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  • Interpretation
  • No.166【Under Translation】
  • Date
  • 1980/11/07
  • Issue
    • The Act Governing the Punishment of Police Offences permits the police to impose sanctions of administrative detention and forced labor upon offenders. Does the said Act constitute an infringement of physical freedom guaranteed by the Constitution?
  • Holding
    •        The police sanctions of administrative detention and forced labor stipulated by the Act Governing the Punishment of Police Offences are sanctions on physical freedom. In order to comply with the requirements of Article 8, Paragraph 1, of the Constitution, these sanctions shall be promptly administered by courts based on legal process.
  • Reasoning
    •        Article 8, Paragraph 1, of the Constitution provides the guarantee of physical freedom. Except in the case of flagrante delicto as provided by law, no person shall be arrested or detained otherwise than by a judicial or a police department in accordance with the procedure prescribed by law. No person shall be tried or punished otherwise than by a court in accordance with the procedure prescribed by law. Although the police have the authority to arrest or detain people, any sanctions restricting physical freedom are within the court*s exclusive jurisdiction. Since administrative detention and forced labor are sanctions on physical freedom, they shall be imposed by courts according to legal process. In other words, despite the fact that relevant provisions predated the Constitution and had not been amended for the public interest (social safety and danger prevention), reprehensible conduct still had to be subject to due punishment. According to the rule of changed circumstances, the more than thirty years since the passage of the abovementioned provisions had made it abundantly clear that, for the guarantee of physical freedom, the administrative detention and compulsory labor imposed by the police had to be transferred to the court as soon as possible to meet the requirements of Article 8, Paragraph 1, of the Constitution.
      
    • *Translated by Professor J. P. Fa.
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