The Council of Grand Justices yesterday handed down an interpretation on Article 564 of the Constitution, according to which nobody is allowed to set up vending stalls under an arcade, including the owner of the arcade, but the justices said the law should be amended as soon as possible to make sure that people's legal rights pertaining to their own properties are protected.
"An arcade is regarded a part of a building and the ownership of the arcade belongs to the owner of the building. There is no question about that," said Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Yang Jen-shou (
"However, according to law, nobody is allowed to set up any stalls under any arcades, to ensure that pedestrians can walk underneath the arcades unhindered. There is no problem with that either," he said.
The interpretation was given as a result of a request filed by Taipei County resident Lee Ah-wan (
She set up a stall under the arcade of her own townhouse to sell moon cakes. However, police officers from the Taipei County Police Department asked her to remove the stall and issued her a ticket in accordance with Article 82 of the Road Traffic Management and Punishment Law (
Lee argued that she owned the house as well as the arcade. As a result, she was doing business on her own property and the police's actions were therefore unreasonable, she said.
In their interpretation, the grand justices said the police's actions were according to the law and added there is nothing wrong with keeping walkways clear for pedestrians. An arcade is regarded as the private property of the owner of the building but it is also regarded as a public walkway. As a result, nobody, including the owner of the building, has the right to block walkways under an arcade by putting up vending stalls, they said.
However, the grand justices added that the Road Traffic Management and Punishment Law should be amended as soon as possible to protect the right of pedestrians to walk on obstacle-free paths and at the same time protect arcade owners' legal rights.
"In Lee's case, the grand justices said that she definitely has the legal right to make good use of her own property. However, under the law, she also has to consider other people's legal rights when she wants to take advantage of her arcade," Yang said.
"The regulations of the law as it stands are not clear and need to be amended," he said.
Yang also said that arcade owners' legal right to take advantage of their own arcades should only be approved when whatever they are doing will not endanger public safety.
"We need to write the regulations down in black and white. In the meantime, we are trying to create a win-win situation for both arcade owners and pedestrians," he said.
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