Month: November 2013
-
European Court of Human Rights Condemns Greece for Banning Same-Sex Civil Unions
–Christina M. Akrivopoulou, Greek Refugee Appeals Authority On November 7, the European Court of Human Rights decided Vallianatos and others v. Greece, which condemned Greece for banning same-sex civil unions. Law 3719/2008 introduced civil unions within Greece as an alternative to the institution of marriage for heterosexual couples that share stable relationships, but excluded same-sex couples from its scope.
-
Call for Papers: 2013 Phanor J. Eder J.D. Prize in Comparative Law
The Younger Comparativists Committee of the American Society of Comparative Law is pleased to invite submissions for the Phanor J. Eder J.D. Prize in Comparative Law in connection with its third Annual Conference, to be held on April 4-5, 2014, at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.
-
Indian Supreme Court Rules on Bureaucratic Independence
–Nick Robinson, Fellow, Program on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School [cross-posted from Law and Other Things] Last week saw the Supreme Court decide T.S.R. Subramanian vs. Union of India. The judgment, involving the independence of the bureaucracy, is arguably the latest in a fascinating line of jurisprudence from the Court over the last decade and a half attempting to insulate parts of the government from politicians (Prakash Singh laid down a set of orders intended to sure up the independence of the police, Vineet Narrain to increase the independence of the central bureau of intelligence (CBI)).
-
Senate Reform in Canada: What to Make of the Constitution?
—Leonid Sirota, JSD Candidate, NYU School of Law Over the course of three days last week, the Supreme Court of Canada heard submissions from the federal government, the ten provinces, two territories, two ami curiae, and several interveners on the constitutionality of the federal government’s proposals for reforming the unelected upper house of the Parliament of Canada, the Senate.
-
Turkey’s Constitutional Process
—Bertil Emrah Oder, Dean, Koç University Law School [cross-posted from the Hürriyet Daily News] After the refusal of the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) proposal by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the constitutional plan as to the 60 agreed articles seems to have been put aside from further political consideration.
-
Chile’s Constitutional Moment?
–Oya Yegen Chile is going through a “constitutional moment”. Demand for replacing the 1980 Constitution, inherited from the Pinochet regime, has not been so clearly expressed or been so central to presidential elections until the last couple of years. Now, with a presidential election due to take place this Sunday, the issue has come to the fore.
-
Resources for Readers: The Future of the Canadian Senate
Tomorrow, the Canadian Supreme Court will begin three days of hearings on the constitutionality of proposed changes to the Senate of Canada. This could be the most important case in Canadian constitutional law since the 1998 Secession Reference. The hearings will be broadcast live here starting tomorrow at 9:30am EST.
-
Call for Papers: Conference on “Constitutionalism Across Borders in the Struggle Against Terrorism”
International Association of Constitutional Law Research Group on Constitutional Responses to Terrorism Call for Papers for Conference at Harvard Law School (USA) – 6-7 March 2014 “Constitutionalism Across Borders in the Struggle Against Terrorism” On behalf of the IACL Research Group on Constitutional Responses to Terrorism, we hereby invite proposals in the form of abstracts for papers to be delivered at an international conference on “Constitutionalism Across Borders in the Struggle Against Terrorism” hosted by Harvard Law School, in Boston – Massachusetts (USA), on 6-7 March 2014.
-
Nuclear Controversy and the Right to Petition in Japan
—Tokujin Matsudaira, Kanagawa University Faculty of Law Last week, Taro Yamamoto, a member of Japanese House of Councillors in the Diet, set off a controversy when he personally handed a letter to the Japanese Emperor expressing concern about the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
-
Crown Immunity After the End of Empire in Hong Kong and India
—Christopher Forsyth & Nitish Upadhyaya, University of Cambridge Cross-posted from the Blog of the UK Constitutional Law Group Crown Immunity is a recondite branch of Public Law that seldom makes an appearance in the Law Reports but it does potentially raise grave constitutional issues.