information an individual would wish to keep confidential, such as his or
her medical history, sexual orientation, or family matters.
Some may argue that, to guard against this danger, the Court can
render a decision of partial unconstitutionality; that the word “facts” in
the Provision at Issue violates the Constitution to the extent that it
includes “facts that do not amount to secrecy of private life,” and can
thereby harmonize the protection of secrecy of private life and the
guarantee of freedom of expression. This view suggests that issuing such
decision would guarantee secrecy and freedom of private life by leaving
intact an element in the Provision at Issue which is the alleging of “facts
that amount to secrecy of private life,” and would simultaneously
minimize restrictions on freedom of expression by excluding the alleging
of “facts that do not amount to secrecy of private life” from the
elements in the Provision at Issue.
The view supporting the partial unconstitutionality decision notes that,
because “if solely concerned with the public interest” in Article 310 of
the Criminal Act is overly broad and vague, an individual intending to
allege facts cannot predict in advance whether his or her statement will
fall within the ground for justification. For the individual who can
foresee that his or her expressive activity will establish the elements in
the Provision at Issue, but cannot foresee whether unlawfulness will be
justified under Article 310 of the Criminal Act, this individual would
forego alleging facts necessary for society, considering the possibility of
criminal sanctions based on the Provision at Issue, and the ensuing
chilling effect. In this regard, the view supporting the partial
unconstitutionality decision opines that, to resolve the problem of
unpredictability at the stage of justification for unlawfulness, the element
of “alleging facts that do not amount to secrecy of private life” should
be excluded at the stage of establishment of elements.
Nonetheless, it is likewise difficult to clearly determine what
constitutes “facts that amount to secrecy of private life,” because there
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