Robert Alexy’s balancing: Why not?

Robert Alexy presents his peculiar theory of principles, especially the instrument of balancing, as a mechanism to combat judicial arbitrariness. This article investigates the powers granted to the judge by Alexy’s balancing operation: power to assign weight to the “importance” of legal goods and r...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Fabio Peixoto
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina 2024-03-01
Series:Espaço Jurídico
Subjects:
Online Access:https://periodicos.unoesc.edu.br/espacojuridico/article/view/34299
Description
Summary:Robert Alexy presents his peculiar theory of principles, especially the instrument of balancing, as a mechanism to combat judicial arbitrariness. This article investigates the powers granted to the judge by Alexy’s balancing operation: power to assign weight to the “importance” of legal goods and rights in balancing; power to discover ‘principles’ to be balanced; power to assign meaning to the normative text in order to form the input of balancing; power to identify the presence in the concrete case of a constitutional right, in order to use balancing even in cases in which the legislator has established a ‘rule’. The conclusion is that Alexy’s balancing is not a legitimate possibility in a Rule of Law, because it makes no claim to control the practically absolute powers granted to judges.
ISSN:1519-5899
2179-7943