Category: Developments
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Turkey’s Constitutional Process
—Bertil Emrah Oder, Dean, Koç University Law School [cross-posted from the Hürriyet Daily News] After the refusal of the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) proposal by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the constitutional plan as to the 60 agreed articles seems to have been put aside from further political consideration.
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Chile’s Constitutional Moment?
–Oya Yegen Chile is going through a “constitutional moment”. Demand for replacing the 1980 Constitution, inherited from the Pinochet regime, has not been so clearly expressed or been so central to presidential elections until the last couple of years. Now, with a presidential election due to take place this Sunday, the issue has come to…
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Resources for Readers: The Future of the Canadian Senate
Tomorrow, the Canadian Supreme Court will begin three days of hearings on the constitutionality of proposed changes to the Senate of Canada. This could be the most important case in Canadian constitutional law since the 1998 Secession Reference. The hearings will be broadcast live here starting tomorrow at 9:30am EST.
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Nuclear Controversy and the Right to Petition in Japan
—Tokujin Matsudaira, Kanagawa University Faculty of Law Last week, Taro Yamamoto, a member of Japanese House of Councillors in the Diet, set off a controversy when he personally handed a letter to the Japanese Emperor expressing concern about the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
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Golden Dawn Party Faces Prosecution
–Christina M. Akrivopoulou, Appeals Asylum Authority, Greece One of the most important recent events in Greece has been the attempt to prosecute the far-right Golden Dawn party. The ongoing prosecution raises important questions about the proper limits of toleration for ultra-nationalist, racist parties in a democracy.
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Indonesian Constitutional Court Rejects Blasphemy Law Case
—Melissa Crouch, National University of Singapore In April 2013, the Indonesian Constitutional Court rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of the Blasphemy Law (although the court decision was only made publically available in September 2013). As I argued previously, this was the most likely outcome, given the weak constitutional nature of the arguments raised and…
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Ireland’s Senate Survives
—Eoin Carolan, University College Dublin In a result that defied all pre-referendum opinion polls, a narrow majority of voters last week rejected a proposal to abolish Ireland’s Seanad (Senate). The proposal, which was closely associated with Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny, was defeated by 51.7% to 48.3%, a margin of almost 42,500 votes.
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Justice Nadon Appointed to Supreme Court of Canada
—Dwight Newman, University of Saskatchewan On September 30, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the nomination of Justice Marc Nadon of the Federal Court of Appeal for the Quebec seat being vacated by Justice Morris Fish. Under Canada’s very limited parliamentary hearing system on Supreme Court nominees (this process itself adopted only in the last…
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The Indonesian Constitutional Court at a Tipping Point
—Stefanus Hendrianto, Santa Clara University On Wednesday, October 2, 2013, the Corruption Eradication Commission (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi – KPK) arrested Akil Mochtar, the Chief Justice of the Indonesian Constitutional Court, for alleged bribery. The spokesperson of the Commission said that the alleged bribery was linked to a regional election dispute case.
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Note on the Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia
—Antonios Kouroutakis, University of Oxford, Faculty of Law The Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia (the Constitution) is the supreme law of Federal Republic of Somalia (Somalia). The drafting process occurred under the auspices of United Nations, and on 1 August 2012, the National Constitutional Assembly approved the Constitution by an overwhelming majority.