I Interviewed the Lawyer who Legalized Same-sex Marriage in Taiwan

Here’s what I learnt about executive power, judicial review, and the Taiwanese legal tradition.

Background

I met with Victoria Hsu in April 2023 whilst studying abroad in Taiwan. Victoria Hsu is a practicing lawyer and represented Chi Chia-Wei in the landmark case which legalized same-sex marriage in Taiwan in front of the Grand Justices. She is also the founding director of the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR).

On Executive Power

Arbitrariness. Victoria Hsu highlighted a recent case of a cross-national same-sex couple who were having trouble getting their marriage certificate, despite Judicial Interpretation 748 which legalized same-sex marriage. This was due to Article 6 of the Constitution:

“Where this Act provides that the national law of a party is applicable, but the national law of the party indicates that another law should govern the legal relation in question, such other law is applied. However, if the national law of the party or the other law indicates, in turn, the law of the Republic of China(Taiwan) as applicable, the internal law of the Republic of China(Taiwan) is applied.”