Stone, Adrienne --- "The Comparative Constitutional Law of Freedom of Expression" [2011] ELECD 382; in Ginsburg, Tom; Dixon, Rosalind (eds), "Comparative Constitutional Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Comparative Constitutional Law

Editor(s): Ginsburg, Tom; Dixon, Rosalind

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848445390

Section: Chapter 22

Section Title: The Comparative Constitutional Law of Freedom of Expression

Author(s): Stone, Adrienne

Number of pages: 16

Extract:

22. The comparative constitutional law of freedom of
expression
Adrienne Stone



Freedom of expression is among the most widely protected of constitutional rights. Rights of
freedom of expression can be found in constitutions drawn from all continents: throughout
western Europe as well as in the constitutions of the new democracies of Eastern Europe, in
constitutions in Asia, South America, Africa and Australasia (Barendt 2005; Krotoszynski
2006; Rishworth et al. 2003; Currie and de Waal 2005; Stone 2005).
Even in those few democracies without comprehensive constitutional protection of rights,
freedom of expression finds constitutional protection in other ways. It can plausibly be argued
that parliamentary systems like the United Kingdom and New Zealand ­ even in the era
before the adoption of charters of rights ­ recognized a constitutional principle of freedom of
expression that, though not enforceable by judicial review, was understood as a fundamental
value that informed the reading of statutes and the common law (Barendt 2005, p. 40;
Rishworth et al. 2003, p. 308). In addition, there are some legal systems that recognize a judi-
cially enforceable principle of freedom of expression despite the absence of a written consti-
tutional right. The Australian Constitution contains no textual provision that protects freedom
of expression but the Australian courts have recognized an unwritten principle of freedom of
`political communication' as a necessary incident of the establishment of democratic govern-
ment (Stone 2005). A somewhat similar development has occurred in Israel where the
Supreme Court has derived a principle of freedom of expression ...