—Zoltán Pozsár-Szentmiklósy, ELTE University, Budapest Klaus Iohannis, Romania’s new president, faces a challenging situation right at the beginning of his term: after a harsh campaign, his rival candidate for the presidency, Victor Ponta, remains prime minister and enjoys the support of a significant parliamentary majority. Though they have different powers, the president and the prime minister are both in

Announcement: Establishment of the Arab Association of Constitutional Law
–Zaid Al-Ali, Senior Adviser on Constitution Building, International IDEA On 16-17 October 2014, 45 leading scholars, lawyers, judges and jurists met at a conference that was hosted by the Lebanese University in Beirut to establish the Arab Association of Constitutional Law. It is the first association to focus on constitutional law and to bring together experts in

Belgian Constitutional Court Upholds the “Essential Elements” of Power Sharing Deal
—Stefan Graziadei, University of Antwerp The former Belgian Prime Minister Jean Luc Dehaene found Belgium to be a schizophrenic country.[i] He argued that while for Dutch speakers (known as ‘Flemings’) the Belgian polity and its constitutional law are underpinned by the territoriality principle, for French speakers the personality principle was dominant. While the principle of

What’s New in Comparative Public Law
—Angélique Devaux, French Qualified Attorney (Notaire Diplômée), LL.M American Law (IUPUI Robert H. McKinney School of Law) 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

Video Interview: Counter-Interpretation and Constitutional Supremacy, Featuring Joshua Braver
—Richard Albert, Boston College Law School In this latest installment of our new video interview series at I-CONnect, I interview Joshua Braver on judicial review in the United Kingdom and the United States, specifically as it relates to a phenomenon he identifies as “counter-interpretation.” We discuss why, in his view, judicial review in the United Kingdom has

A “Stunning” Decision of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal: The Ritual Slaughter Case
–Anna Śledzińska-Simon, University of Wroclaw[*] When a judge is to decide on the conformity of a ritual slaughter ban with a constitution she cannot help but realize that it is material for a landmark decision. Yet, in Poland the full panel of the Constitutional Tribunal missed this chance and rendered a judgment that is wrong

Final Call–Deadline January 20–Workshop on Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Milan
The University of Milan Department of National and Supranational Law in collaboration with The Younger Comparativists Committee of the American Society of Comparative Law request submissions for Workshop on Comparative Constitutional Law University of Milan Milan, Italy Monday, May 4, 2015 10h00-16h00 The University of Milan’s Department of National and Supranational Public Law and the

What’s New in Comparative 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

Editor’s Choice: Lech Garlicki
—Lech Garlicki, University of Warsaw [ICON Editors’ Choices for New Year Readings and Gifts: ICON’s Book Review Editor, Isabel Feichtner, invited our Board members to reflect on the books that have had a significant impact on them over the past year. They write about books, not necessarily published in 2014, but read or reread in