An Empirical Analysis of Constitutional Invocation in Judicial Adjudication

Promoting the comprehensive implementation of the constitution requires further investigation into the possibility and the path of constitutional implementation in the judicial field. Constitutional invocation is one of the important ways to implement the constitution in the judicial field. Through data retrieval and case analysis by means of big data, the situation of constitutional invocation in judicial judgment can be comprehensively investigated, so as to carry out empirical research on the implementation of the constitution in the judicial field. According to constitution invokers, constitutional invocation can be divided into invocation by the court and invocation by the person involved. With the synthesis and analysis of the national and local big data and specific cases involving constitutional invocation, we have examined the current situation of the constitutional invocation in judicial adjudication. The main findings are as follows. The number of cases involving constitutional invocation by the court is obviously less than that of the cases involving constitutional invocation by the litigant; the invocation of constitutional provisions by the court is more representative than that by the litigant, in terms of either formation or social influence; and both kinds of invocation have normative problems. Therefore, the invocation of constitutional provisions should be conducted in accordance with certain fundamental principles, and some preconditions ought to be set. Meanwhile, the Supreme People's Court shall make unified provisions on the normative requirements of constitutional invocation.