The law of lodging: The incompatibility of nation - state with fairness. A study on the ideological aspects of the Geek Legal Structure

Abstract

Is nation a constraint for Justice? Is Justice obtainable within modern nation ? states? The establishment of nation states and the consequent quest of an alleged homogeneity and national security have fundamentally shaped the question of social Justice. The Hellenic Republic even from the earliest days of its constitution came up against this paradox; on the one hand social Justice and fairness had to be promoted while on the other, the basic axes of the domestic legal structure had to fall into the lines of an imaginary homogeneous Greek Orthodox nation state and serve the construction of a national consciousness and identity. This paradox became more evident after the emergence of the minority issue in Thrace, the recent transformation of Greece to a host ? state for immigrants and the amplification of European integration; actualities that have eventually challenged well established Greek perceptions regarding the priorities of the domestic legal order. This study examines the compatibility of nation with Justice within the Greek legal structure. The first chapter deals with the conceptualization of the aforementioned basic concepts as well as the construction of a theoretic model for detecting national ideologies throughout legal texts. Drawing principally on John Rawls? ?theory of Justice? which provides the definition, the ideal model and the basic principles of Justice, chapter one sustains the theoretical context of the present thesis. The next two chapters focus on the impact of national ideologies (nationalism and communitarianism) upon certain legal territories concerning minorities (Muslims and Slav ? Macedonians) and religious freedom (involving the constitutional role of the Greek Orthodox Church). Both chapters provide major observations for the conclusions contained in the fourth and final chapter of this study.