What’s New in Public Law

–Angelique Devaux, Cheuvreux Notaires, Diplômée notaire, LL.M 

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. South Africa’s Constitutional Court will hear a same-sex partnership inheritance case this week.
2. The Colombian Constitutional Court ordered mining company Minas Paz de Oro to develop policies that will prevent environment damage in the areas surrounding in its planned open-pit mine in the Boyacá town of Tasco.
3. The Administrative Court of Appeal of Marseille, France ruled that contractual public and private agents could be subject to different remuneration conditions.
4. South Korea’s Constitutional Court will review the constitutionality of the law that obliges mobile service operators to block child pornography.
5. Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled that parts of a new law governing its own operation are unconstitutional, but the government said it won’t publish the ruling.

In the News

1. Zambia’s opposition party challenged the results of the August 11 election, delaying the inauguration of president-elect Edgar Lungu and provoking questions of who should run the country.
2. Macau’s lawmakers revised the country’s electoral law in an effort to fight corruption.
3. Russia’s parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place shortly after the summer break under a changed election system.
4. Polish prosecutors began an investigation to determine whether the head of constitutional tribunal exceeded his authority by not allowing three judges chosen by the ruling parliamentary majority to rule on cases.
5. Lithuania will consider a constitutional amendment to define “family” as exclusively based on heterosexual marriage.
6. Chilean President Ricardo Lagos launched a website encouraging public consultation for reforming the constitution.
7. German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that women should be banned from wearing a face veil in various areas, including in school and while driving.
8. Ethiopia’s Feyisa Lilesa crossed the finish line in his silver medal marathon run at the Rio Olympics with his arms raised and crossed in an X, a gesture of protest against the Ethiopian government’s actions against the Oromo ethnic group.

New Scholarship 

1. Jamie Cameron, Collateral Thoughts on Dialogue’s Legacy as Metaphor and Theory: A Favourite from Canada, University of Queensland Law Journal (forthcoming 2016) (discussing the law review article “The Charter Dialogue Between Courts and Legislatures” and examining how and why “dialogue” became a runaway concept and what that tells us about the nature and formation of constitutional theory)
2. Thoryaldur Gylfason and Anne Meuwese, Digital Tools and the Derailment of Iceland’s New Constitution, CESifo Working Paper Series No. 5997 (2016) (mapping the use of digital tools in the Icelandic constitutional revision process of 2011 and discussing its aftermath in subsequent years)
3. Maria Joshua, If You Can’t Include Them, Exclude Them: Countering the Arab Uprisings in Algeria and Jordan, German Institute of Global and Area Studies Working Paper No. 286 (2016) (comparing protest management strategies of the ruling elites of Algeria and Jordan throughout the Arab uprisings)
4. Lovemore Chiduza and Paterson Nkosemntu Makiwane, Strengthening Locus Standi in Human Rights Litigation in Zimbabwe: An Analysis of the Provisions in the New Zimbabwean Constitution, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (2016) (discussing access to justice in Zimbabwe and the concept of locus standi under the Lancaster House Constitution)
5. Nicholas Aroney, Reforming Australian Federalism: The White Paper Process in Comparative Perspective, in A People’s Federation (Mark Bruerton, Robyn Hollander and Ron Levy eds.) (forthcoming) (discussing the shelved White Paper on the Reform of the Federation in Australia in a comparative perspective)
6. Sharon Yadin, Too Small to Fail: State Bailouts and Capture by Industry Underdogs,43 Capital University Law Review 889 (2016) (asserting that regulatory capture can be obtained not only by large firms but also by small ones, through special rhetoric of blame, intimidation and playing the victim)
7. Parliament and Parliamentarism, A Comparative History of a European Concept (Pasi Ihalainen, Cornelia Ilie, and Kari Palonen Berghahn eds.) (2016) (debating parliamentarism in Europe in three parts: the conceptual history of parliaments, the discourse and rhetoric of modern parliaments, and parliament and parliamentarism in political theory)
8. Jedidiah J. Kroncke, The Futility of Law and Development, China and the Dangers of Exporting American Law (2016) (addressing the role of comparative law and the place of Chinese law throughout U.S. legal culture, from Congress to law schools)
9. Gabrielle J. Appleby, The Solicitor-General and the Constitution, in The Role of the Solicitor-General: Negotiating Law, Politics and the Public Interest (2016) (explaining the role of the Solicitor-General in Australia in comparative perspective)
10. Ronald J. Gilson, From Corporate Law to Corporate Governance, in Oxford Handbook of Corporate Law and Governance (forthcoming) (tracking how corporate law became corporate governance—from legal rules standing alone to legal rules interacting with non-legal processes and institutions)
11. Lena Salaymeh, The Beginnings of Islamic Law, Late Antique Islamicate Legal Traditions (forthcoming 2016) (examining the beginnings of Islamic law through case studies)

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The University of Bristol Law School issued a call for papers for an international workshop titled“Democracy Beyond Elections: Empowering Citizens, Strengthening Participation” to be held at the University of Bristol (UK) on March 17-18, 2017, with the support of the British Academy. The deadline for abstract submission is September 30, 2016.
2. The University of Houston Law Center issued a call for papers for its 5th Annual State and Local Government Law Works-in-Progress Conference to be held on October 7 and 8, 2016 in Houston, Texas.
3. The co-editors of the Transnational Dispute Management Journal invite articles exploring the legal aspect of the controversy surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The deadline for submission is September 3, 2016.
4. The Transnational Dispute Management Journal invites papers on Time and Cost Issues in International Arbitration.  Papers should be submitted by November 2016.
5. The Law & Economics Center at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School is now considering applications for two new LEC Workshops for Law Professors.
6. The Tilburg Law Review (TiLR) invites article submissions for its fall 2017 special issue on “Translating Law.”
7. The Centre for Tax Law at the University of Cambridge invites proposals for papers to be presented at the second Tax Policy Conference to be held on April 11, 2017.
8. The M.K. Nambyar SAARC Law Centre and the Centre for Constitutional Law, Public Policy and Governance at NALSAR University is organizing a course on Comparative Constitutional Law Perspectives to be held on November 21-26, 2016.

Elsewhere Online

1. Gareth Davies, Could it All Have Been Avoided? Brexit and Treaty-Permitted Restrictions on Movement of Workers, European Law Blog
2. Thabang Mokgatle, 20 years after the TRC: Are we any the better?, AfricLaw
3. Thomas Hochmann, L’interdiction du “Burkini” est une faute juridique et politique, Le Monde [Article in French]
4. Tomasz Tadeusz Koncewicz, PiS wyprowadza Trybunał z Europy, Wyborcza [Article in Polish]
5. Salvatore Curreri, Banning The Burkini In Italy Would Be Unconstitutional And Counterproductive, The Huffington Post
6. Bassey Etim, Readers React: Should Air-Conditioning Be a Right for Prisoners? The New York Times
7. Maya Manian, Protecting Abortion Rights After Whole Woman’s Health, Jurist