청원권의 의미와 한계, 그리고 개선방향에 대한 소고 - 최근 국회에 제기된 대통령 탄핵소추 청원을 중심으로

Abstract

Although the right to petition is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution, it has not received much attention. This is because the development of democracy and the rule of law has established a well-developed system of rights redress, and people have not placed much expectation on the right to petition. Recently, however, there have been calls for serious reflection on the meaning and limits of the right to petition. This is because petitions to impeach the president have been filed through the e-petition system, and the National Assembly has even held hearings to examine the petitions, sparking controversy over the meaning and limits of the right to petition and how to improve it legislatively. However, there has been a lack of systematic research and review on the right to petition, and therefore, despite the intense public interest, the normative evaluation of presidential impeachment petitions and the holding of petitions for this purpose is still lacking. To address these issues, this thesis examined the meaning and legal nature of the constitutional right to petition, the contents, procedures, and legal requirements of the right to petition, and the current practice and problems of petitioning. It also analyzed recent presidential impeachment petitions to determine whether they met the legal requirements for petitioning, whether it was lawful to hold presidential impeachment petition hearings, and whether these petition hearings degraded the impeachment process against the president. In addition, the study analyzed the reasons for excluding petitions under the current law and suggested legislative improvements to improve the situation. It also suggested a legislative distinction between petitions that are not accepted and those that are not accepted. Lastly, it also suggested ways to prevent the impeachment process from being circumvented by holding impeachment petition hearings.