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Balancing rights and interests: on Schauer’s asymmetry thesis
Abstract
Fred Schauer has argued that the last step of the proportionality test, balancing, is subject to a significant asymmetry. While we could balance interests against each other, we could not do so with rights, lest we destroy the special normative status of rights. If this asymmetry exists, the applicability of balancing would be significantly limited. I analyse the asymmetry thesis and discuss its merits and weaknesses. I then demonstrate how we can accommodate the rationale behind Schauer’s thesis within principles theory’s account of balancing. I thus, ultimately, reject Schauer’s thesis. My article confirms that proportionality adjudication includes the balancing of rights and interests.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.18256/2238-0604.2021.v17i1.4495
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