The Horizontal Effect Doctrine as a Form of Porosity among Legal Systems

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law & International Law (MPIL) Research Paper No. 2018-28

In: Porosités du droit / Law's porosities, Vivian Grosswald Curran (ed.). Société de Législation Comparée, Paris 2021, 63-76

11 Pages Posted: 30 Oct 2018 Last revised: 18 Mar 2021

See all articles by Angelo Golia

Angelo Golia

University of Trento; Luiss Guido Carli University - Department of Political Science

Date Written: October 29, 2018

Abstract

This paper analyzes the third-party or horizontal effect doctrine (HED) of fundamental rights from a functionalist perspective. It argues that, following the processes of legal pluralization, globalization and transnationalization, the main function of this doctrine has become allowing and regulating the reciprocal influence, interaction and adaptation of States’ law, on the one hand, and other overlapping forms of either legal or social normativity, on the other hand. This (re-)definition aims to highlight that the HED does not (mainly) concern the relationships between private actors regulated by State law or the mere balancing between individual rights, but rather the relationships between State law and non-State law(s). The paper briefly recalls the conceptual ties between the traditional understanding of HED and the liberal constitutional model, and their consequences on the application of such doctrine on the involved social actors. Then the paper analyzes the social phenomena calling for a re-definition of HED and, also based on the instruments of systemic sociology, puts forward some comparative law examples and a case study concerning the potential practical consequences of such re-definition.

Keywords: horizontal effect doctrine, legal pluralism, comparative constitutional law, functionalism, systemic sociology

Suggested Citation

Golia, Angelo Jr, The Horizontal Effect Doctrine as a Form of Porosity among Legal Systems (October 29, 2018). Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law & International Law (MPIL) Research Paper No. 2018-28, In: Porosités du droit / Law's porosities, Vivian Grosswald Curran (ed.). Société de Législation Comparée, Paris 2021, 63-76, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3274777 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3274777

Angelo Jr Golia (Contact Author)

University of Trento ( email )

Via Giuseppe Verdi 26
Trento, Trento 38152
Italy

Luiss Guido Carli University - Department of Political Science ( email )

Viale Romania, 32
Rome, 00197
Italy

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