What’s New in Public Law

–Mohamed Abdelaal, Alexandria University (Egypt)

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. Zambia’s Constitutional Court ordered all cabinet and provincial ministers to vacate their posts.
2. Poland’s Constitutional Court ruled against a set of government reforms aimed at changing how the court works.
3. Italy’s Constitutional Court provided the green light for a constitutional referendum.
4. Belize’s Supreme Court struck down a law banning sodomy, declaring it unconstitutional.
5. A Nice court upheld a ban on full-body swimsuits, known as burkinis, in the southern French city of Cannes.

In the News

1. The U.S. Department of Justice issued a report addressing racial bias by the Baltimore police.
2. A Brazilian judge ordered 2016 Olympics organizers to allow peaceful protests.
3. Guatemala’s indigenous groups have demanded that their rights to land and ancestral justice systems be enshrined in a new constitution that recognizes Guatemala as plurinational.
4. Turkey announced plans to abolish military high courts by amending the country’s constitution.
5. Japan’s Emperor Akihito indicated that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should proceed carefully before revising Japan’s postwar constitution and signaled again that he would like tostep down from the world’s oldest hereditary monarchy.
6. China’s draft cyber-security law aimed at handling cybersecurity threats from abroad more forcefully was submitted to the top legislature for a second reading.
7. Thailand announced that the charter draft of its new constitution is expected to be enacted in October or November.

New Scholarship

1. Jamie Cameron, Legality, Legitimacy and Constitutional Amendment in Canada (2016) (explaining how the legality and legitimacy of amendment failed to align prior to patriation of the Canadian Constitution)
2. Peter Cane, Controlling Administrative Power: An Historical Comparison (2016) (providing a comparative analysis for controlling administrative power in different legal regimes)
3. Se-shauna Wheatle, The Constitutionality of the ‘Homosexual Advance Defence’ in the Commonwealth Caribbean, 16 Equal Rights Review 38 (2016) (presenting a critical analysis of the homosexual advance defence in the Commonwealth Caribbean)
4. Maoz Rosenthal, Gad Barzilai & Assaf Meydani, Constitutional Judicial Review, Chief Justices, and Judges’ Preferences: Institutional Lessons and Israel’s High Court of Justice (2016) (providing an empirical analysis of judicial behavior using institutional lessons from Israel’s High Court of Justice)
5. Yen-Tu Su & Han-Wei Ho, The Causes of Rising Opinion Dissensus on Taiwan’s Constitutional Court (2016) (analyzing the causes that led to the rise of the dissent opinions in Taiwan’s Constitutional Court)
6. Jay Krehbiel, Public Awareness and the Behavior of Unpopular Courts (2016) (considering the consequences of public awareness for the behavior of courts that lack public support)
7. Gian Marco Solas, Alternative Litigation Funding and the Italian Perspective, European Review of Private Law (2016) (addressing the emergence of Alternative Litigation Funding (ALF) in the Italian Legal System)
8. Hurst Hannum, Reinvigorating Human Rights for the Twenty-First Century, Human Rights Law Review (2016) (calling for returning to the notion of “human rights” as international human rights law and maintaining the distinction between law and morality or law and politic)
9. Andreas Follesdal, Implications of Contested Multilateralism for Global Constitutionalism, Global Constitutionalism (forthcoming) (discussing the implications and purposes of the term “global constitutionalism”)
10. Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, Rethinking the Presumption of Constitutionality in Constitutional Interpretation in Singapore: Theory and Practice (Jaclyn L. Neo ed.) (2016) (discussing the strong presumption of constitutional validity applied by Singapore courts in performing judicial review)

Call for Papers 

1. The Editorial Board of BioLaw Journal – Rivista di BioDiritto has launched a call for papers dedicated to the theme of end of life issues.
2. The Max Planck Foundation for Peace and the Rule of Law has two vacancies: (1) a Senior Research Fellow for Ph.D. Programme for Afghan Jurists; (2) and a Senior Research Fellow for Administrative Law Afghanistan Project.
3. The Law Futures Centre, Griffith University Law School in conjunction with the Southern Cross University School of Law and Justice welcome submissions for the 2016 Conference of the Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand to be held November 30, 2016 to December 3, 2016 in Brisbane.
4. The Indian Journal of Law and Public Policy (IJLPP) invites submissions for its upcoming issue.
5. The University of Houston Law Center will be hosting the 5th Annual State & Local Government Law Works-in-Progress Conference on Friday, October 7, 2016 and Saturday, October 8, 2016.

Elsewhere Online

1. Jesse Blackbourn & Nicola McGarrity, The Dangers of Sunsets in National Security, AUSPUBLAW Blog
2. Jake Maxwell Watts & Nopparat Chaichalearmmongkol, Thai Constitution Vote Entrenches Military’s Influence, Wall Street Journal
3. Jonathan Soble, At 82, Emperor Akihito of Japan Wants to Retire. Will Japan Let Him?, N.Y. Times
4. The Monthly Overview – June 2016 of Belgium Constitutional Law Blog, BelConLawBlog
5. Jethro Mullen, Global business to China: Scrap new cyber rules, CNN
6. Judicial Review Systems in West Africa: A Comparative Analysis, ConstitutionNet