• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.430-443
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• 2016

This paper involves the constitutionality of the restrictive by-laws established by the 'College of Maritime Science' at the 'Korea Maritime and Ocean University' when they affect the cadet's fundamental rights, particularly, in connection with the training system of the 'Merchant Cadet Dormitory.' The issue in question is whether the school regulations may fall within a judicially permissible boundary in light of the general principles of constitutional rights in that the rules are enacted by the school itself in accordance with the Article 31, Section 4 of the Constitution and largely regulate the cadets' living conditions on a campus. However, the general scrutiny standard the courts apply requires the school enactments to pass three tests to be justified: (1) legislative authorization, (2) proportionality and (3) non-infringement on the essential elements of the fundamental rights as articulated under Article 37, Section 2 of the Constitution. The review in this paper shows that, first, the by-laws at issue find themselves statutorily authorized by the 'Higher Education Act' and the 'Decree of the Establishment of National Schools', with the proportionality as a second part observed within a justifiable scope and the essential elements of the fundamental rights as the third point not being marred. In conclusion, the school's dormitory training system is not found to cross the line and, however, the school authorities still need to keep overseeing the overall training course to secure the constitutional proportionality.