This essay explores the impact of N.D. and N.T. v. Spain on the ECHR system. The case deals with the immediate return of aliens at Melilla’s border fence. Based on conceptual analysis, the author submits to critical scrutiny the arguments developed by the ECtHR. The Court’s reasoning is framed within the riveting interdisciplinary debate on external border control. The Grand Chamber’s final decision reduces the scope of the protection offered by Article 4 Protocol 4, for it introduces a highly indeterminate exception to the prohibition of summary returns at the border. The author suggests that this solution might favor non-entrée strategies and promote the current trend of externalizing the asylum procedures. Introducing broad exceptions to the prohibition of collective expulsion, especially if coupled with strong presumptions in favor of States, increases the effectiveness of border walls qua accountability waivers.
Freedom of expression has been often described as a necessary precondition for democracy and for the implementation of an effective system of human rights. A deliberative democracy cannot function if citizens are not granted the fundamental right to express their views and to criticize the government without being censored.1 The rule of law becomes an empty notion if legal orders do not protect the impartial, autonomous judgments of the judiciary.2
El objetivo del presente trabajo es delinear un balance del de- bate sobre el escepticismo interpretativo de Riccardo Guastini, debate pu- blicado en el numero XI de la revista Discusiones, en el año 2012. Voy a expresar algunas ideas sobre un punto específico del debate: la distinción entre interpretación en abstracto e interpretación en concreto. Intentaré defender la siguiente tesis: la mejor reformulación de la distinción entre interpretación en abstracto e interpretación en concreto se funda en una teoría del significado que define: a) el producto de la interpretación en abstracto como el sentido de una disposición; b) el producto de la interpretación en concreto como la referencia de una norma; c) la actividad de interpretación en concreto como una estipulación de la referencia mediante un acto de adscripción. Para defender esta tesis me apoyaré en la noción de reference-determiner elaborada por Gillian Russell.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.