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 of Indonesia handed down a ruling requiring law enforcement officers to secure permission from the president, instead of the House of Representatives’ Ethics Council, before investigating a legislator.
2. The Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled that bullfighting is protected by the right to artistic expression.
3. Croatia’s Supreme Court has overturned a nine-year prison sentence and ordered a retrial for its former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, previously convicted of embezzling millions of euros in public funds.
4. The Constitutional Court of Uganda rejected representation of special interest groups in Parliament.
5. The Supreme Court of Maldives struck down a magistrate court order over “language inappropriate for a judicial ruling or writ”.
6. Mozambique’s Constitutional Council struck down as unconstitutional a provision in the electricity licensing regulations, which denied citizens the right of access to courts.
7. The Supreme Court of India dismissed a plea seeking guidelines to ensure uninterrupted functioning of the Parliament, holding that the Court cannot guide parliament in its business, which is in hands of the speaker.

In the News

1. The U.S. Supreme Court added 13 cases to its 2015 docket.
2. France has opened criminal investigation into torture in Syria under President Bashar El-Assad.
3. India has announced plans to reduce its rate of planet-warming greenhouse gas pollution.
4. Somalia’s lawmakers withdraw an impeachment motion against President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
5. German court sentenced two Rwandan rebel leaders to jail for ordering massacres in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo from their homes in Germany.
6. Bolivian President Evo Morales backtracks on his promise not to seek power after 2019.
7. In Thailand, a new 21-member Constitution Drafting Committee is about to be nominated after the rejection of a draft constitution earlier in September.

New Scholarship

1. Eyal Benvenisti, Sovereignty and the Politics of Property, GlobalTrust Working Paper Series 10/2015 (providing an overview of the intimate interaction between the economic market and the political market of property).
2. Jane Henderson, Precedent as a Source of Law in the Russian Legal System, in Fredie Didier Jr., Jaldemiro Rodrigues de Ataíde Jr., Leonardo Carneiro da Cunha and Lucas Buril de Macêdo Coleção (eds) Grandes Temas do Novo CPC – v.3 – Precedentes (JusPodivm, 2015), 99-118 (2015) (arguing and demonstrating how precedent is becoming a source of law in the Russian Legal System).
3. Marco Aurelio Peri Guedes Sr., Freedom of Press and Judiciary Censorship in Brazil, Panorama of Brazilian Law. No. 3, 2015 (providing an overview on freedom of press under the 1988 Brazilian constitution).
4. William Partlett & Eric C. Ip, The Death of Socialist Law?, New York University Journal of International Law and Politics, forthcoming 2016 (analyzing the influence of socialist law on the contemporary formal Chinese legal institutions and public law system).
5. Andrej J. Zwitter, Constitutional Reform and Emergency Powers in Egypt and Tunisia, Middle East Law and Governance 7, no. 2 (August 31, 2015) (analyzing the constitutional reforms in Egypt and Tunisia after the Arab Spring).

Calls for Papers

1. The Clinical Law Review calls for papers for a special Spring 2017 symposium issue on “Rebellious Lawyering at Twenty-Five.”
2. The Postgraduate and Early Professionals/Academics Network of the Society of International Economic Law (PEPA/SIEL) calls for papers for its 5^th conference to be held on 14-15 April 2016 in Luxembourg.
3. The Association for Law, Property & Society (ALPS) calls for papers for its conference on property law, policy, and theory to be held at the School of Law at Queen’s University Belfast, Ireland on 20-21 May 2016.
4. Harvard Law School is seeking submissions for a workshop on Animals in Comparative Constitutional Law to be held on Thursday, February 18, 2016.
5. The International Journal of Law and Policy Review invites articles / comments / book reviews form the author/writer for January, 2016 issue [Vol-5, No-1].
6. PluriCourts, Center of Excellence for the Study of the Legitimacy of International Courts and Tribunals at the University of Oslo, will host the 14th Annual Colloquium of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law. Abstract submissions for presentation on “The Environment in Court – Environmental protection in national and international courts, tribunals, and compliance mechanisms” are invited by 15 January 2016.
7. Columbia Law School, the University of Southern California Center for Law, History & Culture, UCLA School of Law, and Georgetown University Law School invite submissions for the twelfth meeting of the Law & Humanities Junior Scholar Workshop, to be held at UCLA School of Law in Los Angeles, California, on June 6 and 7, 2016.
8. The University of Illinois College of Law, the University of Bologna School of Law, the Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development, and the University of Illinois Law Review will host a conference on “Constitutional History: Comparative Perspectives” on April 12-13, 2016, in Chicago, Illinois. Paper proposals are due by November 1, 2015.
9. The University of Brasilia Law School, Boston College Law School, Macquarie Law School, and the International Society of Public Law invite submissions for a two-day Symposium on constitutional amendment and replacement in Latin America, to be held on the campus of the University of Brasilia Law School on September 29-30, 2016.
10. The Younger Comparativists Committee of the American Society of Comparative Law invites submissions for the Fifth Annual YCC Global Conference, to be held on March 18-19, 2016, at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana.
11. Kabarak University School of Law, Boston College Law School and the International Society of Public Law invite submissions for a two-day Symposium on Constitutional Change and Transformation in Africa, to be held on the campus of Kabarak University in Nakuru on Thursday and Friday, June 9-10, 2016.
12. The Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion and Philosophy invites submissions for its program to be held on March 31-April 3, 2016, in Kobe, Japan.

Elsewhere on the Internet

1. Bruce Ackerman & Tokujin Matsudaira, Cry ‘Havoc’ and Let Slip the Constitution of War, Foreign Policy
2. Stefan Grazidei, Constitutional Court upholds “New BHV”, Belgian Constitutional Law Blog
3. Olivier Le Bot, France under mass-surveillance? The French Constitutional Council and the limits on the Intelligence Service’s powers, ConstitutionNet
4. Adem Kassie Abebe, The winner shall not take it all: Proposals for electoral reform to ensure inclusive political representation in Ethiopia, ConstitutionNet
5. Emily Michiko Morris, Pharmaceutical Patenting in India, Comparative Law Prof Blog
6. David Christensen, Gay Marriage and Michigan No-fault Spousal Benefits, The Jurist