Proportionality
The review standard asking whether state action is suited, necessary, and balanced
Overview
German constitutional doctrine built proportionality into a three step test, legitimate aim, suitability of means, necessity as least restrictive, and balancing of interests, which then conquered European human rights law and most constitutional courts. It displaced fixed categories of review with open textured balancing, for which it is both celebrated and criticized. Canadian and Israeli doctrine developed close cousins. It is the closest thing world rights law has to a shared grammar. Its balance stage openly weighs rights against public interests, trading transparency for the comfort of bright lines.
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