What’s New in Public Law

—Ashwani Kumar Singh, Assistant Professor of Law, Vinayaka Mission’s Law School, India

—Olumide Opeyemi Toyinbo, Postgraduate Student, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria

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 iconnecteditors@gmail.com.

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. A 3-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India declared that the allotment of Reserve Forest land for agricultural purposes and subsequent permission of its sale was illegal.
2. Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled in favour of military trial of 9 individuals for their involvement in riotous protests.
3. Supreme Court of India reversed content takedown order issued against Wikipedia by the High Court of Delhi.
4. Spanish Supreme Court dismissed tax fraud charges against former King Juan Carlos.
5. The Court of Appeal (UK) has upheld the High Court’s decision of May 2024, in which it ruled that the Government acted unlawfully in making Regulations that made changes to sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 to give police broad powers to restrict protests.

In the News

1. Malta has proposed constitutional reforms to increase the retirement age of judges and magistrates and to introduce a new standards commissioner tasked with overseeing judicial conduct.
2. The President of India has exercised her powers under Article 143(1) to seek the opinion of the Supreme Court on whether the Court can prescribe a time limit on the exercise of powers by Governors in absence of any constitutionally prescribed limit.
3. An international coalition of states endorsed establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.
4. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has condemned judicial decisions in Brazil that could exclude criminal responsibility in sexual violence cases against girls and adolescents.
5. The Scottish Parliament has voted to advance the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill to the next stage.

New Scholarship

1. Darshan Datar, Judicial Concept of Religion in India: An Analysis of the Relationship Between Religion and Culture in Indian Supreme Court Jurisprudence (arguing that judges narrow the concept of religion through a process called judicial inculturation. Judicial inculturation is the process by which judges hold that religious symbols or practices are cultural as opposed to religious due to their links to the majority religion of the country).
2. Arthur Guerra Filho, The Blind Spot of Liberal Democracy: The Constitutional Limits for Assessing Bribery in Political Finance and How It Reinforces Wealth-Based Power (examining cases of the U.S. and Brazilian Supreme Courts to show that the former has adopted a relatively narrow concept of bribery (and even of illegal gratuities), while the latter embraced a broader concept in the context of campaign finance cases during Operation Car Wash).
3. Katarzyna Krzyżanowska, Judicialization of Constitutional Identity (arguing that constitutional identity in the European context has been erroneously subscribed to the sole authority of the domestic constitutional courts. It proposes to involve national legislatures and political bodies in the development of constitutional identity and to employ opt-outs and actions for annulment as mechanisms of dispersion of power over constitutional identity).
4. Martin Loughlin, William A. Robson and the Making of English Administrative Law (examining the role of William A. Robson (1895-1980) in the making of English administrative law).
5. Rohit Sharma, Judicial powerplay: independence of judiciary under the shadow of illiberalism (suggesting that for understanding the pro-government decisions of the Supreme Court of India, we should shift focus from institutional design features to unpacking the power dynamics within the judiciary).
6. Josep M Tirapu-Sanuy, Devolution, National Pluralism and the Role of the UK Supreme Court (arguing that the purpose of devolution is the accommodation of national pluralism, and the UK Supreme Court ought to reason and interpret the devolution statutes in a manner which promotes the accommodation of national pluralism, moving away from the current approach).
7. Or Bassok, Originalism as an Empty Signifier, Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y: Per Curiam (forthcoming 2025) (arguing that Reva Siegel’s democratic constitutionalism thesis, as well as similar constitutional theories, undermine the ability to use constitutional law to criticize populist movements).

Calls for Papers and Announcements 

1. Call for Papers: The Rule of Law, Multi-layered Human Rights Protection and Constitutional Resilience – The ECHR at 75 and the Venice Commission at 35 Deadline: June 4, 2025. Submission details are here.
2. The Indian Journal of Constitutional Law (IJCL) invites submissions for its thirteenth issue, scheduled for publication in 2025. Deadline: 30 May 2025. Submission details are here.
3. The European Yearbook of Constitutional Law (EYCL) invites submissions for its eighth volume (2026), which will focus on the theme Social Rights and Constitutional Justice. Deadline: 1 June 2025. Submission details are here.
4. Asian Journal of Law and Society invites papers that explore the unique functions, constraints, and dynamics of courts across Asian jurisdictions. Deadline: 31 July 2025. Submission details are here.
5. The American Society of International Law calls for submission of scholarly paper proposals for the 2025 ASIL Research Forum. The theme of the 2025 Midyear Meeting is Turning Points and Paradigm Shifts in International Law. Deadline: 30 May 2025. Submission details are here.
6. Cambridge Forum on AI: Law and Governance invites submissions for the upcoming Themed Issue: Towards trustworthy and responsible AI in adjudication. Deadline: 1 June 2025. Submission details are here.

Elsewhere Online

1. Blake Emerson, Undoing the American Rechtsstaat: What U.S. Law Is (Not) Prepared For (Verfassungsblog, 16 May 2025)
2. Kanak Kanti Karmakar, Judicial Activism in Protecting the Right to Equality in Bangladesh: Reflections on High Court Division’s verdict on Redefining Parental Identity in Student Information Forms (OxHRH Blog, 16 May 2025)
3. Maximilian Taylor, Accountability and the Tripartition of Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom (IACL Blog, 15 May 2025)
4. Crash Wigley, For Women Scotland: A Case of Significant Silences (UK Constitutional Law Association Blog, 6 May 2025)
5. Roman Zinigrad, The Dark Side of Humor: The ECtHR and the Normalization of Hate Speech (Verfassungsblog, 14 May 2025)