What’s New in Public Law

—Davide Bacis, PhD Student in Constitutional Law, University of Pavia (Italy)

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

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

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The German Federal Constitutional Court held that the core contents of fundamental rights must be guaranteed when transferring sovereign powers to international organizations.
2. The UK Supreme Court ruled that denying benefits to the surviving partner of an unmarried couple and her children constitutes a violation of Conventional rights.
3. The US Supreme Court declined to hear a case on Catholic foster care agencies and same sex couples’ rights.
4. The Constitutional Court of South Korea held that it cannot nullify rulings of the Supreme Court unless they violate basic rights by applying laws that have already been declared unconstitutional.
5. The Osaka High Court upheld the ruling of a lowers court stating that the male-only right to deny legal paternity is constitutional.
6. The Supreme Court of India ruled that scheduled casts and tribes can benefit from reservations in government jobs only in their home states.

In the News

1. The French Minister for the Environment, Nicolas Hulot, announced his resignation from office.
2. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina ruled that NC Republicans illegally drew up congressional districts to benefit their party.
3. The state of California passed a piece of legislation abolishing cash bail.
4. The National Assembly of Benin passed legislation on climate change.
5. The Government of Lithuania decided not to appeal the ECtHR ruling on their participation in the US extraordinary renditions program.
6. Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull resigned from Parliament.
7. The National People’s Congress of China adopted legislation on soil pollution prevention and control.
8. Rebels from South Sudan approved the peace deal with the government.
9. The Energy Minister of Tunisia was dismissed by the Prime Minister on corruption suspicions.
10. The Polish government stated that if the ECJ were to rule in favor of the Supreme Court, it would ignore the ruling.

New Scholarship

1. Helle Krunke and Björg Thorarensen (eds.), The Nordic Constitutions. A Comparative and Contextual Study (2018), (the book provides a comprehensive analysis of the constitutional systems of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden from a comparative perspective).
2. Renae Baker, State and Religion. The Australian story (2018), (analyzing the relationship and the interaction between the state and religion from both a legal and a historical perspective in Australia).
3. Carla Ferstman and Tony Gray (eds.), Contemporary Human Rights Challenges. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its Continuing Relevance (2018), (providing, through a collection of essays, a contemporary analysis to the principles enshrined within the Declaration).
4. Rehan Abeyratne and Didon Misri, Separation of Powers and the Potential for Constitutional Dialogue in India (2018), (drawing from the peculiarities applied to the separation of powers in India, the paper focuses on public interest litigation and the quasi-legislative role played by the Courts).
5. Reijer Passchier, Quasi-Constitutional Change Without Intent – A Response to Richard Albert (2018), (arguing that the theory of quasi-constitutional amendments can account for “silent constitutional change”).
6. Adem Abebe, Taming Regressive Constitutional Amendments: The African Court as a Continental (Super) Constitutional Court (2018), (analyzing the effects of the African Court power to invalidate constitutional provisions on domestic constitutional judicial review).
7. Sanja Bogojevic and Rosemary Rayfuse, Environmental Rights in Europe and Beyond (2018), (providing a comprehensive study on the historical and legal evolution of environmental rights).
8. Hugh Lafollette, In Defense of Gun Control (2018), (offering an empirical approach on the right to bear arms and the right to be free from harm cause by guns).

Call for Papers and Announcements

1. The Centre for Law and Culture at St Mary’s University, Twickenham (London), welcomes submissions conference “Race: Why can’t the law effect genuine equality?” conference, to be held on 7^th December 2018. Abstracts of no more than 250 words must be submitted by September 28^th, 2018.
2. Lancaster University invites submissions for the “Systems Theory and Human Rights Conference” to be held October 18^th, 2018. Abstracts no longer than 500 words are to be submitted within September 14^th.
3. The Irish Journal of European Law invites submissions for the 2018 Volume to be published on December 2018. Articles, either long (8 to 12 thousand words) or short (3 to 4 thousand words) must be submitted within September 28^th, 2018.
4. Tilburg University (The Netherlands) welcomes papers for the sixth bi-annual TILTing Perspectives conference on “Regulating a World in Transition” that will be held on May (15-17) 2019. Symposium, panel and workshop proposals, as well as abstracts, must be submitted within November 1^st, 2018.
5. ESIL welcomes submissions for the 2019 ESIL Research Forum on “The rule of law in international and domestic contexts: synergies and challenges” to be held in Göttingen on April 4-5, 2019. Abstracts of no more than 750 words must be submitted by September 30^th, 2018.
6. The University of Verona will host the TILT Young Academics Colloquium “What’s #trending in International and EU Law?” on May (23-24) 2019. Abstracts of no more than 8000 characters (spaces included) must be submitted by October 15^th, 2018.
7. The Indian Journal of Law and Public Policy invites submissions for its Volume V, Issue I. Submissions are to be sent by September 30^th, 2018.
8. The American Constitution Society welcomes submissions for the Junior Scholars Public Law Workshop to be held in New Orleans on January 3^rd, 2019. Papers must be sent by October 19^th, 2018.

Elsewhere Online

1. Mark A. Graber, Constitutional Democracy in Crisis? The Right-Wing Populist Surge, Verfassungsblog
2. Kai Ambos, Transitional Justice Without Truth?, EJIL: Talk!
3. Frank Maxime Yankam Lemdjo, The constitutional problems to protect the principle of linguistic equality in Cameroon, AfricLaw
4. Sébastien Platon, Disenfranchised by Accident: the Brexit Initiative and Brits abroad, Verfassungsblog
5. Asli Ozcelik and Jenna Sapiano, The Bangsamoro Organic Law: A Concrete Step towards Peace in Mindanao, Political Settlements Research Programme
6. David R. Cameron, Greece bailout ends but the consequences – high debt, high unemployment – remain, Yale Macmillan Center
7. Richard Ashby Wilson, The Hartford Guidelines on Speech Crimes in International Criminal Law, EJIL: Talk!
8. Evelien Brouwer, Schengen Entry Bans for Political Reasons? The Case of Lyudmyla Kozlovska, Verfassungsblog
9. Jess Sargeant, Alan Renwick and Meg Russell, How long would it take to hold a second referendum on Brexit?, The Constitution Unit
10. Janina Boughey, The Constitutional Crisis that Keeps on Giving: Could an Invalidly Appointed Minister’s Decisions be Challenged via Judicial Review?, Australian Public Law