Henry de Bracton was a 13th Century British jurist who, among other things, defended supreme papal authority over secular affairs and recommended that criminal trials be undertaken “by ordeal” (wherein the defendant would hold red-hot iron or be thrown bound into a lake under the premise that a just god would protect the innocent). While
New Comparative Public Law Scholarship
As Chair of the Younger Comparativists Committee (YCC) in the American Society of Comparative Law (ASCL), I’m pleased to announce that the YCC will host a panel on “Building Constitutionalism in Post-Authoritarian States” at the ASCL’s Annual Meeting. The panel will feature the work of two younger comparativists: William Partlett’s paper on Making Constitutions Matter; and
Kabul Update: Constitutional Confusion Continues
Along with its myriad other problems, Afghanistan finds itself in a continuing state of constitutional confusion as to what body has the authority to interpret the constitution. Given the total stalemate between President Karzai and the parliament, this is a grave state of affairs that threatens to exacerbate the political gridlock. The problem began with
On this Day in the History of Comparative Constitutional Law
On this day, we remember the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada: Bertha Wilson, born on September 18, 1923, in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. Justice Wilson was a comparativist. In two of the most controversial judgments issued during her tenure, she looked to American constitutional law and the American constitutional tradition to help her resolve a
The Declining Influence of the United States Constitution
Mila Versteeg and I have just posted to SSRN a paper that might be of interest to readers of this blog entitled “The Declining Influence of the United States Constitution“. It follows up on an earlier article, imminently forthcoming in the California Law Review, in which we took a very bird’s eye view of the
The Declining Influence of the United States Constitution
Mila Versteeg and I have just put out a paper that might be of interest to readers of this blog entitled “The Declining Influence of the United States Constitution”. It’s an empirical look at the extent to which constitution-makers in other countries emulate the U.S. Constitution, which we study by measuring similarity between constitutions. (One
Libya update
The document that I commented on last week was never put into force; instead, the Transitional National Council issued a revised Transitional Constitutional Declaration. A thoughtful analysis by Zaid Al-Ali is here. Fortunately, the cramped timetable offered in the previous draft has been extended. Once liberation occurs (presumably meaning that Khadafi is found), an interim
Troubling South African Chief Justice Nomination
South African President Jacob Zuma has nominated the most conservative Justice on the South African Constitutional Court to be Chief Justice. Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng unfortunately has a troubling record to lead a Court that is supposed to bring about transformation in the nation. He issued a decision as a lower court judge that substantially removed
Thoughts on the Draft Transitional Constitution for Libya
As the tides shift in Libya, the rebels have released a draft constitution for the transitional period. It calls for a democratic political regime (Art. 4), accession to human rights instruments (Art. 7—Libya is already a member of all the core international instruments) and the rule of law (Arts. 6 and 11). Article 1 provides
