论宪法公民通信权的保护范围

On the Protection Scope of Citizens'Right to Communication in the Constitution

如何界定宪法上公民通信权的保护范围,系通信权条款遗留的法解释学问题。围绕该问题,理论界提出了“私密性说”“私人空间说”“过程与信息说”等学说,但相关论证在文义范围的可能性、宪法秩序的稳定性、方法适用的妥当性等方面考虑不足。在通信过程结束后,通信内容的载体将不可避免地与其他文件或数据混同,以上界定会使通信权干预的合宪化条款无法实际适用。在文义上,应将通信权保护范围界定为通信形成的过程空间:“通信”的概念内核在于过程,“自由”“秘密”是对通信权的标示,而“检查”则是侵入特定通信过程的必经程序。在体系上,“通信过程说”获得了宪法内部体系与法律外部体系的双重补强:一方面,使通信权的保护对象具备可识别性,能够激活干预合宪化条款的适用并降低基本权利竞合的概率;另一方面,使部门法对宪法通信权条款的具体化变得容易理解,可以有效维系宪法与部门法之间的融贯性。

How to define the protection scope of citizens'right to communication in the constitution is a legal interpretation problem left over from the clause of the fundamental right of communication.Focusing on this issue,the theoretical circles have put forward theories such as“privacy theory”,“private space theory”,and“process and information theory”.Although the different theories differ slightly in the extension of the protection scope,they all regard the content of the communication as the core of the protection in the right to communication.However,after the communication process is over,the carrier of the communication content will inevitably be mixed with other files or data,and the above theoretical definition will make the constitutional provisions of the interference of the right of communication impossible to actually apply.Through literal interpretation,the protection scope of the right to communication can be defined as the process space formed by communication:the core of the concept of“communication”lies in the process,“freedom”and“secret”are signs or reminders of communication rights,and“censor”is a necessary procedure for intruding into a specific communication process.In terms of the legal system,the“communication process theory”could be reinforced by the internal system of the constitution and the external system of the law:on the one hand,it makes the protection object of the right to communication identifiable,which can activate the application of intervening clauses in the constitution and reduce the possibility of concurrence of fundamental rights;on the other hand,it makes rules in the branch of laws that specify the constitutional clause of right to communication easier to understand,and can effectively maintain the consistency between the constitution and the departmental law.