This was not particularly uncommon at that time. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of BloombergQuint or its editorial team. Attorney General of India K K Venugopal is reported to have said, in his personal capacity, that constitutional morality is a dangerous weapon and that he hoped it would “die at birth”. Speaking against the motion, Senior Advocate KV Vishwanathan said it is better to have a judiciary that confronts the executive than to have a judiciary that is cosy with the executive. Bloomberg | Quint is a multiplatform, Indian business and financial news company. Only a year previously, in June 1912, a leading member of the New York Bar, William Dameron Guthrie, had delivered an address at the Pennsylvania Bar Association where he had spoken about Grote’s “constitutional morality”. However, in the Basic Structure case (1973), the Supreme Court held that there are implied limits on Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution – that Parliament cannot destroy the “basic structure” of the Constitution. Second, the doctrine of constitutional morality led the Court to hold that it plays a counter-majoritarian role within the constitutional scheme. KK Venugopal delivers the keynote address in Delhi. "The problem started when constitutional morality started to be used interchangeably with social morality; what is socially moral has to be constitutional," Mehta remarked. I would then speak on the historical and juridical underpinning of ‘constitutional morality’. It consists of all things like equality, affirmative action and right to religion. dangerous instrumentality doctrine in light of social policy and traditional tort law objectives, particularly when the vehicle owner is a for-profit enterprise.13. Expressing dissent over the interference of the top court, Venugopal said, "The Preamble of the Constitution reads, 'we, the people'. ANI. Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand also spoke against the motion. He was a man of integrity and a God-fearing leader. In fact, the task of defining ‘constitutional morality’ has now been referred to a bench of seven judges of the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta started his address on a humorous note, saying: "The Supreme Court held, in 2011, that Right to Sleep is a fundamental right. Sign up for a weekly curated briefing of the most important strategic affairs stories from across the world. Richard Posner, The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory, 111 HARV. Join our, How To Sign Up For BloombergQuint Story Notifications. You cannot use it. In this view, constitutional morality refers to the conventions and protocols that govern decision-making where the constitution vests discretionary power or is silent. The constitutional morality is nowhere located in constitution and it is necessary to do the same, as there is evident danger that might concept be used in constitutional courts as per the whim and fancies of judicial brains as in absence of definite clarity and consensus being reached on the doctrine. How to uphold constitutional morality. I hope constitutional morality dies.". By going against the convention and taking a moral high ground, you act as a preserver of constutional values. But what does ‘constitutional morality’ really mean and is it a dangerous weapon in the hands of unelected judges? While arriving at its decision, the Delhi High Court asked itself an interesting question: could the section be upheld because homosexuality was against “public morality”? while talking about the history of conflict between the judiciary and the legislature, UK approves Pfizer vaccine: Fantastic news, says PM Boris Johnson, but EU remains sceptical, 'Won't change my mind on election fraud claims': Donald Trump indicates continued fight in first post-poll interview, Farmers' protest: Dushyant Chautala hopes deadlock over agri laws will end after Centre's offer, 9 Months Season 5 Episode 1 | Pregnancy & Gearing Up for Delivery, The Earth, Space & the Human Race Podcast Ep 10: Role of everyday citizens in India\'s climate movement. she asked. On the other hand, much constitutional doctrine itself is vague. Why has the Supreme Court judgment on Sabarimala not been enforced in Kerala?" Maybe the illiteracy today is 26 percent, but even those (people living in the villages and rural areas), they have basic wisdom and they know what is good for them. Constitutional morality provides a principled understanding for unfolding the work of governance. As far as Indian Judiciary is concerned, there are many doctrines. In his treatise, Grote wrote of Cleisthenes of Athens (c. 570 BCE – c. 508), the founder of Athenian democracy. “Use of constitutional morality can be very, very dangerous and we can't be sure where it'll lead us to. This is an unremarkable proposition. He believed in the Bible and the God of the Bible. In this article, we will be dealing all important Indian Judicial Doctrines. While speaking at the Second J Dadachanji Memorial Debate in Delhi, Venugopal said that if constitutional morality still breathed, first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's fear that the Supreme Court will become the third chamber of Parliament might come true. It would behoove us all to read more about him and learn from his example. This doctrine has been employed to supersede constitutional text. This overview is based on the premise that two primary goals of tort law are 1995] Instrumentality Doctrine 179 14. The constitutional morality is nowhere located in Constitution of India and it is necessary to do the same, as there is evident danger that might concept be used in constitutional Courts as per the whim and fancies of Judicial brains as in absence of definite clarity and consensus being reached on the doctrine. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Secondly, constitutional morality requires courts to look at the “spirit”, “soul” or “conscience” of the Constitution, and not just at the constitution’s words, while deciding whether the government has done something wrong. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison. 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