What’s New in Comparative Public Law

–Angelique Devaux, French Licensed Attorney (Notaire)

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 Constitutional Court in Madagascar said that impeachment proceedings launched last month had “no legal foundation” and that the president had not violated the Constitution.
2. Spain’s Constitutional Court declared preparations for the next Catalan vote unconstitutional.
3. The Constitutional Court of Belgium held that the data retention law violates fundamental privacy rights.
4. The Constitutional Court of Azerbaijan ruled on legality of loans denominated in foreign currency.
5. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that medical marijuana can include products over than dried pot
6. Mexico’s Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.

New scholarship

1. Mark S. Kende, Comparative Constitutional Law, South African Cases and Materials in a Global Context, Carolina Academic Press, 2015 (offering a critical overview of South African constitutional law from a comparative perspective)
2. Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, Foreign Precedents in Constitutional Adjudication by the Supreme Court of Singapore, 1963–2013, Washington International Law Journal, April 2015 (surveying the use of foreign precedents in constitutional adjudication by the Supreme Court of Singapore from 1963 to 2013)
3. Gerard N. Magliocca, How did The Bill of Rights become The Bill of Rights? (arguing that the Bill of Rights is a legal fiction that legitimates the exercise of federal authority and judicial review)
4. Lubos Tichy and Tomas Dumbrovsky, The Czech Constitution and EU integration, in Stefan Griller, Monica Claes, and Lina Papadopoulou (eds) Member States’ Constitutions and EU Integration, 2016, Forthcoming (reviewing the relationship between the Czech Constitution and EU integration)
5. Tobias Lock, The future of EU Accession to the ECHR after Opinion 2/13: Is It Still Possible and Is It Still Desirable? EU Constitutional Law Review, Forthcoming (in light of Opinion 2/13, exploring the technical options available to overcome the hurdles to accession, such as changes to the accession agreement, reservations, unilateral declarations, and Treaty change; providing a diagnosis of the shortcomings identified by the Court and proposing possible solutions; expressing some doubts whether in light of these proposed solutions, accession is still desirable)

In the news 

1. In Nepal, political parties reached an agreement on a new Constitution.
2. Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers approved the proposal on the 20^th Amendment to the Constitution.
3. The Vatican approved creation of a tribunal for judging bishops accused of negligence in child sexual abuse cases.
4. French court removed bullfighting from France’s cultural heritage list.
5. Greece plans to introduce legislation giving civil union rights to same-sex couples.
6. New York Court rules that examiner can keep organs without notifying family.
7. Wisconsin Senate limits abortion after 20 weeks. 

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. Serena Giusti, Giuseppe Martinico and Yves Mény will host a program on “Brexit or not Brexit? Challenges and Implications for the European Union” on July 8, 2015, at the Scuola Sant’Anna in Pisa. The program is a joint effort between the Scuola Sant’Anna and the Centre for Studies on Federalism, Turin.
2. Leiden University calls for papers for its conference on “reconsidering Democracy and State from a Global Perspective” to be held January 14-16, 2016.
3. The Amity Society for International Law calls for papers for Annual International Law Conference to be held on 9^th October, 2015 in Delhi, India.
4. The Irish Yearbook of International Law welcomes submissions for publication in the Yearbook.
5. Toulouse Business School calls for papers for its 3^rd conference of the Association of Law Professors of les Grandes Ecoles to be held in Toulouse, France on December 3-4, 2015,
6. Business and Human Right Journal calls for papers for its first Journal to be launched in November 2015.

Elsewhere on the Internet

1. Tom Ginsburg, Stop Revering Magna Carta, New York Times
2. Kennedy Gastorn, The struggle for legislative powers, the need for reform in the East African Community, Völkerrechtsblog
3. Craig Martin, Media should stop legitimizing Abe’s Article 9 ‘reinterpretation’, The Japan Times
4. Alan Wong, With Decision Near on Hong Kong Elections, Beijing affirms Its Case, Sinosphere Blog New York Times
5. Victor Li, After 800 years, what’s next for the Magna Carta?, ABA Journal
6. Chin Wan, A Federation For Hong Kong and China, The New York Times
7. Stephen D. Schwinn, President Has Sole Power of Recognition, Says Supreme Court, Constitution Law Prof Blog