Blog of the International Journal of Constitutional Law

Tag: Germany

  • Mandatory Vaccination is not an Assault to Freedom: A Plea for Mandatory Covid-19 Vaccination in Germany

    —Felipe Oliveira de Sousa, Center for Law, Behaviour and Cognition (CLBC), Ruhr-Universität Bochum The German Bundestag has recently opened discussions about the adoption of a general mandatory vaccination requirement for Covid-19 (Allgemeine Impfpflicht) in Germany. Whereas some voices argue that it would be disproportionate and lead to a strong interference in the fundamental rights of…

  • When is a Criminal Prohibition of Genocide Denial Justified? Lessons from Perinçek Case

    —Javid Gadirov, Assistant Professor, ADA University (Azerbaijan) It may seem surprising to readers in the United States that there is a criminal prohibition of the denial of the Holocaust in Germany, and of genocides and crimes against humanity in other European countries.

  • Video Interview: “Constitutional Sunsets and Experimental Legislation” featuring Sofia Ranchordás

    –Richard Albert, Boston College Law School In this latest installment of our new video interview series at I-CONnect, I interview Sofia Ranchordás on her new book on Constitutional Sunsets and Experimental Legislation: A Comparative Perspective, published by Edward Elgar. Here is the publisher’s abstract for the book: This innovative book explores the nature and function of ‘sunset clauses’…

  • If It Looks Like A Duck…?

    —Claudia E. Haupt, Associate-in-Law, Columbia Law School Cross-posted from the Center for Law and Religion Forum at St. John’s University School of Law A growing body of literature in comparative constitutional law discusses themes of constitutional convergence. Do constitutional provisions converge across legal regimes?

  • Showing Germans the Light

    –Or Bassok, Tikvah Scholar, NYU School of Law Conferences in the US on German public law often digress into an attempt by Americans scholars to show their German counterparts the scholarly “light.” The recipe has several variations.[1] According to the milder version, German public law scholarship fails to give an adequate account of reality when it…

  • Differencing Same-Sex Marriage

    –Russell Miller, Washington & Lee University School of Law, Co-Author, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany (2012), Co-Editor-in-Chief, German Law Journal As a comparative lawyer it is tempting to see a once-in-a-generation convergence of American and German constitutional law on what many regard as the era’s foremost civil rights issue:  same-sex marriage. 

  • Book Review/Response: Claudia Haupt and Markus Thiel on Church and State in Germany and the United States

    [Editor’s Note: In this installment of I•CONnect’s Book Review/Response Series, Markus Thiel reviews Claudia Haupt’s recently-published book Religion-State Relations in the United States and Germany: The Quest for Neutrality. Claudia Haupt then responds to Markus Thiel’s review.] —Markus Thiel, Professor of Public Law, University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne, and Associate…

  • Toward a New European Abortion Constitutionalism?

    —Ruth Rubio Marin, European University Institute Modern constitutionalism, born at the end of the 18th century with the French and American Revolutions, is a historically grounded venture. At the time, women did not enjoy civil equality, their freedom being largely dependent on their marital status, nor political citizenship–female enfranchisement not becoming a widespread reality until…

  • Five Electoral Systems that make even less sense than the Electoral College

    –Daniel Lansberg-Rodríguez and Tom Ginsburg, University of Chicago Law School [reprinted from www.foreignpolicy.com] Grousing about our arcane and nonsensical Electoral College, and calling publicly for its end, have by now become time-honored election season traditions in the United States. This year, even the Russians, themselves no paragons of functional democracy, have gotten in on the…

  • Thoughts on the German Constitutional Court Decision on the ESM

    –Richard Stith, Valparaiso University The German Federal Constitutional Court’s decision of September 12, 2012, has been welcomed by some as signaling yet another political retreat, yet another ”Son of Solange II”. But what should bring joy to the heart of every American comparative law teacher is that, whether retreat or advance, every new “red line” drawn…