What’s New in Public Law

—Davide Bacis, PhD Student in Constitutional Law, University of Pavia (Italy)

In this weekly feature, I-CONnect publishes a curated reading list of developments in public law. “Developments” may include a selection of links to news, high court decisions, new or recent scholarly books and articles, and blog posts from around the public law blogosphere.

To submit relevant developments for our weekly feature on “What’s New in Public Law,” please email contact.iconnect@gmail.com.

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The European Court of Justice held that the term spouse, within the context of the free movement directive, includes spouses of the same sex.
2. The US Supreme Court ruled, with a 7 to 2 decision, in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to bake a cake for a same sex wedding due to religious reasons.
3. The Constitutional Court of Moldova declared that the Law on the use of languages spoken on the territory of the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic has fallen into desuetude.
4. The Constitutional Court of Moldova rejected the constitutional complaint filed by the President of the Republic of Moldova against the bans on broadcasting and distributing mass information from countries other than those of the EU, Canada and the US.
5. The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany held that the mandatory publication of official information on food and feed law violation is constitutional.
6. The UK Supreme Court found that Northern Ireland abortion law is in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.
7. The Supreme Court of Bermuda held that the Domestic Partnership Act, banning same-sex couples marriages, is unconstitutional.
8. The Supreme Court of Canada rejected a Yukon man’s request to hear its case regarding an alleged fair trial violation.
9. The European Court of Human rights ruled that Azerbaijan violated article 5 of the Convention for the arrest of four civil society activists.
10. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights found that Colombia is to be held responsible for the murder of journalist Nelson Carvajal.

In the News

1. The Ethiopian Parliament approved the government’s decision to end the six-month state of emergency.
2. The President of Madagascar appointed Christian Ntsay as the new Prime Minister.
3. A new government was sworn in by King Felipe VI, after the Spanish Parliament had voted a motion of no-confidence against Mariano Rajoy.
4. The Italian government, led by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, won the confidence vote in both Houses of Parliament.
5. The Parliament of Canada passed a motion aimed at the upholding of net neutrality protections.
6. Ukraine Parliament voted for the creation of an Anti-Corruption Court, in accordance with the Venice Commission’s recommendations.
7. The President of Egypt appointed the housing minister as the new Prime Minister.
8. The Parliament of New South Wales passed legislation making it illegal to approach and intimidate staff and patients in the proximity of abortion clinics.
9. The French Parliament is debating a draft legislation that aims at limiting the spread of fake news during the elections.
10. The Iraqi Parliament approved the manual ballot recount.

New Scholarship

1. Geoffrey Corn, Ken Watkin and Jamie Williamson (2018), The Law in War (providing a comprehensive, yet concise, guide to the norms regulating international and non-international armed conflicts)
2. Neil Boister (2018), An Introduction to Transnational Criminal Law (dealing with the complex subject of transnational law, including cyber-crimes, environment protection and trafficking of cultural property)
3. Jessie Hohmann and Marc Weller (eds.) (2018), The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (the first commentary to the UN Declaration adopted in 2007, providing a thorough analysis of all provisions and their background)
4. Frank Haldemann and Thomas Unger (eds.) (2018), The United Nations Principles to Combat Impunity: A Commentary (offering a detailed analysis, principle by principle, of the UN set of principles to combat impunity, examining their genesis and their practical application)
5. Kevin M. Barry and Jennifer Levi (2018), Blatt v. Cabela’s Retail, Inc. and a New Path for Transgender Rights (discussing the reasons why transgender litigants never invoked the protections of the American with Disabilities Act, setting the path for new ways to challenge discrimination)
6. Bret Boyce (2018), Obscenity and Nationalism: Constitutional Freedom of Sexual Expression in Comparative Perspective (observing the developments in constitutional jurisprudence on sexual morality in Canada, the US, India and Japan)
7. David J. Bodenhamer (2018), The U.S. Constitution: A Very Short Introduction (providing a brief analysis of the US Constitution through a thematic approach)
8. A. J. Coady, Ned Dobos and Sagar Sanyal (eds.) (2018), Challenges for Humanitarian Intervention (offering a multidisciplinary perspective on the practice of armed humanitarian intervention)

Call for Papers and Announcements

1. The AAU Law Forum welcomes contributions for its next issue, regarding the Visegrád Group and government regulations encouraging startups and entrepreneurs. The deadline for submission is October 1, 2018.
2. The German Yearbook of International Law welcomes papers for the next issue. Papers should be 10,000-12,500 words long (including footnotes). The deadline is September 1, 2018.
3. LUISS Guido Carli University (Rome), together with the University College London, will host a seminar on “The Challenges of Reforming Upper Houses in the UK and Italy” on Monday, June 11. Registration is required by June 10, 2018.
4. LUISS Guido Carli University (Rome), together with the University College London, will host a seminar on “Bicameralismo e processo legislativo nel Regno Unito e in Italia” on Tuesday, June 12. Registration is required by June 10, 2018.
5. The University of Glasgow welcomes the submission of papers for the upcoming event “International law under pressure: navigating a shifting landscape”. Abstracts of no more than 300 words must be submitted by June 30, 2018.
6. The Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge welcomes the submission of papers for the conference “On the Origins of International Legal Thought”. Abstracts of between 200 and 500 words should be submitted by July 31, 2018.
7. The University of Padova calls for the submission of papers for the upcoming event “International Lawyers and Human Dignity”. Abstracts of no more than 600 words must be submitted by June 30, 2018.
8. The University of Siena welcomes applications for its Summer School on Terrorism and Human Rights, June 20-31, 2018. The deadline for applications is June 15, 2018.
9. The European Constitutional Law Review welcomes submissions for the 2018 EuConst Colloquium to be held in Amsterdam on October 5, 2018. Papers or abstracts must be submitted within July 1, 2018.

Elsewhere Online

1. Bianca Gutan, The Taming of the Court – When Politics Overcome Law in the Romanian Constitutional Court, Verfassungsblog
2. A. Dori, Hic Rhodus, hic salta: The ECJ Hearing of the Landmark “Celmer” Case, Verfassungsblog
3. G. Romeo, It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: The Italian Institutional Crisis and Europe, UK Constitutional Law Association Blog
4. David R. Cameron, New governments in Italy & Spain, but for how long?, Yale Macmillan Center
5. M. Wilkinson, A Crisis Made in Italy, Verfassungsblog
6. D. Rodriguez, Symposium: The Masterpiece ruling calls for increased vigilance of discrimination in the marketplace, ScotusBlog
7. S. Peers, Love wins in the CJEU: Same Sex Marriages and EU free movement law, EU Law Analysis
8. G. Piccirilli, Is the institutional crisis in Italy over? Surely a storm, maybe indicating a climate change, Blog of the IACL, AIDC
9. D. Samararatne, Public Consultation in Constitution Making – The Sri Lankan Experiment, Blog of the IACL, AIDC
10. N. Mekki, Local elections in Tunisia: Implementing the constitution and reinforcing transition, ConstitutionNet
11. A. Duff, New Paradigms for the European Parliament, Verfasungsblog