This project examines how judicial and constitutional review can address abusive lawmaking processes and practices in Europe and Latin America, thereby strengthening democracy and its resilience. Abusive law-making process is a practice that is contrary to the constitutional purpose of the procedural rules and/or aims at or results in undermining constitutional democracy. The project identifies two types of abuse. Firstly, the misuse of the law-making process indicates a formally lawful process that is contrary to the principles of constitutionalism. Secondly, an outright violation of the lawmaking process occurs when laws are adopted through a process that infringes on the black-letter law of how laws should be made. Using a functional comparative approach with case studies in Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, and Estonia, the research analyzes jurisprudence, legal texts, parliamentary practices, and international guidelines. The aim is to identify how courts can act as effective oversight mechanisms against abusive lawmaking processes and practices.
Project members
Focus
Legislative power
Tímea Drinóczi
Chief Researcher at Mykolas Romeris University (Lithuania), Research Affiliate at the CEU Democracy Institute and the Federal University of Minas Gerais, and Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
- Pinheiro, V. M., & Drinóczi, T. (2025). Participação social no processo legislativo na jurisprudência do TJ-SP e do STF. ConJur. https://www.conjur.com.br/2025-jun-24/participacao-social-no-processo-legislativo-na-jurisprudencia-do-tj-sp-e-do-stf/
Sebastián Soto
LL.M. (Columbia University) and Ph.D. in Law (Universidad de Chile). Associate Professor at the Law School of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Researcher at the Centro de Estudios Públicos (CEP).
Viktor Kazai
Legal scholar specializing in comparative public law and European law, with a doctoral degree (S.J.D.) from Central European University.
- Coman, R., Kazai, V., Puleo, L., & Bradley, A. (Eds.). (2025). Dissensus over liberal democracy: Insights from European judges. Hart.
- Kazai, V. (2025). The equilibrium of parliamentary law-making: Comparative perspectives on the role of courts in a democracy. Routledge.
Victor Marcel Pinheiro
Master and PhD in Constitutional Law (University of São Paulo). Professor at the Brazilian Institute of Education, Development and Research (IDP, Brasília).
- Pinheiro, V. M., & Drinóczi, T. (2025). Participação social no processo legislativo na jurisprudência do TJ-SP e do STF. ConJur. https://www.conjur.com.br/2025-jun-24/participacao-social-no-processo-legislativo-na-jurisprudencia-do-tj-sp-e-do-stf/
Introductory readings
- Bar-Siman-Tov, I. (2011). La resistencia al control judicial del proceso legislativo. Boston University Law Review, 91, 1916–1974.
- Bárd, P., & Kazai, V. (2022). Enforcement of a formal conception of the rule of law as a potential way forward to address backsliding: Hungary as a case study. Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 14.
- Drinóczi, T. (2024). The OSCE ODIHR guideline on democratic law-making for better laws: A source of inspiration for strengthening democracy. The Theory and Practice of Legislation, 12(3), 281–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/20508840.2024.2365033
- Drinóczi, T., & Cormacain, R. (2021). Tendencias iliberales en la elaboración de leyes. The Theory and Practice of Legislation, 9(3).
- Ely, J. H. (1980). Democracia y desconfianza: Una teoría del control judicial. Harvard University Press.
- Gardbaum, S. (2020). Teoría comparada del proceso político. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 18(4), 1429–1457.
- Kazai, V. (2019a). Le renforcement du contrôle de la procédure législative. Une stratégie proposée aux cours constitutionnelles opérant dans un système populiste. Annuaire international de justice constitutionnelle, 34.
- Kazai, V. (2019b). The instrumentalization of parliamentary legislation and its possible remedies: Lessons from Hungary. Jus Politicum, 23.
- Kazai, V. (2021). The misuse of the legislative process as part of the illiberal toolkit: The case of Hungary. The Theory and Practice of Legislation, 9(3).
- Kazai, V. (2024). Rule of law crisis in parliamentary law-making: Potential domestic and European remedies. EU Law Live Weekend Edition, (199).
- Kazai, V. Z. (2025). El equilibrio del proceso legislativo parlamentario: Perspectivas comparadas sobre el rol de los tribunales en la democracia. Routledge.
- Kelsen, H. (1967). Teoría pura del derecho (M. Knight, Trad.). University of California Press.
- Navot, S. (2006). Revisión judicial del proceso legislativo. Israeli Law Review, 39(2).
- Pinheiro, V. M. (2024). Devido processo legislativo: elaboração das leis e seu controle judicial na democracia brasileira. GZ Publisher.
- Pinheiro, V. M. (2024). Review: ODIHR guidelines on democratic lawmaking for better laws. The Theory and Practice of Legislation, 12(3).
- Rose-Ackerman, S., Egidy, S., & Fowkes, J. (2015). El debido proceso de elaboración legislativa: Estados Unidos, Sudáfrica, Alemania y la Unión Europea. Cambridge University Press.
- Soto, S. (2015). Congreso Nacional y proceso legislativo. Thomson Reuters.
Get to know our ICCAL projects
Discover the projects that bring ICCAL to life through research, collaboration, and local initiatives.