Research project Does necessity know the constitution? Examining constitutional necessity in Sweden
The central question examined in this Doctoral Research Project is how constitutional necessity can be understood and constructed as a legal concept.
Constitutional necessity is not clearly defined and its existence or non-existence in Swedish law is disputed. In preparatory work it is usually described as a principle where the state authorities, in an emergency where the existence of society is threatened, may act in violation with the constitution and still claim to have acted lawfully. In this project constitutional necessity is studied. It includes several elements, such as examining a possible construction of the concept, its scope, the situations in which they can be invoked (and not invoked), and the potential criteria for the applicability of constitutional necessity.
Supervisor:
Karin Åhman, Professor in Constitutional Law
Assistant supervisor:
Tormod Johansen, Göteborgs universitet