Some Interesting Recent Cases

I hope to say more about these cases. The summaries below are for the most part drawn from the Court's own summaries in English.

• Prohibition of unlicensed medical practice is constitutionally permitted (2008Hun-Ka19, 7/29/2010). (Note: The decision itself is unremarkable, but what is interesting is how close the Court came to ruling the licensing requirements to be unconstitutional. The decision was 5-4 in favor of a finding of unconstitutionality; six votes are required to find a statute to be unconstitutional. It is unclear, but there must be some concern that the licensing requirements are too restrictive. I would welcome any comments on this.)

• Law criminalizing inducing a female to consent to sexual intercourse through a false promise of marriage (or "through other fraudulent means") is unconstitutional (2008Hun-Ba58, 11/26/2009).

• Death penalty is constitutionally permitted (2008Hun-Ba58, 11/26/2009).

• Vicarious criminal liability is unconstitutional (2008Hun-Ka14, 7/30/2009).

• The Constitutional ban on wars of aggression does not give rise to enforceable individual rights (2007 Hun-Ma 369, 5/28/2009). (Note: This decision looks interesting, but it is unclear from the summary what the Court actually held.)

• Obscenity is constitutionally protected speech but its restriction is constitutionally permitted. This decision reverses a previous decision that afforded no protection to obscene materials (2006Hun-Ba109, 5/28/2009).

• Penalty for receiving bribery for elections (when the penalty is set by the formula: penalty = amount received x 50) is unconstitutionally excessive (2007 Hun-Ka 22, 3/26/2009).

• Limitation on liability for traffic injuries caused by drivers who have satisfied certain conditions (such as having a liability insurance) is unconstitutional (2005Hun-Ma764, 2/26/2009).

• Additional punishment for repeat offenders is unconstitutionally excessive because the penalty provision in question is not sufficiently tailored to reflect the seriousness of offenses (2007Hun-Ka10, 12/26/2008).

• Criminalization of adultery is constitutionally permitted (2007Hun-Ka17.21, 10/30/2008). (Note: This is the fourth time the Court has upheld the constitutionality of the law prohibiting adultery. This time, five justices voted in favor of striking down the law as unconstitutional, but six votes are needed to invalidate a statute on constitutional grounds. Background of this case here and here.)

• Law that allows only blind persons to work as masseurs is constitutionally permitted (2006Hun-Ma1098, 10/30/2008). (Note: Related stories here and here).

• Law prohibiting doctors from revealing the sex of fetuses is unconstitutional (2004Hun-Ma1010, 7/31/2008).