Category: David Law
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The Evolution and Ideology of Global Constitutionalism
Mila Versteeg and I have just posted to SSRN a paper entitled “The Evolution and Ideology of Global Constitutionalism” that may be of interest to readers of this blog. In this paper, we analyze an original data set that spans the rights-related content of all national constitutions over the last six decades.
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A constitutional right to food for India?
The New York Times reports that India’s Congress Party is mulling a constitutional amendment that would guarantee a right to food. Some quick background info, not in the Times piece, to suggest that it might not be much of a surprise (or, as a practical matter, a big deal) if this were to happen: (1)…
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California’s gay marriage ban struck down as unconstitutional
American readers are likely to have heard this already, but this is sufficiently big to be of interest to readers elsewhere. Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, originally appointed by George Bush Sr.,
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Extraterritorial application of European human rights law to military action
The United Kingdom’s new Supreme Court has just rejected a claim by the mother of a deceased military serviceman that her son’s death while on duty in Iraq, pursuant to alleged negligence on the part of his superiors, violated the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
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Big constitutional changes in Pakistan
The Associated Press reports that Pakistan’s National Assembly has just passed a mammoth package of constitutional amendments, the so-called “18th Amendment Bill.” Passage required a two-thirds majority; the actual vote was unanimous. The most noteworthy aspect of the amendment bill-which actually contains a total of 105 amendments to the constitutional text-is the extent to which…
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Gay rights in Zimbabwe: perhaps not just yet
If you’re looking for an example of a country where gay rights are not exactly catching on, look no further than Zimbabwe. The BBC reports that Robert Mugabe, not exactly a darling of Western liberals to begin with, had this to say about the possibility of introducing gay rights into the new constitution under discussion:…
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South Korean Constitutional Court (barely) upholds the death penalty
By a 5-4 vote, South Korea’s Constitutional Court has upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty, per this report in the Hankyoreh. Notably, two of the justices in the majority called for legislative modification or abolition of the death penalty. The Korean Bar Association’s statement in response to the ruling describes “the prestige of the…
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Survey of empirical research on constitutions, constitutionalism, and constitutionalization
For readers who might be interested in a brief overview and critical assessment of the empirical literature on constitutions, constitutionalism, and constitutionalization, may I suggest a new paper, entitled simply “Constitutions,” in which I focus on a couple of topics with potentially considerable implications for normative constitutional theory and offer some thoughts on where the…
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Canadian Supreme Court decision in Khadr handed down
For those following the Khadr case (previously discussed here), the Supreme Court of Canada has handed down its decision. To recap, Khadr is a Canadian citizen who was captured by the U.S. as a teenager and has been tortured in the course of his indefinite detention without trial at Guantanamo Bay.
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The ECHR and ethnic discrimination in the Bosnia and Herzegovina constitution
The European Court of Human Rights had a holiday gift for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s smaller minority groups today. The story is widely reported; Deutsche Welle has coverage here. The court ruled that provisions of the country’s post-conflict constitution are discriminatory in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.