In 1973, the Supreme Court of India became the first Constitutional Court in the world to recognize implied limitation on amendment power (Basic Structure Theory) of the legislature in the famous Kesavananda Bharati Case.[1] The Supreme Court declared that the original constitution contains certain features that are beyond amendment. The judgment was denounced by many constitutional experts...

Applying Basic Structure Theory To Strike Down Original Provision Of The Constitution: A Strange Tale In Honduras

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Unlike other jurisdictions where the basic structure theory is applied by distinguishing between the 'original' and 'derivative' constituent power, the Honduran Court application of the theory to strike down original constitutional text is the result of placing international law as a higher law in the hierarchy of norms. In Court's view, principles of International, such as human rights law, created a hierarchy of constitutional norms in which fundamental rights provisions of the constitution found in international human rights law were at the top. The Court, to substantiate its reasoning, relied on Article 15 of the Honduran Constitution which states that Honduras 'makes its own principles and practices of international law that promote the solidarity and self-determination of peoples, nonintervention and strengthening of universal peace and democracy'. The Court's interpretation of the article, thus, established a constitutional block that allowed certain principles of international law become part of the Honduran Constitutional order.
[1] AIR 1973 SC 1
[2] Carlos Bernal, 'Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendment: in the case study of Colombia: An analysis and Justification and Meaning of the Constitutional Amendment Doctrine', (2013) 11 I. CON, 339–357, 346
[3] Translated version of the decision in DCC 11- 067 available at Constitution net; https://www.constitutionnet.org/case-law/report/dcc-11-067
[4] Honduras Constitution,1982 art.239
[5] David Landau, 'Honduras: Term Limits Drama 2.0 - how the Supreme Court declared the Constitution Unconstitutional", Constitutionnet, published on 27.05.2015, available at http://constitutionnet.org/news/honduras-term-limits-drama-20-how-supreme-court-declared-constitution-unconstitutional
[6] David Landau, Rosalind Dixon and Yaniv Roznai, "From Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendment to an Unconstitutional Constitution? Lessons from Honduras", Forthcoming in Global Constitutionalism, at pg.9
[7] Decision of April 22, 2015 as discussed in David Landau, Rosalind Dixon and Yaniv Roznai, "From Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendment to an Unconstitutional Constitution? Lessons from Honduras", Forthcoming in Global Constitutionalism, at pg. 10
[8] Ibid
[9] David Landau, Rosalind Dixon and Yaniv Roznai, "Term Limits and the Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendment Doctrine: Lessons from Latin America", Forthcoming in Alexander Baturo and Robert Elgie eds., Politics of Presidential Term Limits (Oxford University Press). 12
[10] Ibid at 13
[11]S Choudhry, 'Transnational constitutionalism and a limited doctrine of unconstitutional constitutional amendment: A reply to Rosalind Dixon and David Landau' (2017) 15(3) International Journal of Constitutional Law 826, 828