Division and Combination of Right to Defense and Right to Benefit: Focusing on Right to Trial and Right to Vote

The right to defense means the right to demand the omission or cessation of an act of external aggression by the state against the freedoms presupposed thereon. Depending on the type of freedom that is the premise of the right of defence, the state’s external aggression against it also differs in its type. An aggression against freedom of action appears as an aggression that hinders or deters the action; an aggression against freedom of state appears as an aggression that interferes with or intervenes in a certain state, in particular, an aggression against a legal status where a certain legal status is guaranteed appears as an aggression that deprives the legal status. Thus, the right to defense includes requesting the omission or suspension of the imposition of a legal obligation to hinder or deter a specific act, the legal involvement to interfere with or intervene in a specific state, and the legislation depriving a specific legal status. Unlike the right to defense, which can demand negative action from the state, the right to defense is distinct from the right to benefit, which can demand positive action from the state. The positive actions that can be demanded from the state according to these rights to benefit are essentially legislative, and according to the content of these legislations, the types of the right to benefit are classified into protection rights, procedural rights, and social rights. Restrictions on the right to defense that can demand negative actions are made in the form of positive actions, and restrictions on the right to benefit that can demand positive actions are made in the form of negative actions. Therefore, the principle of proportionality, which is a constitutional principle required for the restriction of constitutional rights, is embodied in the principle of prohibition of excessively abundance and the principle of prohibition of excessively deficiency according to the type of restriction on constitutional rights. Both the prohibition of excessively abundance and the prohibition of excessively deficiency contain four parts of the proportionality principle. And the principle of balance of legal interests, which is the core principle of the principle of proportionality, becomes the most essential partial principle while justifying restrictions on constitutional rights when applying the principle of prohibition of excessively abundance or the principle of prohibition of excessively deficiency.