioners and Enebish, the expert of the SGKh Secretariat, made two arguments: (1)equal suffrage was constitutionally protected because it was plainly guaranteed in theinternational covenant, and (2) the equality before the law already included the principleof equal suffrage. The Tsets just ignored these two arguments, but it provided two
incomplete arguments, the first relying on strict constructionism and the second relying
on originalism.

43

Ibid.
“UIKh-iin 2008 Onii Songuuliin Negdsen Dun.”
45
Ibid.
46
The equal suffrage was also violated in the 2004 election. One MP from the constituency No. 67 in
Ulaanbaatar represented around 34,194 electors, but one from the constituency No. 16 in Dornod Aimag(prefecture) represented around 9,766 electors. The inequality of these two constituencies is 72 percent.
“UIKh-iin 2004 Onii Songuuliin Negdsen Dun.”44190

Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

The Tsets’ first argument was strict constructionist. The argument was that Article
21 of the Constitution did not stipulate equal suffrage. The Tsets did not mention any
other constitutional clause or precedent. This fact implied that the court concluded so
because it could not find the term “equal suffrage” by reading literally only the text ofArticle 21 that MPs are “elected by citizens qualified to vote, on the basis of universal,
free, direct suffrage.” The literal reading, an inappropriate method for interpreting theConstitution, resulted in the argument that the Constitution did not protect equal
suffrage because it did not explicitly mention the term. Thus, the SGKh had thediscretion of deciding whether to protect equal suffrage in the statute or not. The SGKhwould not violate the Constitution even if it did not protect equal suffrage. The Tsets
also was inconsistent even with strict constructionism as it ignored equal suffrage in the
ICCPR and the principle to fulfill international obligations in Article 10 of theConstitution.
The Tsets’ second argument was that the Constitution did not protect equal suffrage
because there was no proposal on equal suffrage in the constituent assembly (the
PGKh).47 This argument was originalist since it appealed to the Constitution framers’
understanding. If the Tsets made its one sentence-argument complete, then it would
have to do so as follows. The framers did not intend to protect equal suffrage in theConstitution because they included namely all suffrage principles in Article 21 of theConstitution except equal suffrage. If the framers had intended to protect equal suffragein the Constitution, they would have done it in the 1992 Election Law, but they did not
do so. The framers passed and practiced themselves the 1992 Election Law in which
they excluded equal suffrage as they did in the Constitution. Thus, the SGKh had thepower to choose to protect or not to protect this right, and the 1992 Election Law did
not violate the Constitution. Unequal suffrage was compatible with other constitutional
principles. The framers did not expect that the equality before the law would challenge
unequal suffrage that they recognized themselves.
The Tsets’ two arguments just explained above were trumped by the two argumentsof the petitioners and expert Enebish. The expert’s argument trumped both strict
constructionist and originalist arguments of the court. Even though Enebish did not
explain his argument, his argument implicitly rested on the moral reading of the

47

The Tsets did not cite the record. Thus, it is unclear how this court described this understanding of the
PGKh, which was highly controversial because the constitutional record was not published in 1993,
different kinds of conceptions were available, and variety of the people participated in constitution
making.

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Chapter Five

Constitution and reflected what the Constitution really meant. Since the idea of equality
was a vague principle, the moral reading could clarify this idea. The expert asked
correctly a moral question whether equality before the law was violated by the absenceof equal suffrage in the 1992 Election Law, what it really meant and whether it forbade
unequal representation.
The moral reading of equality before the law supports equal suffrage. The
Mongolian framers meant to lay down general principles of political morality, whichcondemned unequal suffrage. The framers intended to say that the right to vote was anecessary condition of democracy against the undemocratic experience of the former
socialist regime, in which citizens could not vote substantively for their legislature. At
the same time, the framers intended to say to protect equality before the law against theinequality of the former regime that discriminated arbitrarily against some citizens
including the monk, the rich, and the noble. Equality before the law protected equalcitizenship with two other abstract principles: the equality and the right not to bediscriminated against (Const. art. 1.2 and 14, and the international covenants). Equal
citizenship requires the government at least not to discriminate its citizens arbitrarily.
The unequal representation between rural and urban electors is arbitrary because it
cannot be justified in principle. Thus, unequal suffrage is against the concept of equalcitizenship, which damages political morality. Regardless of whether or not theConstitution has the term “equal suffrage” (strict constructionism) and regardless ofwhat the framers expected (originalism), equality before the law is violated unless one
elector has one vote in both rural and urban areas. 48 The SGKh, thus, has theconstitutional duty to protect equal suffrage.
The petitioners’ argument improved by constitutional integrity also supported
separately that the unequal representation between rural and urban electors violated theConstitution. The petitioners’ argument was that the absence of equal suffrage in theElection Law violated equal suffrage in Article 25 of the ICCPR and Article 21 of the48

Like other liberal constitutions, the Mongolian Constitution does not have to include the term of equal
suffrage as the Tsets argues. Equality before the law already guarantees the protection of equal suffrage.
For instance, the U.S. Constitution has no term of equal suffrage, but the Supreme Court ruled that themal-apportionment of the population in the election district is unconstitutional because the right to equal
vote and equal representation is “within the reach of the judicial protection under the Fourteenth
Amendment [the Equal Protection Clause].” In this case, the population ratio for the urban and rural
districts in Tennessee was more than nineteen to one. Because of this mal-apportionment, African
American and other minorities in urban areas were often denied the equal representation. Thus, theSupreme Court ruled that this discrimination reflected “simply arbitrary and capricious action.” See Baker
v. Carr 369 U.S. 186, 82 S.Ct. 691 (1962).

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Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

UDHR. However, the ruling of the Tsets ignored this argument and refused to protect
equal suffrage. This ruling was against constitutional integrity that required the Tsets toshow that its constitutional interpretation was consistent with basic principles justifying
the mass of precedents and the constitutional structure. That is, this court violated a newprecedent that stood for the principle to quash laws and other acts that breachedinternational human rights standards. On April 21, 1993, a petitioner alleged that theright to strike was violated by a regulation that prohibited the strike in an organization
or industry, where the citizens’ life, body, and health would be in danger or where there
would be a large amount of danger if permanent work were interrupted. 49 The
Constitution had no term “the right to strike.” Nevertheless, the Tsets struck down theregulation, arguing that it too broadly prohibited the citizens from striking,50 hence
violated the right to strike in Article 8 of the ICESCR. This ruling of the Tsets rested on
Article 10 of the Constitution, which required Mongolia to fulfill in good faith its
obligations under international treaties. By refusing to protect equal suffrage in the
ICCPR in the Suffrage Case I, this court ignored and violated this precedent and Article
10 of the Constitution without giving any reason even though it followed this precedent
in its future decisions.
Citizens submitted three notifications about the violation of equal suffrage since
1993, and they asked the Tsets to correct its wrong interpretation of the Constitution.51
Arguments in the notifications were mainly based on the equality before the law anduniversal suffrage in the international covenant. For example, in their notification,
Uurtsaikh D. and Unurbayar Ch., legal scholars, strongly argued that though equal
suffrage was not written in Article 21 of the Constitution, general principles such as
democracy and equality before the law in the Constitution already included andprotected equal suffrage. These petitioners cited the following principled interpretationof the Constitution by Prof. Chimid, who prepared the final edit of the 1992
Constitution: “the Constitution defines the universal, direct, equal, free suffrage bysecret ballot,” and the equal suffrage is interpreted or defined “by the content of Articles
1.2, 14.1, and 16 of the Constitution on the equal human and civil right and the equalityof the state activity.” 52 According to these petitioners, the republic, parliamentary49

See Tsets, Apr. 21, 1993, Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, May. 26, 1993, Togtool No. 3.
Tsets, Apr. 21, 1993, Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, May. 26, 1993, Togtool No. 3.
51
Tsets, Nov. 16, 2007, Dugnelt No. 11; Tsets, Mar. 26, 2008, Magadlal No. 4.
52
Chimid B., Songuulid suraltsakhui, 55.
50

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Chapter Fivedemocracy, and the Rechtsstaat would be meaningless without equal suffrage. 53
Uurtsaikh also explained what equal suffrage meant in matured democracies, and how it
was violated in the 2008 SGKh Election. He argued that “citizens’ attempts to defend
the spirit of their democracy failed due to the rigid, literal interpretation rather than thetheoretical, substantial interpretation of the Constitution.”54
The Tsets refused to overrule its denial of equal suffrage in Suffrage Case I (1993) in2008. This court offered same strict constructionist and originalist arguments: “(1) the
1993 decision found that Article 21.2 of the Constitution excludes equal suffrage, as
well as (2) it cannot be proved that the 2005 Election Law excluding equal suffrage
violates Article 25 of the ICCPR and Article 10 of the Constitution.”55 Following the1993 decision in Suffrage Case I, this decision lacked reasoning by ignoring thepetitioner’s argument and Article 10 that protected explicitly international obligations
including equal suffrage. The 2008 decision of the Tsets also misinterpreted theConstitution. This decision used strict constructionism contradictorily since the first partof its reasoning was the literal reading of Article 21.2 that had no term “equal suffrage,”
but the second part denied the literal reading of Article 10. Moreover, the decision of the
Tsets damaged constitutional integrity as it followed the unjustifiable precedent of 1993
and ignored the well-established precedents to protect international human rights
standards, which were confirmed and applied in many of Tsets’ other decisions. The
Tsets also failed to interpret equality before the law by a fresh conception to protect
equal suffrage even though the petitioner did not mention this argument. As a result of
the 1993 and 2008 decisions, concerns exist that equal suffrage may be violated in the
SGKh elections since people are moving rapidly from the rural to the urban areas.56
The second issue in the Suffrage Case I concerned free suffrage. The claim made by
the petitioners and the expert seemed reasonable because the legal requirement put
voters in a situation in which they had to vote for a candidate they did not really want toelect to the parliament. For example, if there was a constituency that had threeparliamentary seats but six candidates, the elector in that constituency would have tovote for at least three of six candidates even if he or she wanted to vote for only two of

53
Uurtsaikh D. and Unurbayar Ch., “Songuuliin tegsh erkhiin talaar UKhTs-d gargasan urgudul”;
Uurtsaikh D., “N.Jantsan gishuunii tatgalzsan togtooliig ul zuvshuurch gargasan gomdol”; Uurtsaikh D.,“21-r zuunii Mongol dakhi feodaliin butral.”
54
Uurtsaikh D., “21-r zuunii Mongol dakhi feodaliin butral.”55
Lamjav D., “Yaritslaga: Songuuliin Tegsh Erkhiin Tukhai”; Lamjav D., “Tsets Aldaagaa Zasakh
Uuregtei.”
56
Tsedendamba L., “Mongoliin bus nutgiin khugjliin tulgamdsan asuudluud.”194Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

them. If the voter chose only two candidates, who he or she wanted to elect, his or her
voting would be invalidated. In this sense, the elector could not make freely a choice on
which candidate he or she wanted to elect in a certain constituency. Due to the use ofcompulsory voting, free suffrage would be violated. In addition, the members of the
SGKh whom the electors did not want to elect, but voted for according to the legal
requirement, would be unjustly better off though they were not supported in fact bysuch electors.
The Tsets did not explain what the meaning of free suffrage was and why freesuffrage was not violated in this case. In 1996, the provision allegedly restricting freesuffrage was abolished when the SGKh adopted the single member district system byamending the SGKh Election Law. However, the similar provision restricting the rightto free suffrage by compulsory vote was reestablished in 2005 when the SGKh readopted the multi-member district system in a new election law (art. 12.1). Article 47.3of the 2005 Law on the SGKh Election required electors to circle as many names ofcandidates as required by the total number of mandates to be elected for theconstituency concerned. Due to the ruling of the Tsets, the SGKh had the full discretion
to define how many candidates an elector would have to vote for in the multi-member
district of election.
The third issue of Suffrage Case I was the principle of universal suffrage. The
common understanding of universal suffrage means that all adult citizens enjoy the rightto vote. Thus, denial of the right to vote of adult citizens residing abroad was a violationof universal suffrage. The Tsets ruled that whether or not to allow citizens residing
abroad to enjoy the right to vote was an issue to be determined by the legislative power.
This court declined to make comments on article 21 of the Constitution, which
explicitly protected universal suffrage. In this case, the Tsets was inconsistent because it
used the method of strict constructionism to deny equal suffrage, but it ignored thismethod by denying universal suffrage without any justification.
When the Tsets decided Suffrage Case I in 1993, a few Mongolian citizens lived inforeign countries. Mongolians found it difficult to leave their country in the socialist
period because freedom of movement was not protected. However, since Article 18 of
the 1992 Constitution guaranteed freedom of movement, many Mongolian citizens havebeen traveling and residing abroad since 1990. In 2009, almost 200,000 adult citizens

195

Chapter Five

resided abroad, representing 13-15 percent of the whole electorate (1,493,217).57 These
citizens could not enjoy their right to vote.
The SGKh has discretion over protecting universal suffrage as a result of the 1993
ruling of the Tsets. It is up to the MPs to include the right to vote of citizens residing inforeign countries in the election law or not. According to the 2005 SGKh Election Law,
“Mongolian citizens who have the right to vote and reside in foreign countries have theright to participate in the election (art. 6.3).” Tsakhim Urtuu Association, an NGO run
by citizens residing abroad, contributed much to the importation of this clause into the2005 Election Law and the preparation for its implementation.58 Citizens residing
abroad wrote papers on how citizens of matured democracies such as the U.S. andGermany enjoy their right to vote. 59 According to these citizens, the Mongolian
government may choose one of the following methods or a combination of them: thepost, the fax, the Internet, and the Mongolian Embassy. Today, the Internet, thedevelopment of technology and the recent increase in the state budget open up the
possibility for the Mongolian government to implement universal suffrage easily andcheaply.
The SGKh removed the right to vote of citizens abroad from the 2005 Election Law.
The General Committee on Election announced that it was impossible to implement thisright because of financial difficulty, poor civil registration, the ambiguity of using
technology, and the distribution of constituencies. 60 However, NGOs and citizens
residing abroad claimed that the real reasons were not financial or technical but rather
political. In the subsequent 2008 election, many of the 200,000 citizens abroad (13percent of the whole electors) were likely to vote against two main parties, the MPRP
and the Democratic Party, but for new parties like the Civil Movement Party whose
leaders were mainly educated abroad. The SGKh abolished the right to vote of citizens
abroad in December 2007 before the 2008 election. After the abolishment of this right,
Batbayar E. and Danzannorov L., two leaders of the Civil Movement Party, submitted a
notification to the Tsets, but this court rejected it without giving reasons.

57

Batbayar E., “Gadaadad baigaa Mongolchuudiin songuuliin erkhiin tukhaid.”
Sainbayar D., “Tand songuulid ugukh neg sanal bii, nadad bas neg sanal bii”; Sainbayar D., “Songokh
erkh - kheleltsuuleg”; Ganzorig, “Nutgaas irsenii daraakhan.”
59
Sainbayar D., “Tand songuulid ugukh neg sanal bii, nadad bas neg sanal bii”; Uurtsaikh D., “Daakhgui
nokhoin khuraasan buluunii yas buyu gadaadad amidarch bui Mongolchuudiin songokh erkhiin tukhaid”;
Batbayar E., “Yariltslaga: Songuuliin erkh bol yamar ch togtoltsoonoos ul khamaarch shiidegdekh
yostoi.”60
Sainbayar D., “Gadaadad garval ta Mongol ulsiin irgen bish bolokh ni ee.”58

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Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

5.3. Mongolian constitutional reasoning and interpretation as a wholeThis section rests on the comparative study in Chapter 4, the detailed analysis of fourcases in Section 5.2 and the general study of 130 constitutional cases between 1992 and2011. This section shows that the Tsets does not provide reasons in most of its decisions
except few of them, and examines why there is such a lack of reasoning. Thus, there is aneed for further reform. This section argues that the Tsets should not only continuously
deliver reasoned judgments, but also use an appropriate method of constitutional
interpretation. There are insufficient researches on interpretation methods. The Tsets
often uses methods substantively similar to strict constructionism and originalism inpractice, and frequently refuses to overrule its bad precedents. This book argues that thiscourt should constantly apply the moral reading for the better interpretation of theConstitution because this law includes abstract moral principles. There exist the bases ofthe moral reading: the Tsets makes the short but reasoned decisions in certain cases; it
adopts better conceptions of some abstract principles; the constitutional structure
eliminates certain kinds of interpretations; some of its decisions respect the integrity oflaw; the Tsets overrules a few of its precedents; it reflects characteristics of politicalmorality in the interpretation; it makes a de facto difference between principle andpolicy; and it contributes to the democratic process. The constitutional conception of
democracy is also widely accepted in Mongolia. The Tsets, thus, can use the method ofmoral reading as much as other courts of different institutional designs.
Although some of the Tsets decisions provide good reasoning, most of them lack thisquality. As Chapter 4 of this book showed, the court always has to make a reasoned
decision. The Tsets has decided some of the controversial cases with good reasons. For
example, Section 5.2 showed that this court correctly decided the Nyamdorj Cases I, II(2007) and the Constituency Grant Case (2007). These decisions are well reasoned
because both the conclusion and the reasoning are relatively good. However, the Tsets
does not provide reasons for its conclusions in most cases although it includes
arguments of each party (mainly citizens and the SGKh) and comments from experts
appointed by the court. According to the analysis of Dashdendev Case and Suffrage
Case, the decisions lack the reasoning when they fail to openly show an argument forthe conclusion, to interpret a constitutional clause, to respond to the arguments of thetwo disputing parties, and to take account of a related constitutional principle. The
decisions lacking reasoning appear arbitrary - a phenomenon which is against the rule of197

Chapter Fivelaw.
There are three reasons why the Tsets does not give reasons in most of its decisions:(1) the legacy of socialist legal culture, (2) the poor qualification of some constitutional
judges, and (3) the statutory regulations. The first reason is cultural. The reasoning of
judicial judgment was not allowed under the socialist system that denied judicial
independence. The legal reasoning was not taught at the school of law in Mongolia
under the influence of the Soviet Union. Moreover, the culture of reasoning was
suppressed by the totalitarian regime in general. Under this regime, citizens did not
enjoy freedoms of opinion and expression. The absence of these freedoms meant thatpeople hardly had chances to express and discuss public issues with reasons that they
had in mind. Mongolia made a transition from socialism to democracy in the 1990s.
Nevertheless, the legacy of socialist system that discouraged reasoning still exists aspart of the legal culture. Even though judges enjoy independence, they infrequently
construct reasoned decisions. Cases such as the Nyamdorj and Constituency Grant
illustrate the slow development of reasoned decisions. A change of culture takes moretime than the change of laws. The cultural explanation does not justify the lack ofreasoning by judges, but shows that reasoned judgments are new for the Mongolianjudges.
The second reason is related to the qualification of constitutional justices. As Section
3.2 has discussed, some justices such as Ochirbat P. and Lkhagvaa T. are not legal
professionals. A strong constitutional interpretation and the well-reasoned judgments
require the professional skills and knowledge, which are taught at the school of law.
Unlike the majority of the justices of the first Hungarian Constitutional Court, who were
civil law professors, the majority of the justices of the first Tsets were criminal lawyers,
and criminal law was abused most in the socialist system. The first Chief Justice wascriminal law professor Sovd G. between 1992 and 1998, and the second Chief Justice
was criminal lawyer Jantsan N. between 1998 and 2005. Only few constitutional law
professors were appointed to the Tsets. Prof. Amarsanaa wrote his book on theprotection of human rights, and Prof. Sarantuya wrote her book on the institutional
improvement of the Tsets. They continue to work as justices after the reappointments.
Only a few civil law professors such as Baasan L. and Naranchimeg D. were appointed
to the Tsets.
The third reason concerns the statutory regulations. Writing a well-reasoned decision
takes time, but Mongolian constitutional justices have no enough time to do so. Article
32 of the 2007 Law on the Procedure of the SGKh says that the Tsets has to submit its

198Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

conclusion (the first judgment in two stage procedure) to the SGKh within 24 hours
after coming to and signing a conclusion. If justices sign the conclusion on the day ofhearing, they have less than 24 hours for writing their opinion. The Tsets has unlimited
time for writing their resolution, the final judgment after the SGKh rejection of theconclusion, but it rarely changes its reasoning in the resolution. In addition, judges are
not allowed to publish their own opinion (dissenting or concurring) separately andpublicly. Therefore, the reasoning of the Tsets has to be accepted by a majority ofjustices who have voted for the judgment. The reasoning becomes much shorter to be
more agreeable to the majority.
The fact that the Tsets fails to write the reasons in its judgments does not mean that
this court does decide cases without the reasons. During the oral hearing, theconstitutional justices often discuss the reasons for making their decisions. Two parties,
mainly citizens and representatives of the SGKh, submit their written petitions and thecomments, and they orally state their arguments and respond to arguments of the otherparty during the hearing. Justices often ask questions that include reasons on the issue.61
In the deliberation room, justices also give reasons for their conclusions on the issue,
and they exchange their arguments. Prof. Byambaa J., former constitutional justice, said
that justices often made theoretical and practical disputes even by citing the foreign
constitutional practice, and he hoped that current justices did so in the deliberation
room.62 Thus, justices decide cases with reasons, but do not write them in the judgment.
Mongolian legal scholars did not pay enough attention to the legal reasoning in
1990s. However, scholars have recently been discussing constitutional reasoning, which
is a new tendency important for constitutionalism. Some scholars have been criticizing
the defect of reasoning in judicial judgments including those of the Tsets. For example,
Prof. B. Chimid said that “constitutional judges are idle. They write just two words:
either it is violated or not. That is all. There is no reason or argument. The Tsets must bea theoretical court. Unfortunately, there is no theoretical argument.”63 As Section 4.1
argued, the Tsets has to write reasons in its judgments. Otherwise, the public cannot
know whether or note the court decides cases arbitrarily. Moreover, the lack ofreasoning disrespects the two parties of the case and makes the future decision more

61
The author of this book attended an open hearing of the Tsets on March 4, 2010. The constitutional
judges asked many questions and discussed arguments concerning the issues, which were not included in
the written judgment. Tsets, Mar. 4, 2009, Dugnelt No. 1.
62
Byambaa, discussion.
63
Chimid B., “Tailbar”; See also Mashbat O., “Manaikh Yaduu Kheveerei l Baikh Bolno.”

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Chapter Five

unpredictable. Mongolian scholars also argue that the lack of reasoning has thefollowing negative consequences: “the law is abused by the discretion… parties of thecase do not appreciate the judicial judgment because they do not understand it, and theenvironment of legal guarantee is destroyed.”64 Prof. Paul H. Brietzke also gave apresentation on the American legal interpretation in Mongolia, saying the following:“judicial corruption can flourish when the justifications for decisions are kept secret,
and/or when corrupt decisions can be made to appear as a ‘mere’ incompetence.”65
Legal scholars and lawyers not only criticize the lack of reasoning in the judicial
judgments, but also work to solve this problem by four practical steps. First, judgmentsof ordinary courts and the Tsets are published and posted on the websites, which allow
lawyers to use them in the legal work and professors to discuss the quality of judgments
and use them in legal education. Moreover, the national bar exam established in 2004
includes both the test and the case-analysis. Scholars argued as follows:
For the first four years of the bar exam, most of those who have passed the test failed to
do the case-analysis so that they could not pass the exam. This failure resulted from thefact that there were no commonly recognized methods for analyzing cases and no courses
for teaching these methods at the schools of law.66

Additionally, scholars have lately been writing on how legal reasoning is important,what approaches of legal reasoning are used in democracies such as Germany and the
U.S., and how these methods could be applied in the Mongolian context. For example,
Prof. Heinrich Sholler wrote a book on how to make a reasoned decision on
constitutional and administrative cases in 2003 by using the German methods andexamples.67 Mongolian scholars also proposed the five-step approach for constitutional
cases, which is similar to the American IRAC, and the six-step approach, which issimilar to the German one.68
Furthermore, schools of law have reformed their curriculums to teach law students
the skill to analyze cases and make reasoned judgments. After the adoption of the 1992
Constitution, schools of law (national and private) reformed their curriculums so thatlaw students could acquire theoretical knowledge on legal concepts in the Constitution

64

Mendsaikhan T. et al, Khuuli Zuin Bodlogo Bodokh Argachlal, 13.
Brietzke, “Legal Interpretation in the U.S.,” 87.
66
Mendsaikhan T. et al, Khuuli Zuin Bodlogo Bodokh Argachlal, 5.
67
Sholler, Khuuli Zuin Dugnelt Bolon Shuukhiin Shiidver Gargakh.
68
Mendsaikhan T. et al, Khuuli Zuin Bodlogo Bodokh Argachlal, 26–45.
65

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and the new laws. Although these curriculums advanced legal education in many
aspects in 1990s, they did not include courses for teaching the skill to apply theoreticalknowledge of law in concrete cases. In the late 2000s, schools of law revised theircurriculums and created new compulsory seminars (called the application of laws) toteach students how to analyze constitutional, administrative, civil and criminal casesand how to make reasoned judgments. Law professors teach the method of legal
reasoning.69 However, there are no general courses such as legal analysis, legal writingor legal research. As a result of these four steps, future lawyers will probably have theskill to make a reasoned judgment on any legal issues.
Even though scholars have been recently noticing the importance of constitutional
reasoning and making practical moves to promote its improvements, research on the
topic is insufficient. Mongolian scholars rarely write which decisions lack reasoning,
how they lack it which decisions provide reasoning, how the reasoning could be
improved, and how the foreign courts construct their reasoning. Moreover, they do nottake seriously the constitutional interpretation, on which the improvement of reasoning
depends. Chapter 4 has showed that if the court makes reasoned decisions, then it has tointerpret the Constitution by using appropriate methods.
In Mongolia, there exist brief introductory researches on the European and the U.S.
methods of legal interpretations, but they hardly describe what these methods are in fact,which methods can improve the constitutional interpretation in actual cases,70 and what
methods the Tsets often uses in practice. Scholars sometimes mention European
interpretation methods (linguistic, logical, systematic, teleological, historical andpolitical), but they seldom explain these methods in detail.71 There is no comprehensive
discussion on the European methods of constitutional interpretation and their possible
applications in Mongolian cases. Brietzke explained the American methods such as “theplain meaning rule,” “the legislative intent,” and “canons of construction” in his paperthat was translated into Mongolian.72 Gunbileg B. also summarized papers discussed in
the 2004 symposium, entitled “What Is Legal Interpretation?,” 73 and he briefly

69

Solongo D., Tur, Zakhirgaanii Erkh Zuin Khuuli Togtoomjiin Khereglee I.
Temuujin Kh. interpreted the Constitution in his notification to the Tsets by using several methods (thebroad and systematic interpretation). Temuujin Kh., Jus Frast buyu Yost Ug, 231–232.
71
Sarantuya Ts., “Undsen Khuuliin Shuukhiin Shiidvereer Undsen Khuuliig Khugjuulekh Ni,” 382;
Amarsanaa J., “Undsen Khuuli Tailbarlakh Subyekt: Onol, Arga Zui,” 219; Temuujin Kh., Jus Frast buyu
Yost Ug, 216.
72
Brietzke, “Legal Interpretation in the U.S.,” 81–82.
73
In 2004, the Institute for Law and Philosophy at the University of San Diego School of Law joined70

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Chapter Fivedescribed intentionalist, textualist and pluralist methods of legal interpretation. 74
However, Gunbileg did not show how these methods could be applied in the Mongolian
context, which was similar to the methods used by the Tsets, and which method would
be suitable for this court. Main American methods such as originalism and the moral
reading are still unfamiliar.75 In Mongolia, there is neither orthodoxy nor general theory
on how the judges should interpret the Constitution.
The methods of the Tsets have not been thoroughly researched in Mongolia. Whichmethod the Tsets uses for interpreting abstract constitutional clauses can be identified
from the analysis of constitutional cases. This court often uses methods similar to strict
constructionism and originalism. 76 In the Suffrage Case I, the Tsets applied strict
constructionism, relying on the literal reading of the Constitution text, and originalism,
relying on what the framers expected at the time of the founding.77 The Tsets also
rejected the individual complaint procedure by applying the strict constructionist andoriginalist readings rather than the moral reading though it was possible to have thisprocedure in conformity with the Constitution. One of the main reasons why the Tsetsprovides poor protection of fundamental rights is the lack of a procedure that allows it
to decide concrete rights violations. As Chapter 3 showed, the Tsets delivered several
decisions that refused to review the judgments of the Supreme Court and denied thecitizens the right to submit petitions on violations of their own constitutional rights bythese judgments.78 These decisions were based on a strict constructionist reading of
Article 66.2 of the Constitution, and many justices and scholars accepted thesedecisions.79 Temuujin Kh. challenged this strict constructionism by presenting a moral
reading of the Constitution, but the Tsets rejected this challenge.80 The Tsets does notforces with the San Diego Law Review to host this symposium. See San Diego L. Rev. 42 (2005).
74
Gunbileg B., Jishgiin Erkh Zui, 70–72.
75
Batsuuri M. wrote a summary of Dworkin’s general theory of law without mentioning the moral
reading. Batsuuri M., “Khuuli zuin salbariin erdem shinjilgeenii baga khurluud,” 30–33.
76
Constitutional courts in other post socialist countries such as Ukraine also apply the strict
constructionist reading of the Constitution, which is often called the formalist-positivist reasoning. See
Kataryna, “The Constitutional Court of Ukraine,” 27.
77
In several other decisions, the Tsets also consistently adopted an overly strict constructionist reading of
the constitutional text concerning the basic structure of the political system without sensitivity to political
dynamics and practice in Mongolia, theories and experiences in other parliamentary democracies. These
decisions ruled that MPs were prohibited from being appointed as a member of the Government, and they
started a constitutional crisis that would continue for nearly five years. See Ginsburg, Judicial Review in
New Democracies, 187–204.
78
See Tsets, Aug. 29, 1994, Dugnelt No. 8; Tsets, Apr. 30, 2004, Magadlal No. 3/4.
79
See Sovd G., Undsen khuuliin tsetsiin tukhai khuuliudiin tailbar, 159; Sarantuya Ts., Undsen khuuliin
processiin erkh zui, 100, 102, 129; Mongol Ulsiin Undsen Khuuliin Tailbar, 284–286.
80
See Temuujin Kh., Jus Frast buyu Yost Ug, 65–66.

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explain why it chooses strict constructionism and originalism, and how these arguments
are better than other arguments. Due to these two methods, this court weakens theprotection of fundamental rights, adopts poor conceptions on these rights, violates
constitutional integrity, and fails to overrule poor conceptions.
Like the U.S. and European highest courts, the Tsets should constantly apply themoral reading because the Constitution includes not only precise clauses in which theframers intended to stipulate concrete rules but also vague clauses in which they
intended to provide for abstract moral principles. For example, Article 30.2 of theMongolian Constitution says a citizen who has attained the age of forty five years canbe eligible for election to the post of President. Obviously, this age means thechronological age, the number of years a person has lived. On the other hand, thisConstitution states that all persons are equal before the law (art. 14.1), and that citizens
are guaranteed freedom of conscience and religion (art. 16.15). Since the Constitution
includes this kind of abstract moral principles whose meaning is unclear, and mostconstitutional cases are about these principles, the application of moral reading can help
to improve the interpretation of these principles. Danielle Conway-Jones also noticed
the similarity between principles in the Mongolian Constitution and in the common law
tradition as follows: “the flexibility and the equity that is so evident in the Mongolian
Constitution is a hallmark of the common law tradition.”81
Even though the Tsets often misinterprets the Constitution by using strict
constructionist and originalist methods, there are bases for the moral reading. The
decisions of the Tsets were usually related to abstract moral principles and some ofthese decisions adopted conceptions, which were at least better than other competing
conceptions, mainly those favored by the SGKh. For instance, this court quashed a lawthat allowed a political party to participate in the SGKh and municipal elections only
“after 18 months from its registration in the Supreme Court,” saying that it violated “theright to elect and to be elected.”82 In the same decision, the Tsets also protected apolitical party’s right to freely create and use its own name. If the court did not protectthese political rights, a new political party could not participate in the election or freely
create its name. Moreover, the Tsets protected several fundamental rights such as
religious freedom of minorities, the minor’s right to demonstration, the rights to access

81
82

Conway-Jones, “Mongolia, Law Convergence, and the Third Era of Globalization,” 71.
Tsets, Sep. 29, 2005, Dugnelt No. 2/06.

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Chapter Fiveto the Tsets and other courts, and the right to appeal against court judgments. 83
Although the Mongolian constitutional review is abstract, some petitioners haveappealed to the Tsets for protecting their own individual rights as Chapter 3 showed.
These rights decisions prove the potential protection of these rights by the Tsets at leastin a limited sense. The Tsets is not as active as the Constitutional Court of Hungary, butmore than half of its decisions are related to fundamental rights.
Some of the Tsets decisions not only protect constitutional rights but also are well
reasoned. The Tsets tends to be prudent for the sake of its legitimacy. This court decides
cases that have relatively clear solutions, but exert tremendous real impacts on lives ofpeople and the politics. In this kind of case, the Tsets makes strong reasoning that most
reasonable people could accept. For example, this court interpreted abstract principles
such as the respect for law and equality and provided the well-reasoned decisions in the
Nyamdorj Case (2007) and Constituency Grant Case (2007). In 2005, the Tsets also
rendered a reasoned decision on the integrity of procedural laws. After the 2004 SGKhelection, the results in some constituencies were disputed, and the last of these disputes
was decided by the court after one year. Thus, these constituencies had no
representatives in the SGKh for one year. To prevent this kind of situation in thesubsequent elections, the SGKh amended the procedural laws. These amendments
defined specific timetables for investigating election disputes, discussing them in the
judicial hearing, and appealing against the decisions on these disputes. These specifictimetables were much shorter than the general timetable for other disputes and cases.
For example, the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code stated that theinvestigations on minor or moderate crimes related to the election should be done withinfour days or seven days. Both the Prosecutor General and the Supreme Court submitted
the requests for challenging the constitutionality of these amendments. The Tsets gave
the following reasons in finding that these amendments were not unconstitutional:
Defining a shorter timetable than the general timetable of law mentioned above violates
the general principle to decide disputes and cases through one unified procedure and formof process. Because of this, participants in the investigation procedure are denied theopportunity to enjoy equal rights and to fulfill equal duties. The same unified law thatapplies to all participants in the investigation procedure is the main condition of every
person’s right to be equal before the law, and this condition is violated here. The short83

Tsets, Jan. 12, 1994, Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, Mar. 27, 1996, Dugnelt No. 1; Tsets, Jan. 18, 1995, Dugnelt
No. 2; Tsets, Apr. 30, 2003, Dugnelt No. 1, Tsets, Jun. 20, 2003, Togtool No. 2.

204Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

timetable limits the possibility to discover the actual truth of cases, to make conclusions,to have evidences examined, and to be protected by the court. The short timetable also
creates the basis for a legal argument that the organizations in charge decide cases
carelessly and harm citizens by violating human rights.84

The structure of the Constitution as a part of constitutional integrity discourages
certain kinds of interpretation. For example, a justice of the Tsets cannot interpret theequality principle (Const. art. 1.2) as making equality of wealth or collective ownershipof productive resources because that interpretation does not fit the Mongolian history
and the rest of the Constitution. Mongolia did a clear transition from the socialist system
to liberal democracy with free market economy. The liberal democratic history of thelast twenty years and the Constitution that protects principles such as the right toproperty make the socialist interpretation of equality impossible. Moreover, a justicecannot make the libertarian interpretation that denies social and economic rights
because these rights are explicitly protected in the Constitution.
Chapter 4 has explained that precedent is important to show whether or not judges
respect the integrity of law and that they have to justify their decisions based on laws
including case law. Just like the continental European legal systems, the Mongolian
legal system has no formal stare decisis. Nevertheless, in practice, the Tsets tends to beconsistent with principles and rulings determined by its prior decisions.85 The Tsets
sometimes offers a well-reasoned decision that respects the integrity of constitutionallaw even though it does not openly refer to previous similar cases. For example, there
are a large number of judgments that consistently protected the right to access to thecourt, the right to fair trail, and the right to appeal against a court decision.86 According
to one of these judgments in 2003, the Civil Procedure Code’s provision that did notallow citizens to appeal against the court decisions breached the rights to access to thecourt and to appeal against a court decision. The reasoning was as follows:
Not allowing any appeal against these judicial resolutions and ordinances means that a

84

2006.6.14, Dugnelt. №6; 2006.7.5, Togtool. №3.
For example, the Tsets explicitly followed a precedent: Tsets, Nov. 16, 2007, Dugnelt No. 11.
86
There are the following judgments on these rights: Tsets, Apr. 21, 1993, Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, May 26,
1993, Togtool No. 3; Tsets, Aug. 29, 1994, Dugnelt No. 8; Tsets, Jan. 4, 1995, Dugnelt, No. 1; Tsets, Sep.
7, 1995, Togtool No. 2; Tsets, Jan. 18, 1995, Dugnelt, No. 2; Tsets, May 10, 1995, Togtool No. 1; Tsets,
Jan. 18, Dugnelt No. 1; Tsets, Jun. 17, 1995, Togtool No. 1; Tsets, Apr. 30, 2003, Dugnelt No. 1; Tsets,
Jun. 20, 2003, Togtool No. 2; Tsets, Nov. 16, 2005, Dugnelt No. 8; Tsets, Jan. 11, 2006, Тogtool, No. 1;
Tsets, Apr. 12, 2006, Dugnelt No. 4; Tsets, Jun. 15, 2006, Togtool No. 2; Tsets, Oct. 29, 2008, Dugnelt No.
8.
85

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Chapter Fivecourt or a judge never makes a mistake on these issues and so their decisions do not need
to be discussed again. Unfortunately, the issues are not always decided rightly without
any fault. It should be open for citizens to appeal against any judicial decision or get it
reviewed if they want. This is the main condition of fair trial. Therefore, the concepts
such as the right to appeal to the court to protect his or her rights and right to appeal
against a court decision are inserted into the Constitution of Mongolia as the major index
of basic civil rights and freedoms.87

This judgment was short, but well reasoned. There was no separation of powers, theindependent judiciary was absent in both theory and reality, and the rights to fair trail
were ignored during the socialist period. In this context, the decisions were crucial toprotect the judicial power and the right to appeal to the court.
When the Tsets delivers the decisions that are consistent with the good precedents, it
promotes constitutional integrity. There is the precedent that the Tsets deemedinternational human rights as constitutional rights. In 1993, this court upheld the right tostrike, which was not mentioned in the Constitution, but protected in the ICESCR. Thisruling rested on Article 10 of the Constitution in which Mongolia should fulfill in goodfaith its obligations under international treaties. The Tsets has also confirmed the rightto strike in another decision,88 and it has applied the principle to fulfill international
obligations in many decisions.89 For instance, in 1996, this court struck down a law that
required a person in charge of organizing assembly to prevent children fromparticipating in the assembly, saying that it infringed on “the child’s right to assembly in
the Constitution and in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.”90
However, judgments that follow precedents may not be good because precedents canbe wrong. The Tsets vertically broke the integrity of law in Suffrage Case I because it
ignored and violated a previously established precedent on the principle to fulfill
international obligations without giving any reason when it refused to protect the
principle of equal suffrage in the ICCPR. In the subsequent suffrage cases, the Tsets

87

Tsets, Apr. 30, 2003, Dugnelt No. 1; Tsets, Jun. 20, 2003, Togtool No. 2.
Tsets, Jul. 3, 1995, Dugnelt No. 4.
89
See Tsets, Jan. 7, 1994, Dugnelt No. 1; Tsets, Jan. 12, 1994, Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, Jul. 3, 1995, Dugnelt
No. 4; Tsets, Aug. 2, 1995, Dugnelt No. 5; Tsets, Mar. 7, 1996, Dugnelt No. 1; Tsets, Jun. 20, 1996,
Dugnelt No. 5; Tsets, Apr. 13, 2005, Dugnelt No. 3; Tsets, Sep. 29, 2005, Dugnelt No. 6; Tsets, Sep. 20,
2006, Dugnelt No. 9; Tsets, Dec. 6, 2006, Dugnelt No. 10; Tsets, Jun. 13, 2007, Dugnelt No. 7; Tsets, Oct.
24, 2007, Dugnelt No. 10; Tsets, Nov. 16, 2007, Dugnelt No. 11; Tsets, Nov. 13, 2009, Dugnelt No. 5;
Tsets, Oct. 27, 2010, Dugnelt No. 5.
90
Tsets, Mar. 27, 1996, Dugnelt No. 1.
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Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

blindly followed the Suffrage Case I. In the Dashdendev Case (1993), this court
horizontally broke the integrity of law because it partially protected religious freedom
and the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of religion. In this case, theTsets protected these two rights regarding some issues of religious freedom, but it
violated these two rights regarding other issues without giving reasons.
According to Section 4.2, the Tsets should overrule wrong precedents as long as it
has enough reasons to do so and respects the integrity of constitutional law. The Tsets
may overrule previous rulings in three ways. First, the minor panel of the Tsets canoverrule the decision of one justice. A justice reviews petitions and notifications anddecides whether the case has the merit. If the petitioner appeals against this decision of
the justice, then the minor panel composed of three justices makes the final decision onwhether or not this court hears the case, and it may overrule the decision of the justice.91
For example, a petitioner submitted a petition arguing that a Family Law provisionprohibiting people over 60 years of age from adopting a child is discriminatory on thebasis of age.92 Justice Renchin L. reviewed the petition, but he rejected it, arguing that
this age limitation guarded the interest of children because people over 60 might havedifficulties in caring for children. The petitioner appealed against Justice Renchin’s
rejection to the minor panel, which overruled Renchin’s decision. The middle panel of
the Tsets heard the case and ruled that the age limitation was unconstitutional because it
discriminated against the group of people on the basis of age (Const. art. 14.2). The
middle panel also argued that by adopting the age limitation, the State did not honor its“responsibility to create guarantees ensuring human rights” (Const. art. 19.1). The
SGKh accepted the Tsets ruling and amended the Family Law accordingly.
Second, the Tsets may make different rulings in one single case thanks to its twostage procedure. This court can change its ruling on the same issue in the second stage ifsome of its justices change their opinions or the simple majority cannot transform into a
two-third majority, which is required to overrule the parliamentary decision on the
conclusion. The Tsets made different rulings in the resolution from the ones in the91

For example, the minor panel overruled a judge’s decision concerning the petition on the right to own
land. See Tsets, Sep. 4, 1995, Dugnelt No. 6.
92
Tsets, Mar. 24, 2010, Dugnelt No. 1. Subsection 4.3.1 showed that the Italian Constitutional Court
made a similar ruling on the same issue even though it relied on a different principle. The Italian Court
protected the interest of the minor by adopting the fresh conception on the fairness. On the other hand, theTsets protected the right of adults over 60, the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of age.
The Tsets did not consider the protection of minors, which is the duty of the state according to Article
16.11 of the Constitution.

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Chapter Fiveconclusion in several cases. For example, in 2000, the petitioner challenged some legal
provisions related to the establishment of the chambers for criminal and civil cases in
the Supreme Court, arguing that the Constitution said nothing about these chambers.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court commented that the establishment of chambers
was critical for a better case management. However, by making the strict constructionist
reading of the constitutional text, the Tsets struck down the challenged provisions in aconclusion, which the SGKh then refused to accept. The grand panel of the Tsetsreconsidered the issue, accepted the SGKh rejection, and finally overruled the original
conclusion without providing reasons.93
Third, the Tsets can change its final decisions made by the middle panel or the grandpanel, but it has not explicitly changed its final decision in this way. In the Suffrage
Cases (2007, 2008, and 2009), the Tsets failed to change its ruling that the Constitution
did not guarantee the equal suffrage even though the petitioners provided good reasonsfor it to do so. In many other decisions, this court refused to overrule its own poor
rulings. 94 However, the Tsets sometimes implicitly overrules its final rulings. For
example, this court overruled its previous ruling on Law on Administrative andTerritorial Units and Their Governing Bodies (LATUGB).95 The territory of Mongolia
is divided administratively into aimags and a capital city; aimags are subdivided intosoums and soums into baghs; the capital city is subdivided into districts and district intokhoroos. The respective governors exercise state authority on the territories of theseadministrative units. Candidates for governors are nominated by the Khurals (the local
assemblies) of respective units. Governors of aimags and the capital city are appointed
by the Prime Minister; governors of soum and district by the governors of aimags andthe capital city; governors of baghs and khoroos by the governors of soums and districts
respectively for a term of four years (Const. art. 60.2).
In case the prime minister or governor of higher levels refuse to appoint the
gubernatorial candidates nominated by the Khurals of respective units, new nominations
are held in the manner prescribed in article 60.2 of the Constitution (Const. art. 60.3).

93
Tsets, Mar. 13, 2000, Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, Sep. 8, 2000, Togtool No. 1. See other cases, in which the
Tsets changed its rulings in the final stage, following the SGKh resolution. Tsets, Jan. 7, 1994, Dugnelt No.
1; Tsets, Feb. 4, 1994, Togtool No. 1; Tsets, Jun. 26, 2002, Dugnelt No. 3; Tsets, Nov. 13, 2002, Togtool
No. 3.
94
For example, the Tsets also did not change its poor ruling that the prosecutor general’s power to appeal
against the final judgment of the Cassation Chamber to the Presidium of the Supreme Court wasconstitutional. See Tsets, Mar. 27, 1998, Dugnelt 3; Tsets, Dec. 21, 2007, Dugnelt 13.
95
Tsets, Dec. 12, 1996, Dugnelt No. 9; Tsets, Mar. 26, Togtool No. 1; Tsets, Mar. 11, 2009, Dugnelt No.
2.

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Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

The constitutional text sets no limit on new nominations, so the SGKh created a limit on
new nominations in article 10.4 of the LATUGB: in case the prime minister or higher
governor refused to appoint the second gubernatorial candidate nominated by the
Khural of respective unit, the prime minister or higher governor would appoint
governors through consultations with the respective local Khural. A petitioner
challenged constitutionality of this article in 1996. By making a literal reading, the Tsets
ruled that article 10.3 of the LATUGB violated article 60.3 of the Constitution: article
10.3 of the law created the appointment mechanism of lower governors by higher
governors through consultation by broadening the meaning of the constitutional article
60.3, but the Constitution did not mention this mechanism.96
The Tsets implicitly overruled its 1996 decision on the nominations of governors. In
2006, the SGKh revised the LATUGB and put a limit on the nomination of governors.
Article 26.4 of the 2006 LATUGB stated that in case the prime minister or higher
governor refused to appoint the gubernatorial candidate nominated by the Khural ofrespective unit, the prime minister or higher governor would appoint the second
gubernatorial candidate nominated by the local Khural. This new article 26.4 wassimilar to article 10.4 of the old LATUGB because it broadened the meaning of article
60.3 of the Constitution. In 2009, a petitioner challenged article 26.4 of the 2006
LATUGB, but the Tsets ruled that this article was constitutional. The 2009 ruling was
better than the 1996 ruling because it allowed the SGKh to clarify the meaning of avague constitutional article. The 2009 ruling neither mentioned its 1996 decision on thesame matter nor gave any reasoning for overruling its strict constructionist reading.
Despite the fact that the Mongolian Constitution endorses the constitutional
conception of democracy, the Tsets sometimes fails to enforce this conception bymaking an originalist reading of this document. The constitutional conception is more
appropriate than the majoritarian one in Mongolia because the framers intentionallychose it. The Mongolian people embedded fundamental rights and other basic principles
in their Constitution, and gave the Tsets the power to enforce those principles evenagainst the SGKh. The Tsets had reviewed more than 130 cases, and has protected its
own competence and independence from the parliamentary infringement as showed in
Section 3.2. Nevertheless, the conception of democracy in the originalist judgments of
the Tsets is majoritarian rather than constitutional. According to originalism discussed
in Chapter 4, if the framers’ conceptions of abstract constitutional clauses are unclear,

96

Tsets, Dec. 12, 1996, Dugnelt No. 9; Tsets, Mar. 26, 1997, Togtool No. 1.

209Chapter Fivethen the judges should follow the parliamentary decisions on these clauses. In this sense,
originalism is majoritarian. By appealing to originalism, the Tsets in Suffrage Case I
refused to protect the equal suffrage so that the protection of this right became theresponsibility of only the SGKh, not the Tsets.
Many legal scholars support the constitutional conception of democracy, but theyrarely argue for interpretation methods suitable for this conception. Scholars sometimes
criticize the content of certain decisions, but not the interpretation methods (originalism
and strict constructionism). In Mongolia, there are no theories such as originalism andmajoritarian conception of democracy, which openly criticize the moral reading. The
Tsets often acts in a majoritarian way when it applies the originalist interpretation.
However, scholars have not discussed whether this court should follow the framers’
understanding of a constitutional principle when the interpretation of this principle iscontroversial. Moreover, no scholar has argued that the Tsets should respect what the
SGKh says when the constitutional interpretation is controversial. These questions are
new in the Mongolian constitutional discourse.
However, Mongolian scholars sometimes propose constitutional interpretations
similar to the moral reading. Unlike the majority of constitutional justices, manyscholars treat the Constitution as a charter of principle, challenge laws whose
constitutionality are doubtful according to their reading of constitutional principles, andpropose a different conception of a constitutional right. In the Suffrage Case, Uurtsaikh,legal researcher, argued that equality before the law already included equal suffragethough equal suffrage was not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution. Prof. Chimid,
one of the framers, also had the same interpretation of equality before the law although
he supported the deletion of the term “equal suffrage" from the constitutional text in the1991 PGKh, the Constituent Assembly. Moreover, Prof. Byambaa, former
constitutional justice, doubted constitutionality of the Prosecutor General’s appeal
against the final judgment of the Cassation Chamber even though he presided over the
Tsets hearing that upheld constitutionality of this appeal. Prof. Chimid and Prof.
Byambaa have thought more independently and critically about the issues, and theychanged their mind on what the Constitution really means because they had enoughreasons to do so. Some scholarly interpretations are based on methods similar to strict
constructionism and originalism, but many scholars submit notifications to the Tsets andchallenge the poor constitutional interpretation or the old practice, applying a method

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similar to the moral reading.97
The political morality in each country has specific characteristics that might
influence the interpretation of its Constitution. Likewise, the Mongolian politicalmorality has such characteristics. The history of state-socialism still has an impact on
Mongolia today. For example, the fact that the socialist government destroyed almost
all Buddhist monasteries and killed many of its monks may have influenced theinterpretation of religious freedom. In Dashdendev Case (1993), the Tsets declined toquash the legal provision that “Buddhism is dominant in Mongolia, but this does notprohibit citizens believing in other religions.” Many people including some MPs said
that this provision was a kind of compensation for the socialist system’s harm to the
Buddhism. The government could compensate for the harms done to Buddhism in adifferent way (for instance, reconstructing some old monasteries), which could bejustified by the positive discrimination theory (summarized in Subsection 4.3.2) because
the Mongolian Constitution protected principles such as equality and justice. However,declaring Buddhism a dominant religion in the law was not an appropriate way ofcompensation since it conflicted with basic constitutional principles such as equality
and freedom of religion.
The distinction between principle and policy is evident in case law of the Tsets. This
court leaves policy issues to the SGKh, and it decides legal issues related to theprinciples in some cases. That is, the Tsets ruled that the SGKh decided certain policy
issues related to social insurance, pension, and tax “within its exclusive power.”98 For
example, the petitioners challenged constitutionality of Article 6.1.2 of the Law on
Excise Tax, which said the following: “Excise tax rate for one liter of alcohol beverages
which have an alcohol content of up to 40 percent shall be 1.6 USD or 2 USD,
depending on whether it is produced in Aimags (prefectures) or in the Capital City.” Thepetitioners found that the Spirt Bal Buram, the biggest domestic producer of alcohol
beverage, which has an alcohol content of up to 40 percent, paid a less tax than othermain producers in the Capital City because its factories were located in an Aimag nearer

97
This section already mentioned Temuujin’s challenge to the constitutional interpretation that failed toestablish the individual complaint procedure. In addition, Bayar unsuccessfully challenged the highcourt’s power to return the case to the investigation or the lower court. See Tsets, Oct. 24, 2007, Dugnelt
No. 10. Gunbileg also challenged one of the socialist legacies in the Mongolian judiciary, the Supreme
Court’s power to issue the abstract interpretation of statutes. Nevertheless, the Tsets refused to consider
this challenge. See, Tsets, Oct. 2, 2006, Magadlal 13.
98
See Tsets, May 21, 2003, Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, Jun. 17, 2005, Dugnelt No. 4; Tsets, Dec. 14, 2005,
Togtool No. 2; Tsets, Dec. 6, 2006, Dugnelt No. 10; Tsets, Jan. 10, 2007, Dugnelt No. 1; Tsets, Apr. 18,
2007, No. 4; Tsets, May 9, 2007, Dugnelt No. 5.

211Chapter Fiveto the Capital City, and they argued that Article 6.1.2 was unfair to domestic producersof alcoholic beverages. However, the Tsets ruled that Article 6.1.2 of the Law on Excise
Tax needed to be improved to prevent unfair competition, but it was constitutional
because the issue to impose taxes differently was within the exclusive power of the
SGKh.99 The Tsets often made this kind of suggestions when the policies did not violate
the Constitution, but they needed to be improved.100
Constitutional review has been contributing to the improvement of democracy inMongolia. The Tsets needs to be improved institutionally and culturally, but it improves
democracy in two ways. First, some of the Tsets decisions protect constitutional rights
even though their readings of the Constitution are very formal and short. Protecting
these rights is important because democracy is not a majoritarian rule, but aconstitutional regime where a majority of citizens through their representatives makethe daily political decisions as long as they respect individual rights. Subsection 4.2.2
discussed this point. Second, the Tsets makes the legislative process more democratic
and more respectful to the rule of law. For example, Nyamdorj Case and Constituency
Grant Case showed that the Mongolian parliamentary politics sometimes did not work
well, and it seriously lacked the principles suitable for a democracy. The actions ofChairperson Nyamdorj and the constituency grant to MPs could not be justified by theprinciples or “theoretical reasons” in the words of Prof. Chimid.101 Thus, the Tsets
decisions that declared unconstitutionality of these acts improved the democratic
process, which was important for the legitimacy of constitutional review. Because ofthis fact, even critics may accept such review conditionally. As Subsection 4.2.3
discussed, Waldron argued the court should be active only when the quality of politicalprocess is problematic. Constitutional review can be justified in this situation because it
makes democracy better. Without this review, Mongolian democracy would be worse
both in protecting fundamental rights and in democratic decision making.

5.4. Mongolian constitutional culture

99

Tsets, Dec. 6, 2006, Dugnelt No. 10.
See Tsets, Jan. 10, 2007, Dugnelt No. 1; Tsets, Apr. 18, 2007, No. 4. For the suggestion for improving
prison conditions, see Tsets, Dec. 14, 2006, No. 12. For the suggestion that the SGKh should strictly obey
the laws on the preparation of laws and other decisions of the SGKh and on the parliamentary procedure,see Tsets, Feb. 5, 2008, Dugnelt No. 1.
101
Chimid, discussion.
100

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Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

Section 4.4 discussed the following five elements of constitutional culture essential
to the moral reading of the Constitution and constitutionalism in general: (1)constitutional case law, (2) the publication of separate opinions of constitutional judges,(3) the usage of foreign judicial judgments, (4) the role of scholars, and (5) civic
participation in the constitutional discussion. This section checks how these culturalelements are practiced in Mongolia and how they can be improved, following thecommon culture of constitutional democracies.
The first cultural element is case law important in improving constitutional
reasoning and ensuring the integrity of constitutional law. Constitutional case law has
become indispensable as the middle panel of the Tsets has decided more than 130 cases
through its open hearings, and the number of cases is increasing each year. Since all of
the Tsets decisions are published on the Internet or in a book form,102 anyone can easily
access these decisions. Thus, the petitioners often refer to previous decisions, andscholars discuss the merits of the decisions. Scholars have recently been emphasizing
the importance of the precedent in general and arguing that they are significant legal
sources not only in common law countries (the U.K.) but also in civil law countries(Germany and Japan), and that Mongolian courts can use judicial precedents. 103
Scholars argue that Mongolian courts relied on precedents to decide cases in the 18thand 19th centuries. 104 Mongolian judges also use precedents today. According to
Gunbileg B., the decisions of the Tsets and the abstract interpretations of statutes by thesupreme court become precedents. 105 However, there is no sufficient theory how
constitutional justices should use the precedent and when they should overrule theprecedent. As the previous sections of this chapter showed, the Tsets sometimes neglects
its precedents without any reason though it tends to follow its own precedents inpractice.
The second cultural element is the justice’s right to publish an opinion separated
from the majority opinion of the court. Mongolian constitutional justices are allowed to102“Mongolian Legal Unified Information System.”Tanabe, “Yapon Dakhi Shuukhiin Pretsedentiin Emkhtgel.” Tanabe discussed the precedent’s
importance, its roles, its publication and its influence in Japan, and said that the JICA was ready tocontribute to the development of case law in Mongolia. The JICA has been doing so in many ways suchas financing the publications of precedents.
104
Gunbileg B., Jishgiin Erkh Zui, 82; Mamoru, “Manj Chin Ulsiin Uyeiin Mongol Dahi Ikh Shaviin
Gemt Khergiig Shuusen Khuuli Tsaaz,” 205–208.
105
Gunbileg B., Jishgiin Erkh Zui, 98–100.
103

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Chapter Fivewrite and keep their opinions in the original judgment, but they are not allowed to
publish a concurring opinion or a dissenting opinion. 106 Thus, the Tsets decision
includes only one short opinion agreed by a majority of justices. Though the single
voice of the Tsets seems to show that there exists only one interpretation of theConstitution, the reality is that justices often disagree on the interpretation of
constitutional abstract principles. Moreover, the prohibition from publishing separate
opinions hinders the development of the moral reading because it makes impossible tocompare different interpretations of justices and to discuss which interpretation is betterand respects the constitutional integrity. When the publication of a separate opinion isprohibited, justices cannot express what they really think is the best understating of fact
and constitutional provision.
The third cultural element is a justice’s references to constitutional decisions of otherjurisdiction, which is a critical trend for new democracies as Section 4.4 has showed.
Unlike the constitutional courts in other new democracies such as Hungary, the Tsets
has never made references to decisions of international and foreign courts even though
it decides issues related to similar principles such as basic standards of criminal justice,
freedom of religion, and equal protection. This court does not translate its decisions into
English or any other popular language, so it rarely gets feedback on them from foreignscholars.107
Nevertheless, there are some features that help to develop the culture to use foreign
judicial judgments. The Mongolian constitution making was largely based oninternational and comparative constitutional law. The Constitution of Mongolia was
influenced by the UDHR, the ICCPR and constitutions of other democracies such as the
U.S., Japan, France, and Austria. The Tsets also has the obligation and the precedent toenforce human rights covenants (Const. art. 10). Thus, the interpretations of theseinternational instruments and constitutions are informative for justices. The similarity ofhuman rights clauses in the Mongolian Constitution to those of other constitutions andinternational treaties suggests that Mongolian justices may need to see how the justices
in other jurisdictions interpret officially these clauses, what methods they use forinterpreting these clauses, and how the interpretation of the Mongolian Constitution canbe improved. The Tsets sometimes makes references to the international law such as

106

Prof. Sarantuya Ts. wrote on dissenting and concurring opinions. Sarantuya Ts., Undsen khuuliin
processiin erkh zui, 158.
107
There is no comprehensive comments on the Tsets and its decisions by foreign scholars except the one
by Prof. Ginsburg. Ginsburg, Judicial Review in New Democracies, 158–205.

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human rights covenants. For example, this court protected the right to strike in the
ICESCR. This court does not use foreign judgments, but it sometimes mentions thegeneral principles of law and the practice of democratic countries without details.
The Tsets has many chances to get in touch with foreign judgments. Comparative
scholars mention the reasoning of specific foreign judgments.108 Gunbileg also argues
that courts should use precedents from foreign and international courts when deciding
cases, particularly cases related to human rights and universally recognizedprinciples.109 For example, the courts may look at precedents of international courts tointerpret the concept of genocide in the 2002 Criminal Code of Mongolia. However,there is no comprehensive translation of important judgments of foreign courts. By
using comparative research, legal scholars challenge unconstitutional practice or laws
before the Tsets. For example, Bayar, a legal researcher, submitted a judgment by the
Russian Constitutional Court in support of his petition, but the Tsets failed to sayanything concerning this judgment.110 This fact shows not only the lack of reasoning
but also the reluctance of the Tsets to respond to the arguments based on comparative
constitutional law. In addition, the Tsets and its justices have been becoming more active
in communicating with foreign justices and scholars. Constitutional justices in Hungary,
Romania, Poland, South Korea, Turkey, Germany, and Russia have visited the Tsets.
Justices of the Tsets also have visited these and other courts, and they often attend
international conferences. The Tsets organized the Seminar of Asian Constitutional
Justices twice.111
The fourth cultural element is the role of scholars in the constitutional debates.
During the socialist regime, most of the research focused on the socialist Constitution,and there was almost no publication on constitutionalism due to restrictions on
academic freedom. The transition from socialism towards liberal democracy changed
the legal scholarship in Mongolia. Mongolian scholars have been publishing on topics
such as the rule of law, democracy, constitutionalism, and constitutional review. Thesescholars also serve as experts in the Tsets when they are asked to give their opinions on
an issue. For example, Prof. Byambaa, the former constitutional justice, and Prof. Bat-108

For example, B.Gunbileg showed the reasoning of Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Ck Ltd (1892) andAlcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police (1992). Gunbileg B., Jishgiin Erkh Zui, 24–29.
109
Ibid., 92–93.
110
See Tsets, Oct. 24, 2007, Dugnelt No. 10.
111
Byambadorj J., “Mongol Ulsiin Undsen Khuuliin Khyanalt: Tuluv Baidal, Tsaashdiin Khandlaga,”
26–27.

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Chapter Five

Erdene, the current Supreme Court justice, separately submitted their expert opinions on
Prosecutor General’s appeal against the final judgment of a chamber of the Supreme
Court, and both of them doubted constitutionality of this appeal, but the Tsets did notconsider their opinions in its reasoning.112 The Tsets has not made any direct reference
to scholar’s writing or theory. Furthermore, legal scholars are appointed as
constitutional justices, and many of the justices have been law professors. Prof.
Amarsanaa, Prof. Sarantuya, and Prof. Naranchimeg are in the current Tsets. Finally,legal scholars use the popular standing to challenge laws whose constitutionality is
doubtful according to their researches. Scholars often submit a petition as a citizen,
offer better conceptions on constitutional principles, publish the articles on theseprinciples, and give an interview about controversial cases in media. In most of thefamous cases, petitioners were legal scholars, mainly law professors at the National
University of Mongolia.
However, constitutional scholarship needs to be developed in order to strengthen
constitutionalism in Mongolia. In a 2001 international conference in Ulaanbaatar,
Brietzke suggested the following:
Reasoned and justified decisions in each higher court case should be required, published,
and made available on the Internet. Summaries can then be published in the media tostimulate an informed public and legislative debate, while professors can praise orcriticize the full decision… Principled and public criticisms of judges for not consistently
implementing such policies as national security, democracy, development and humanrights do not endanger the judges’ independence, and these criticisms are rather easily
distinguishable from the critic’s mere dislike of well-justified case decisions.113

Brietzke’s suggestion has been partially realized because decisions of higher courts
including the Tsets are available to the public and scholars via the publication or theinternet. Nevertheless, the principled and scholarly criticism of justices and theirdecisions is still unsatisfactory. Section 5.3 showed that more studies on the methods ofconstitutional interpretation are needed in Mongolia.
There is a lack of research on theories and philosophies on basic principles of liberal
democracy. Libertarian political philosophy has been researched and translated since

112
113

Tsets, Dec. 21, 2007, Dugnelt No. 13. See also Tsets, Jan. 7, 1994, Dugnelt No. 1.
Brietzke, “Legal Interpretation in the U.S.,” 87–88.

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Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

2000s.114 However, works by liberal political philosophers such as Locke, Kant, Mill,
Rawls and Dworkin have not been critically examined and systematically translated into
Mongolian though some scholars cite these significant works. The poor development ofpolitical philosophy is one cause of weak liberal democratic culture and poor
constitutional interpretation. Political philosophy can promote the development ofconstitutional interpretation because it helps clarify core problems and elucidate basic
principles of democracy.
Mongolian scholars seldom criticize bad judgments and admire good judgments. A
few scholars sometimes criticize controversial decisions of the Tsets. For example, Prof.
Chimid criticized the Tsets decision that excluded the Government and the Elections
Committee from the review of the administrative courts. 115 Prof. Sarantuya also
analyzed some constitutional cases, pointed out inconsistent reasoning, and argued forthe importance of cases.116 Scholars also support some of the good decisions by the
Tsets against strong political interests. For instance, law professors express through themedia their support for the Tsets decision in Nyamdorj Case.117 However, the few
scholarly comments on the Tsets judgments are not enough. Scholars seldom publish
comments on pressing constitutional issues and conceptions of constitutional principles
before and after the Tsets judgments. Moreover, scholars do not pay much attention to
constitutional case law. Scholars have not published yet any casebook thatcomprehensively analyzes the Tsets judgments and shows the standard of goodreasoning even though they sometimes discuss reasoning in a certain constitutional
decision.118 Thus, scholars rarely discuss alternative interpretations of the Constitution
by the Tsets, and this lack of discussion hinders the development of constitutional
interpretation.
In addition, scholars rarely translate the judgments of foreign and international
courts. Temuujin Kh. used the reasoning of the U.S. Supreme Court in New York Times v.

114

Hayek, Boolchlogdokh Zam; Boaz, Libertarianism (1997); Bergland, Negen Khicheeld Bagtaasan
Libertari Uzel.
115
Chimid B., Tur, nam, erkh zuin shinetgeliin egzegtei asuudluud, 79–96.
116
Sarantuya Ts., “Undsen Khuuliin Shuukhiin Shiidvereer Undsen Khuuliig Khugjuulekh Ni,” 375–382;
Among other cases, Tomas Ginsburg also analyzed cases on the separation of power. See Ginsburg,
Judicial Review in New Democracies, 175–205.
117
For Nyamdorj Case I and II, see Chimid B., “Yariltslaga”; Lundendorj N., “Yariltslaga”; Narangerel
S., “Yariltslaga.”
118
Ts. Sarantuya analyzed some cases in her textbook on constitutional procedure. Sarantuya Ts., Undsen
khuuliin processiin erkh zui, 136. Prof. Amarsanaa is going to publish his constitutional casebook.

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Chapter Five

Sullivan (1964) for interpreting freedom of expression. 119 Nonetheless, the whole
reasoning in New York Times and the U.S. theories (instrumental and constructive
theories) on freedom of speech have not being discussed yet in Mongolia. Temuujin’s
argument against prohibiting the drivers from organizing an assembly with their tractors
also rested on the German concept of an untouchable core of basic rights. Scholars
mention sometimes this concept in the law journals and the Tsets used a similar concept
once,120 but the German explanation of this concept has not discussed in detail. The
best decisions of the courts like the U.S. Supreme Court, the Federal Constitutional
Court of Germany, and the ECHR have not been translated systematically into
Mongolian.
The fifth cultural element includes civic participation in the constitutional discussion,and Mongolian citizens participate in two ways. First, citizens submit notifications andpetitions to the Tsets, and they have initiated almost all of constitutional cases. As aresult of the right to initiate abstract review, citizens can challenge constitutionality oflaws and other acts except the judicial judgments that violate their own rights. As
Chapter 3 showed above, citizens submit not only notifications for protecting theConstitution, but also petitions challenging constitutionality of statues and other actsthat violated their own individual rights. In the Tsets, citizens and the representatives of
the SGKh have the equal amount of time and access to discuss which interpretations of
the Constitution are best. Second, citizens informally participate in the constitutional
discussions with the help of the media, and they get educated on constitutional issues.
Journalists sometimes write about controversial constitutional cases and interview legal
scholars though they do not analyze the court reasoning. For example, journalists
criticized much the actions of Chairperson Nyamdorj and the constituency grant.
Because of the free media and citizens’ attention to controversial issues, MPs often
discuss whether their proposed bills would be challenged before the Tsets. Moreover,citizens support the decisions protecting basic rights and restricting the arbitrary powerof the government. Complete research is lacking on how strong the reputation of the
Tsets is, but the internet-polls conducted by two prestigious newspapers in 2007 showthat a majority of participants supported the judgments in Nyamdorj Case andConstituency Grant Case.121

119

See Temuujin Kh., Jus Frast buyu Yost Ug, 82–90.
See Tsets, Apr. 21, 1993, Dugnelt No. 2; Tsets, May. 26, 1993, Togtool No. 3.
121“Odoogiin Sanal Asuulgiin Ur Dun 1”; “Odoogiin Sanal Asuulgiin Ur Dun 2”; “Sanal Asuulgiin
Dun.”
120

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Constitutional Interpretation in Mongolia

A democratic regime can endure only when a majority of its citizens support it as
Section 4.4 showed. Thus, citizens’ education on democracy is important. Both
constitutional review in general and the citizen’s right to submit petitions andnotifications on any matter within the jurisdiction of the Tsets play vital educationalroles, but they are not sufficient. In Mongolia, high school curriculum does not containany course similar to the one discussed in Section 4.4.122 Thus, students hardly have theopportunity to learn basic principles and ideas of liberal democracy, to discuss thecurrent political issues according to these principles and ideas and to develop skills toconstruct reasoned judgment.

Conclusions

Chapter 5 analyzed constitutional case law and constitutional interpretations in
Mongolia. Some judgments of the Tsets are well reasoned, include bases of the moral
reading of the Constitution, and protect fundamental rights. Moreover, the judgments ofthis court improve the law-making process of the SGKh. However, most judgments ofthis court lack reasoning or misinterpret the Constitution; thus politicize the court, slow
the development of constitutionalism, and weaken the protection of fundamental rights.
The Tsets often uses methods similar to strict constructionism and originalism rather
than the moral reading of the Constitution. Mongolian scholars have paid attention to
the lack of reasoning in the judicial judgments and been working to improve thereasoning of judgment by supporting the publication of judicial judgments andencouraging case analysis. On the other hand, scholars have neither discussed the lackof reasoning comprehensively nor offered sophisticated solutions to it. There is noenough research on the issue of constitutional interpretation in Mongolia.

122

President Elbegdorj Ts. initiated a course called Civics for the schoolchildren in 2009, and this course
has been taught in the schools. However, the Civics course does not cover all the liberal democraticvalues as suggested in this book.

219

Conclusion: Recommendations for BetterProtection of Fundamental Rights in Mongolia

According to the 1992 Constitution of Mongolia, the Constitutional Court (Tsets)
performs constitutional review and has made decisions on constitutionality of laws andother acts. However, this court provides insufficient protection of fundamental rights
and the rule of law even though some of its decisions are well reasoned. The fivechapters of this book have examined the question of how to improve the protection ofthese rights through the Tsets. Each chapter has included a conclusion, which does notneed to be repeated again here. Instead, it may be useful to give concrete
recommendations based on the discussions made in all the five chapters. The
recommendations will be related to two issues: (1) constitutional review and (2)constitutional interpretation.

Recommendations on the institutional improvement of the Tsets
To reflect the typical characteristics of the European model of constitutional review,
the Tsets should be institutionally improved in four ways. First, a candidate to this court
should be at least a legal professional, and a statutory amendment is required for this.
According to the current practice, non-legal professional politicians, who areunqualified to work as a justice, can be appointed to the Tsets.
Second, the independence of the Tsets should be improved so that justices can makea reasoned decision free from political pressures. The statement that the court isindependent is not enough, so it should be guaranteed by constitutional mechanisms.
The independence of the Tsets is weak because a simple majority (more than 1/2) of theState Great Khural (the SGKh) appoints justices for a renewable term of six years. Thus,

220

Conclusion

an amendment that a super-majority (2/3 or 3/4) of the SGKh appoints justices for a
non-renewable term of 9-12 years can improve the independence of the Tsets.
Third, the jurisdiction of the Tsets should be improved according to that of theFederal Constitutional Court of Germany. The existing practice is that any citizen can
submit a petition (or a notification) on any constitutional matter except the judgments ofordinary courts, and that the Supreme Court and the SGKh can send a request to the
Tsets. This book suggests that citizens should have the right to submit petitions against
the violation of their own constitutional rights by an ordinary court or an administrative
organ (the individual complaint), that citizens should have the right to submit
notification concerning only a pending case (as amicus curiae brief rather than actio
popularis) to the Tsets, that any ordinary judge should have the right to directly refer aconstitutional question related to their concrete cases to the Tsets, and that a minority ofMPs should have the right to challenge the constitutionality of legislation adopted by
the SGKh.
Fourth, the two-stage procedure of the Tsets should be replaced by the single-stage
procedure, the classic procedure of the European model, in which constitutional courts
directly make the final, binding judgments. Under the two-stage procedure, the Tsets
makes and submits a conclusion to the SGKh. If the SGKh does not accept thisconclusion, then the court delivers the final decision. The two-stage procedure issuitable for a transitional period, but it harms the authority and independence of thecourt. Along with Mongolian democracy, the SGKh and the Tsets has gained
considerable experiences in two decades. The replacement for the single-stage
procedure requires an amendment to the Constitution. If this amendment is impractical,
the Tsets can still improve the protection of the Constitution by delivering reasoned
judgments. These reasoned judgments may make the SGKh discuss seriously thereasons based on constitutional law, and can therefore promote a dialogue between the
Tsets and the SGKh. Moreover, the two-stage procedure should be limited to only to theabstract review initiated by the request, but the single-stage procedure should be used todecide petitions submitted by citizens.

Recommendations for bettering the interpretation of the Constitution by the Tsets
After reviewing the constitutional interpretation in the U.S. and Europe andanalyzing Mongolian constitutional cases, this book recommends changes in theconstitutional interpretation and culture because the institutional improvement of the221Conclusion

Tsets is significant, but insufficient for the better protection of fundamental rights. The
Tsets can improve its constitutional interpretation if it continuously makes reasoned
judgments by using an appropriate method, notably the moral reading, in interpreting
the Constitution. According to this method, judges should treat the Constitution as acharter of abstract moral principles and make the best interpretation of these principles
with the best arguments based on the constitutional text, structure and principles
justifying precedents. The Tsets should also always decide matters related toconstitutional principles rather than social policies and respect the priority of principles
over policies. The moral reading provides for an interpretation that assists the protectionof fundamental rights better than strict constructionism and originalism to which the
Tsets often appeals in its judgments.
Moreover, the book suggests encouraging five changes in the constitutional cultureof Mongolia. First, the Tsets should respect precedents in a principled way and overrule
poor precedents if there are enough reasons to do so. Second, constitutional justices
should be allowed to publish separate opinions (concurring or dissenting). Third,
justices can improve their own reasoning by using or referring to the reasoning of
foreign judicial judgments. The judgments of the Tsets should also be translated into
English so that foreign scholars can give feedbacks. Fourth, scholars should actively
participate in the constitutional discussions. Scholars can contribute to strengthening
democracy by translating the best of foreign judicial judgments, publishing books on
constitutional theory and philosophy, authoring constitutional case books, writing
articles on constitutional problems, providing their arguments on issues pending in the
Tsets, and critically evaluating the judgments of the Tsets. Scholars should also evaluate
the appropriateness of candidates to the Tsets by showing whether they are capable ofissuing a reasoned decision and what constitutional philosophy and convictions theyhold in interpreting the Constitution. Moreover, scholars should critically examine thedevelopment of the rule of law (the Rechtsstaat). If the conceptions of the rule of law
are contested and supported by arguments, the importance and meaning of this ideal will
become clear. Fifth, high school curriculum should include a course on basic principles
and ideas of liberal democracy and teach students skills to discuss controversial politicalissues according to these principles and ideas.
The proper interpretation of the Constitution is significant for new democracies suchas Mongolia. By improving the constitutional interpretation and reasoning, justices andscholars can cooperate in strengthening liberal constitutionalism even if the institutionalsetting of the Tsets is unchanged. The institutional improvement of the court is difficult
because it requires amendments to the Constitution and to the laws, which depend on

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Conclusion

the politics in the SGKh. Even if the Tsets is institutionally improved according to therecognized standards of the European model, it still may not fully protect fundamental
rights and other principles unless it adopts the principled attitude and the moral readingof the Constitution.
The recommended changes in constitutional interpretation and culture would
develop the constitutional discussions in Mongolia. The active usage of the moral
reading may not always bring the right answer to a case, but it can create a deliberative
forum for discussion and encourage the Tsets to choose a better interpretation of theConstitution. That is, the moral reading promotes the discourse among judges, scholars,
and the public in which they talk about the best interpretation, and the judges choose
finally one of the interpretations. Those who support a certain interpretation of theConstitution could reasonably accept the decision if the Tsets delivers good reasons andrespect the integrity of constitutional law. The improvement of constitutional discussion
gradually lead to a better protection of fundamental rights because unreasonableinterpretations and contradicting arguments are often criticized, corrected, andmarginalized in the process. For example, the Tsets can hardly refuse to protect
international human rights in a judgment without good justifications though it protects
these rights in other judgments. This kind of refusal would seem arbitrary in the
deliberative forum.

223

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241

Appendix I
Selected Provisions of the Constitution ofMongolia

We, the people of Mongolia:- Strengthening the independence and sovereignty of the state,- Cherishing human rights and freedoms, justice and national unity,- Inheriting the traditions of national statehood, history and culture,- Respecting the accomplishments of human civilization,- And aspiring toward the supreme objective of building a human, civil anddemocratic society in our homeland. For these reasons, do hereby proclaim anddeclare to the all populace this Constitution of Mongolia.
Chapter One
Sovereignty of the Mongolian State
Article One
2. The fundamental principles of the activities of the State shall be securing
democracy, justice, freedom, equality, national unity and rule of law.
Article Three
1. In Mongolia state power shall be vested in the people of Mongolia. The
Mongolian people shall exercise it through their direct participation in state affairs aswell as through the representative bodies of the State authority elected by them.
2. Illegal seizure of State power or any attempt to do so shall be prohibited.
Article Nine
1. The State shall respect the religions and the religions shall honor the State.
2. State institutions shall not engage in religious activities and the Church shall not242

Selected Provisions of the Constitution of Mongolia

carry out political activities.
3. The relationship between the State and the Church shall be regulated by law.
Article Ten
1. Mongolia shall adhere to the universally recognized norms and principles ofinternational law and pursue a peaceful foreign policy.
2. Mongolia shall fulfill in good faith its obligations under international treaties towhich it is a Party.
3. The international treaties to which Mongolia is a Party shall become effective as
domestic legislation upon the entry into force of the laws on their ratification oraccession.
4. Mongolia shall not abide by any international treaty or other instruments
incompatible with its Constitution.
Chapter Two
Human Rights and Freedoms
Article Fourteenl. All persons lawfully residing within Mongolia are equal before the law and the
Court.
2. No person shall be discriminated against on the basis of ethnic origin, language,race, age, sex, social origin and status, property, occupation and position, religion,
opinion and education. Every one shall be a person before the law.
Article Sixteen
The citizens of Mongolia are guaranteed to enjoy the following rights and freedoms:
1) the right to life. Deprivation of human life shall be strictly prohibited unlesscapital punishment is imposed by due judgment of the Court for the most serious crimes,
pursuant to Mongolian Criminal law.
2) the right to a healthy and safe environment, and to be protected against
environmental pollution and ecological imbalance.
3) the right to fair acquisition, possession, ownership and inheritance of movable andimmovable property. Illegal confiscation and requisitioning of the private property of
citizens shall be prohibited. If the State and its bodies appropriate private property on
the basis of exclusive public need, they shall do so with due compensation and payment.
4) the right to free choice of employment, favorable conditions of work,
remuneration, rest and private farming. No one shall be subjected to forced labor.
5) the right to material and financial assistance in old age, disability,
childbirth and childcare and in other circumstances as provided by law.

243

Appendix I6) the right to the protection of health and medical care. The procedure andconditions of free medical aid shall be determined by law.
7) the right to education. The state shall provide basic general education free ofcharge; Citizens may establish and operate private schools if these meet therequirements of the State.
8) the right to engage in creative work in cultural, artistic and scientific fields and tobenefit thereof. Copyrights and patents shall be protected by law.
9) the right to take part in the conduct of State affairs directly or throughrepresentative bodies. The right to elect and to be elected to State bodies. The right toelect shall be enjoyed from the age of eighteen years and the age of eligibility for being
elected shall be determined by law according to the requirements in respect of thebodies or positions concerned.
10) the right to form a party or other mass organization and freedom of association tothese organizations on the basis of social and personal interests and opinion. All
political parties and other mass organizations shall uphold public order and state
security, and abide by law. Discrimination and persecution of a person for joining apolitical party or other mass organization or for being their member shall be prohibited.
Party membership of some categories of state employees may be suspended.
11) men and women shall enjoy equal rights in political, economic, social, cultural
fields and in family relationship. Marriage shall be based on the equality and mutual
consent of the spouses who have reached the age determined by law. The State shallprotect the interests of the family, motherhood and the child.
12) the right to submit a petition or a complaint to State bodies and officials. The
State bodies and officials shall be obliged to respond to the petitions or complaints ofcitizens in conformity with law.
13) the right to personal liberty and safety. No one shall be searched, arrested,detained, persecuted or restricted of liberty except in accordance with procedures andgrounds determined by law. No person shall be subjected to torture, inhumane, cruel ordegrading treatment. Where a person is arrested his/her family and counsel shall be
notified within a period of time established by law of the reasons for and grounds of thearrest. The privacy of citizens, their families, correspondence and homes shall beprotected by law.
14) the right to appeal to the court to protect his/her rights if he/she considers that therights or freedoms as spelt out by the Mongolian law or an international treaty havebeen violated; to be compensated or the damage illegally caused by others; not totestify against himself/herself, his/her family, or parents and children; to self-defense; toreceive legal assistance; to have evidence examined; to fair trial; to be tried in his/her

244

Selected Provisions of the Constitution of Mongolia

presence; to appeal against a court decision, to seek pardon. Compelling to testify
against himself/ herself shall be prohibited. Every person shall be presumed innocent
until proved guilty by a court by due process of law. The penalties imposed on theconvicted shall not be applicable to his/her family members and relatives.
15) freedom of conscience and religion.
16) freedom of thought, opinion and expression, speech, press, peaceful assembly.
Procedures for organizing demonstrations and other assemblies shall be determined bylaw.
17) the right to seek and receive information except that which the state and its
bodies are legally bound to protect as secret. In order to protect human rights, dignity
and reputation of persons and to ensure State defense, national security and public order
secrets of the State, organization or individuals, which are not subject to disclosure shallbe determined and protected by law.
l8) the right to freedom of movement and residence within the country, right to travel
and reside abroad and to return to their home country. The right to travel and resideabroad may be limited exclusively by law in order to ensure national security and the
security of the population and protect public order.
Article Nineteen
1. The State shall be responsible to the citizens for the creation of economic, social,legal and other guarantees ensuring human rights and freedoms, to fight against
violations of human rights and freedoms and to restore infringed rights.
2. In case of announcement of a state of emergency or martial law, the human rights
and freedoms as determined by the Constitution and other laws shall be subject tolimitation only by a law. Such a law shall not affect the right to life, the freedom ofthought, conscience and religion, as well as the right not to be subjected to torture,inhuman and cruel treatment.
3. In exercising his/her rights and freedoms one shall not infringe the national
security, rights and freedoms of others or violate public order.
Chapter Three
State system of Mongolia
Article Twenty
The State Great Khural of Mongolia is the highest organ of State power and thelegislative power shall be vested solely in the State Great Khural.
Article Twenty one
2. The members of the State Great Khural shall be elected by citizens eligible for245

Appendix I

election, on the basis of universal, free, direct suffrage by secret ballot for a term of four
years.
Article Twenty three
1. A member of the State Great Khural shall be an envoy of the people and shallrepresent and uphold the interests of all the citizens and the State.
Article Twenty five
1. The State Great Khural may consider on its initiative any issue pertaining todomestic and foreign policies of the State, and shall keep within its exclusive power thefollowing issues and decide thereon:
1) to enact laws, make amendments to them;6) to appoint, replace or remove the Prime Minister, members of the Government andother bodies responsible and accountable to the State Great Khural as provided for bylaw;7) to define the State's financial, credit, tax and monetary policies; to lay down theguidelines for the country's economic and social development; to approve theGovernment's program of action, the State budget and the report on its execution;8) to supervise the implementation of laws and other decisions of the State Great
Khural;Article Thirty
1. The President shall be the Head of State and embodiment of the unity of theMongolian people.
2. An indigenous citizen of Mongolia, who has attained the age of forty-five years
and has permanently resided as a minimum for the last five years in Mongolia, shall be
eligible for election to the post of President for a term of four years.
Article Thirty three
1. The President shall exercise the following power:
1/ to exercise a right to veto against all or part of laws and other decisions adopted by
the State Great Khural. The laws or decisions shall remain in force if two thirds of themembers of the State Great Khural present in the session do not accept the President's
veto;
Article Thirty eight
1. The Government is the highest executive body of the State.
2. The Government shall implement the State laws, in accordance with duties todirect economic, social and cultural development, shall exercise the following power:
1/ to organize and ensure nationwide implementation of the Constitution and otherlaws;
2/ to work out a comprehensive policy on science and technology, guidelines for246

Selected Provisions of the Constitution of Mongolia

economic and social development, the State budget, credit and fiscal plans and to
submit these to the State Great Khural and to execute decisions taken thereon;
Chapter Four
Judiciary
Article Forty seven
1. In Mongolia the judicial power shall be vested exclusively in courts.
2. The unlawful establishment of a court under any circumstances and exercise of
judicial power by any organization other than court shall be prohibited.
Article Forty nine
1. Judges shall be independent and subject only to law.
Chapter FiveThe Constitutional Tsets of Mongolia
Article Sixty four
1. The Constitutional tsets shall be an organ exercising supreme supervision over the
implementation of the Constitution, making judgment on the violation of its provisions
and resolving constitutional disputes. It shall be the guarantee for the strict observanceof the Constitution.
2. The Constitutional tsets and its members in the execution of their duties shall be
subject to the Constitution only and shall be independent of any organizations, officials
or any other person.
3. The independence of the members of the Constitutional tsets shall be ensured by
the guarantees set out in the Constitution and other laws.
Article Sixty five
1. The Constitutional tsets shall consist of 9 members. Members of the Constitutionaltsets shall be appointed by the State Great Khural for a term of six years upon thenomination of three of them by the State Great Khural, three by the President and theremaining three by the Supreme Court.
2. A member of the Constitutional tsets shall be a Mongolian citizen who has reachedforty years of age and has a high political and legal qualification.
3. The Chairman of the Constitutional tsets shall be elected from among 9 members
for a term of three years by a majority vote among the members of the Constitutionaltsets. He/she can be re-elected once.
4. If the Chairman or a member of the Constitutional tsets violates the law, he/she

247Appendix I

may be withdrawn by the State Great Khural based on the decision of the Constitutionaltsets and on the suggestion of the institution that nominated him/her.
5. The President, members of the State Great Khural, the Prime Minister, members of
the government and the Supreme Court shall not be members of the Constitutional tsets.
Article Sixty six
1. The Constitutional tsets shall examine and settle constitutional disputes on its own
initiative on the basis of petitions and information received from citizens or at therequest of the State Great Khural, the President, the Prime Minister, the Supreme Court
and the Prosecutor General.
2. The Constitutional tsets, in accordance with Paragraph 1 of this Article, shall makeand submit conclusions to the State Great Khural on the following disputed matters:1) the conformity of laws, decrees and other decisions of the State Great Khural and
the President, as well as Government decisions and international treaties to which
Mongolia is a party with the Constitution;2) the conformity of national referenda and decisions of the Central election
authority on the elections of the State Great Khural and its members as well as on
Presidential elections with the Constitution;3) whether the President, Chairman and members of the State Great Khural, thePrime Minister, members of the Government, the Chief Justice of the Supreme court
and the Prosecutor General have breached the law;4) whether the grounds for the removal of the President, Chairman of the State Great
Khural and the Prime Minister and for the recall of members of the State Great Khural
existed.
3. If a conclusion submitted in accordance with sub-paragraph 1 and 2 of Paragraph 2of this Article is not accepted by the State Great Khural, the Constitutional tsets shall reexamine it and make a final judgment.
4. If the Constitutional tsets decides that the laws, decrees and other decisions of theState Great Khural and the President as well as Government decisions and international
treaties to which Mongolia is a party are inconsistent with the Constitution, the laws,
decrees, instruments of ratification and decisions in question shall be considered invalid.
Article Sixty sevenDecisions of the Constitutional tsets shall enter into force immediately.
Chapter Six
Amendment to the Constitution of Mongolia
Article Sixty eight248

Selected Provisions of the Constitution of Mongolial. Amendments to the Constitution shall be initiated by organization and officials
enjoying the right to legislative initiative and could be submitted by the Constitutionaltsets to the State Great Khural.
2. A national referendum on constitutional amendment may be held on the
concurrence of not less than two thirds of the members of the State Great Khural.
Article Sixty ninel. An amendment to the Constitution shall be adopted by not less than three-quartersof votes of all members of the State Great Khural.
2. A draft amendment to the Constitution which has twice failed to win a threequarters majority of votes of all members of the State Great Khural shall not be subject
to consideration until the State Great Khural sits in a new composition following
general elections.
3. The State Great Khural shall not undertake amendment of the Constitution within
6 months prior to general elections.
4. Amendments that have been adopted shall carry the same force as the Constitution.
Article Seventy
1. Laws, decrees and other decisions of state bodies, and activities of all otherorganizations and citizens should be in full conformity with the Constitution.

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Appendix 2
Caseloads of the Tsets (1992-2010)
Year
1

1992

Conclusions(cases)
1

2
3
4
5

1993
1994
1995
1996

4
9
7
10

6
7

1997
1998

6

9

8

1999

1

9

2000

4

10
11
12
13

2001
2002
2003
2004

2
4
3
3

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Important events and factors
The MPRP, the former socialist party, became
majority in the SGKh.
The SGKh established the Tsets and appointed its firstjustices in late 1992. Criminal law professor Sovd G.,
who was Deputy Prosecutor General and Deputy Chief
Judge of the Supreme Court, was elected as the first
chief justice by other justices. The Sovd Court decided
43 cases for six years.

The Democratic Union (the union of opposition
parties) became a majority for the first time in the
SGKh.
Jantsan S. who was member of the SSKh (19901992), section director of the Central Committee of the
MPRP (1986-1990), and prosecutor (1984-1986), waselected as the second chief justice by other justices of
the Tsets. Chief Justice Jantsan started to preside at the
court hearing in October 1998, and his court was themost passive. This court decided only 18 cases for six
years, and the average workload was from one to four
each year. This number was almost two times less than
the number of cases decided by the Sovd Court. Jantsan
was Chief Justice during the constitutional crisis of late
1990s, and he is the longest serving member of the
Tsets, reappointed four times since 1992.
Constitutional crisis began to intensify. The SGKhamended the Constitution for the first time, and the
Tsets invalidated this amendment.
The MPRP won 72 of 76 seats in the SGKh election.
The SGKh reenacted the constitutional amendment thatwas exactly as with the one invalidated by the Tsets in
1999.

The MPRP got 37 of 76 parliamentary seats, andMotherland-Democracy Coalition got 34 seats in theCaseloads of the Tsets (1992-2010)

14

2005

9

15
16
17

2006
2007
2008

13
13
10

18

2009

8

19

2010

8

20

2011

5
130

SGKh election. However, the Coalition collapsed soon,
so the MPRP became a party having the biggest numberof parliamentary seats.
Byambadorj J., who graduated the Faculty of Law, theNational University of Mongolia and was a member of
the SGKh (1992-2004), was appointed to the Tsets by
the SGKh and elected as Chief Justice by other justices.
The Byambadorj Court was more active than the court
under the previous two chief justices. This court
decided 64 cases (2005-2010), which was almost sameas all cases decided in the previous 12 years. Moreover,the Byambadorj Court was more ambitious forprotecting the Constitution. For example, this court
decided two famous cases, Nyamdorj Case andConstituency Grant Case in 2007, and it made several
important decisions for protecting its own independence
from the SGKh.
Perhaps, Chief Justice Byambadorj’s background as apolitician, a leader of the MPRP, was related to his
court’s activism and ambition. However, he sometimes
did not obey the norms of judicial conduct. For
example, Chief Justice Byambadorj declared the media
conference, and gave some policy recommendations
concerning the draft Law on the SGKh Election in 2010.
The Byambadorj Court was also able to get thebudget of building a new palace from the SGKh that had
been reluctant to increase the judicial budget in generalsince 1992.
The MPRP won a clear majority in the SGKh (46 of
76 parliamentary seats), but it established a coalition
government with the Democratic Party, the biggest
opposition party.
The Tsets moved to its own new palace separated
from the legislature and the government.
The terms of five justices including Chief Justice
Byambadorj finished in the end of 2010 and the
beginning of 2011. All of these justices but Chief
Justice Byambadorj were reappointed to the Tsets by the
SGKh.

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