What’s New in Public Law

–Maja Sahadžić, Ph.D. Researcher (University of Antwerp)

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 Council of Grand Justices in Taiwan hears a landmark case that could see the island become the first region in Asia to allow same-sex marriage.
2. The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany dismissed a constitutional complaint against the public appearance of the Turkish PM in the city of Oberhausen, in February.
3. The Supreme Court of Japan found that an existing gender gap in eligibility for receiving a survivor’s pension under the law on local public servants’ compensation does not violate the Constitution.
4. The Supreme Court of Argentina ruled that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights cannot revoke a 2001 decision by the Supreme Court.
5. The Venice Commission gave its opinion on the lasting conflict in Slovakia concerning vacancies on the Constitutional Court.
6. The French Conseil Constitutionnel launched a full investigation into the EU-Canada free trade deal CETA.

In the News

1. The Scottish Parliament postponed a vote on calling for a new independence referendum after Westminster attack. The vote will now take place one day before article 50 is triggered.
2. British Prime Minister Theresa May will trigger Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon on Wednesday.
3. The Uttarakhand High Court in India recognised Ganga and Yamuna rivers to be “living entities,” affording them all rights guaranteed by the constitution.
4. The National Assembly in Pakistan passed a constitutional amendment to reinstate secret military courts that try civilians charged with terrorism offences.
5. Prosecutors interrogated South Korean ex-president over the corruption and abuse of power scandal.
6. The legislator Suzy Nashed in the Egyptian Parliament announced the intention to submit a draft law that would force Egypt’s State Council to appoint female judges.

New Scholarship

1. Ran Hirschl, Going Global? Canada As Importer and Exporter of Constitutional Thought, in Richard Albert and David R. Cameron (eds.), Canada In The World: Comparative Perspectives On The Canadian Constitution (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2017) (assessing the transformation of Canada’s stature as “giver” and as “taker” of constitutional thought)
2. Antonios Kouroutakis, The Constitutional Value of Sunset Clauses: An Historical and Normative Analysis (2017) (examining the constitutional value of sunset clauses from normative aspects with regards so deliberative and consensus democracy, parliamentary sovereignty, and constitutional dialogue)
3. Ulrich Karpen and Helen Xanthaki (eds.), Legislation in Europe, A comprehensive guide for scholars and practitioners (2017) (analyzing general principles and best practices within the context of the different systems of government in Europe)
4. Giuseppe Martinico, Building supranational identity: legal reasoning and outcome in Kadi I and Opinion 2/13 of the Court of Justice, 2 Italian Journal of Public Law (2016) (exploring the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union as interpreter of the constitutional identity of the EU)
5. Patricia Popelier and Catherine van de Heyning, Subsidiarity post-Brighton: procedural rationality as answer? 30 Leiden Journal of International Law (2017) (examining the approach of the European Court of Human Rights to subsidiarity and procedural rationality review)
6. Angela Di Gregorio and Arianna Angeli (eds.), The Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union, Moving toward a greater understanding (2017) (analyzing the evolution of geopolitical and economic integration in the Eurasian area)
7. Diego Werneck Arguelhes and Ivar A. Hartmann, Timing Control without Docket Control: How Individual Justices Shape the Brazilian Supreme Court’s Agenda, 5 Journal of Law and Courts (2017) (exploring the use of the pedido de vista power by the Brazilian Supreme Court as an informal mechanism of timing the control)
8. Eva Maria Belser, Maurizio Maggetti-Waser, and Nico Steytler, Power Sharing in Sri Lanka, Some comments and recommendations to the constitutional debate from a comparative perspective (2016) (discussing the Sri Lankan constitutional process and controversies in comparative perspective)

Call for Papers and Announcements

1. Journal of Liberty and International Affairs invites submissions for its special issue on “Western Balkan Countries and the European Union: Past Achievements, Current Situation, and Future Perspectives.” Submissions are due by June 1, 2017.
2. The bEUcitizen Project organizes the final conference of the project, on “The Future of EU Citizenship,” to be held on April 26-28, 2017.
3. The Students’ Union of the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb invites submission to its conference on “Democracy at a Turning Point?,” to be held on June 12-14, 2017. Abstracts are due by April 1, 2017.  
4. The Faculty of Law of Ghent University invites submissions for its conference on “Freedom under Pressure,” on June 16, 2017. The conference seeks to discuss key fundamental rights and freedoms under pressure in three distinct areas: data protection and privacy; freedom of movement in the EU; and public policy and property protection. Abstracts are due by April 30, 2017.
5. The School of Law at Queen Mary University of London organizes its Eighth Annual Postgraduate Legal Research Conference, to be held on June 16, 2017. This year on the theme: “Overturning paradigms.”
6. The Government of the People’s Republic of China invites students and scholars from developing countries to study in China with a full scholarship by the Chinese Ministry of Education for UNESCO. Applications are due by April 20, 2017.
7. The Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law in Heidelberg invites interested scholars to apply for a research project on administrative law in Afghanistan. Applications are due by April 2, 2017.

Elsewhere Online

1. Catherine Bond, Locating the Place of the Royal Prerogative After Miller, AUSPUBLAW
2. Thomas Adams, A puzzle from Anisminic, Admin Law Blog
3. Saeed Bagheri, Derogating from Fundamental Human Rights under the Turkish State of Emergency, Oxford Human Rights Hub
4. Stéphanie Hennette-Vauchez, Thomas Piketty, Guillaume Sacriste, and Antoine Vauchez, European parliamentary sovereignty on the shoulders of national parliamentary sovereignties: A Reply to Sébastien Platon, Verfassungsblog
5. Monique Steijns, Achbita and Bougnaoui: raising more questions than answers, eutopia law
6. Jonathan Hafetz, President Trump’s Revised Travel Ban: The Underlying Problem of Religious Discrimination Remains, JURIST
7. Eva Brems, European Court of Justice Allows Bans on Religious Dress in the Workplace, Blog of the IACL, AIDC
8. Ascher Nathan, Brexit at Westminster: can parliament play a meaningful role?, The Constitution Unit
9. Mark Elliott, Discarding the fig-leaf of analytical reasoning? The Hutton case and the law/fact distinction, Public Law for Everyone
10. Christina Lienen, Why the Implications of ‘No Deal’ Are No Mere ‘Exercise in Guesswork,’ UK Constitutional Law Association