Constitutional Court - Advocates, Constitutional Rights, & Legal Standing

The Advocates' Law (Law No. 18 of 2003) was the subject of further judicial review and the Constitutional Court (Court) handed down a decision which re-affirms an earlier decision with respect to how the Court frames a breach of a claimed constitutional right. The decision also highlights that the Court is intending to take a firm position on legal standing and as such this appears to be the mechanism of choice to ensure that the Court is only hearing and deciding matters where there are adjudicable constitutional issues to be resolved.

The case is based on an alleged breach of the Applicants' constitutional rights through Article 32(1) of the Advocates' Law. However, it is important to note that this decision cannot be read independently of what the Court stated in an earlier decision, 006/PUU-II/2004, where it held that Article 31 as it relates to criminal sanctions was not binding at law.