What’s New in Comparative Public Law

–Rohan Alva, Jindal Global Law School

In this weekly feature, I-CONnect publishes a curated reading list of developments in comparative 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 comparative public law blogosphere.

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

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The U.S. Supreme Court held that it is impermissible for ‘private Medicaid providers’ to demand from states an increase in the ‘reimbursement rates’ in view of escalation in the expenditure incurred on healthcare.
2. The Indian Supreme Court halted criminal proceedings against the nation’s former prime minister, Manmohan Singh in the case of allocation of coalmines to certain private corporations.
3. The Israeli Supreme Court disallowed the extension of a ‘separation barrier’ on the West Bank, finding that the government should only secure the area by means that are ‘minimally disruptive’.
4. The central government is seeking a ‘review’ of the Indian Supreme Court’s recent decision in which it had invalidated the governmental move to include ‘Jats’ within the ‘central list of the Other Backward Classes’, which would have allowed members of the community to claim ‘quota benefits’.
5. A court in Istanbul, Turkey, acquitted over two hundred ‘military officers’ who had been accused of plotting a coup against the government, in light of the prosecution stating that ‘forged evidence’ had been the basis of the accusations. 

In the News

1. The Maldivian Parliament passed a piece of legislation, which disqualifies individuals sentenced to imprisonment from continuing as members of any political party. This legislation is considered by some as being created to target the previous president, Mohamed Nasheed so as to exclude him from the political arena subsequent to his conviction and imprisonment.
2. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the Prime Minister of Thailand declared that martial law will be withdrawn and instead a ‘new security order’ will be introduced.
3. A district assembly in Tokyo, Japan, passed a statute, which recognizes same-sex relationships. Among other entitlements under the new regulation, individuals in same-sex relationships are entitled to receive ‘partnership papers’ which will treat the relationship on par with marriage.
4. The Indian President assented to the ‘re-promulgation’ of an ordinance, which makes changes to the law regulating land acquisition, after the government was unsuccessful in seeking the passage of the legislative amendments in Parliament.
5. In Arkansas, U.S.A., the House of Representatives passed into law a bill, which permits business entities to protect the ‘religious freedom of businesses’. Critics argue that the bill is on a weak footing, with the state governor declaring that he is disinclined to assent to the bill in its current form.

New Scholarship

1. David Johnston (editor) The Cambridge Companion to Roman Law (Cambridge University Press, 2015) (a volume of essays in which the authors explore different themes such as the unique characteristics of Roman public and private law, and the evolution of Roman law principles)
2. Richard Albert, Constitutional Amendment by Stealth, 60 McGill Law Journal (forthcoming 2015) (arguing that the difficulty of formal amendment has given rise to “stealth” informal amendments that occur when political actors seek intentionally to create a constitutional convention)
3. Ignacio N. Cofone and Stephen Michel, Fixing Popular Participation in Constitution-Making, Rotterdam Institute of Law and Economics Working Paper, 2015 (positing that a differential majority requirement is usually adopted when a constitution is to be agreed upon by a drafting body and when it is to be ‘ratified’, and proposing that identical majority requirements should be applied at all stages at which a constitution is to be voted on)
4. Paul R. Williams, Abigail J. Avoryie and Carlie J. Armstrong, Earned Sovereignty Revisited: Creating a Strategic Framework for Managing Self-Determination Based Conflicts, 21 ILSA Journal of International and Comparative Law 1 ( 2015), (arguing that traditional methods of responding to self-determination movements are not sufficiently holistic measures, and proposing for the setting up of a ‘strategic framework’ which permits all the entities involved to resolve claims in a peaceful manner)
5. Robert Blackburn, Enacting a Written Constitution for the United Kingdom, 36 Statute Law Review 1 (2015) (exploring some of the considerations which weigh in favour of the U.K. possessing a written constitution, and assessing important factors which have to be considered while framing a constitution)
6. Madis Ernits, The Principle of Equality in the Estonian Constitution: A Systematic Perspective, 10 European Constitutional Law Review 444 (2014) (analysing the progress and development of the constitutional ideal of equality in Estonia by evaluating the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court on equal rights.)

Elsewhere on the Web

1. Akhil Reed Amar, Give the crew the key, CNN
2. Stefan Graziadei, Judges de-escalate heated Belgian language conflict, BelCon Law Blog
3. Umakanth Varottil, Gender Diversity on Corporate Boards: The Need to Move Beyond Rhetoric, IndiaCorp Law
4. Paul Scott, The Benefits Cap and the Enforcement of Unincorporated Human Rights Treaties, Oxford Human Rights Hub
5. David M. Crane, The Rules Have Not Changed Regarding Armed Conflict, Jurist- Academic Commentary

Call for Papers

1. Papers are invited by LUISS University Press for a special volume on ‘Courts facing the essential elements of religion’. Entries for this volume are to be submitted by the 1^st of June, 2015.
2. A call for papers has been issued by the Human Rights Centre at Ghent University for an international conference on ‘The Global Challenge of Human Rights Integration: Towards a Users’ Perspective’. Abstracts of papers should be sent in by the 15^th of May, 2015.
3. Centre of International Law and Human Rights at the University of Lancaster invites papers for a conference on ‘Hybrid Warfare and Minority Rights’. Single page abstracts should be submitted by the 1^st of May, 2015.
4. Abstracts are invited for a conference on ‘The state at Crossroads: Challenging the testing times in international society in the 21^st Century’ organised by the Charlemagne Institute for European Studies. All abstracts are due by the 18^th of May, 2015.
5. The Siddhartha Legal Research Society invites submissions to the Indian Journal of Legal Research and applications to its editorial board.
6. International Law News seeks articles on the subject of ‘Border Disputes: Where Do They Arise and How Do We Resolve Them?’ All articles are to be submitted by the 9^th of June, 2015.