Proportionality in Action: Comparative and Empirical Perspectives on the Judicial Practice

Proportionality in Action presents an empirical and comparative exploration of the proportionality doctrine, based on detailed accounts of the application of the framework by apex courts in six jurisdictions: Germany, Canada, South Africa, Israel, Poland and India. The analysis of each country is written and contextualized by a constitutional scholar from the relevant jurisdiction. Each country analysis draws upon a large sample of case law and employs a mixed methodological approach: an expansive coding scheme allows for quantitative analysis providing comparable and quantifiable measurements, which is enriched by qualitative analysis that engages with the substance of the decisions and captures nuance, contextualizing the data and providing it with meaning. The book concludes with a comparative chapter that synthesizes some of the most interesting findings. Focusing on deviations of the practice of proportionality from theory, the authors conclude their argument in support of an integrated approach to the application of proportionality.

Mordechai Kremnitzer is Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. He was formerly Dean of the Law School, Vice President for Research at the Israel Democracy Institute and President of the Israeli Press Council. He is a leading Israeli expert on criminal and constitutional law, having headed several governmental committees, including examination of the use of force by the police, civic education and reform of the Israeli Criminal Code.

Talya Steiner is a Ph.D. candidate at the Hebrew University Law School. She holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School and an LL.B. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is admitted to the Israeli Bar. She clerked at the Israeli Supreme Court, and has managed the 'Proportionality in Public Policy Project' at the Israel Democracy Institute, a six-year ERC funded project focusing on the balancing between rights and public interests in the policy process from a comparative and empirical perspective. She has previously published on the topic of non-discrimination in employment and equality commissions.

Andrej Lang is a Senior Researcher at the Chair for Public Law, European Law and International Economic Law of the Martin Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany and former research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. He holds a Ph.D. from Freie Universität Berlin, an LL.M. from New York University and is admitted to the Bar in Berlin and in New York. He was a visiting scholar at Yale Law School and at Harvard Law School and has authored a number of articles in constitutional law.