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 allegedhomogeneity and national security have fundamentally shaped the question of socialJustice. The Hellenic Republic even from the earliest days of its constitution came upagainst this paradox; on the one hand social Justice and fairness had to be promotedwhile on the other, the basic axes of the domestic legal structure had to fall into thelines of an imaginary homogeneous Greek Orthodox nation state and serve theconstruction of a national consciousness and identity. This paradox became moreevident after the emergence of the minority issue in Thrace, the recent transformationof Greece to a host ? state for immigrants and the amplification of Europeanintegration; actualities that have eventually challenged well established Greekperceptions regarding the priorities of the domestic legal order.This study examines the compatibility of nation with Justice within the Greeklegal structure. The first chapter deals with the conceptualization of theaforementioned basic concepts as well as the construction of a theoretic model fordetecting national ideologies throughout legal texts. Drawing principally on JohnRawls? ?theory of Justice? which provides the definition, the ideal model and thebasic principles of Justice, chapter one sustains the theoretical context of the presentthesis. The next two chapters focus on the impact of national ideologies (nationalismand communitarianism) upon certain legal territories concerning minorities (Muslimsand Slav ? Macedonians) and religious freedom (involving the constitutional role ofthe Greek Orthodox Church). Both chapters provide major observations for theconclusions contained in the fourth and final chapter of this study.