What’s New in Comparative Public Law

–Angelique Devaux, French Licensed Attorney (Notaire)

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 our weekly feature on “What’s New in Comparative Public Law,” please email contact.iconnect@gmail.com.

Developments in Constitutional Court

1. Ukraine’s Constitutional Court declared that a revised bill on amendments to the Constitution in the field of justice complies with Articles 157 and 158 of the Fundamental Law.
2. Zimbabwe’s Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the country’s criminal defamation laws are unconstitutional.
3. The Constitutional Court in Tajikistan approved constitutional amendments to remove presidential term limits from the Constitution.
4. The High Court of Australia ruled that the country’s offshore detention policy for asylum seekers does not violate the Australian Constitution.
5. The Supreme Court of India agreed to review its 2013 decision reinstating an 1861 law prohibiting sex between consenting adults of the same sex.

In the News

1. A proposed revision to China’s Wildlife Protection Law is being criticized by conservationists who fear it could legitimize the commercial exploitation of endangered species.
2. French lawmakers are debating proposals to change the Constitution to strip dual nationals of their French citizenship in terrorism cases and enshrine in the text controversial measures put in place after the November 13 attacks in Paris.
3. Polish President Andrzej Duda approved a new law that grants the government greater access to digital data and broader use of surveillance for law enforcement.
4. The Florida Supreme Court stayed an execution amid growing concern over the constitutionality of Florida’s death penalty scheme.
5. Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party requested that a parliamentary group composed of three lawmakers from each of the four political parties draft a new constitution within six months.
6. Algeria’s parliament approved a new constitution aimed at reforming the country by limiting presidents to two terms and recognizing the language used by its Berber minority as official.
7. The French government confirmed that it would seek a three-month extension of the state of emergency declared after the November 2015 Paris attacks.

New Scholarship

1. Stephen Gardbaum, Positive and Horizontal Rights: Proportionality’s Next Frontier or a Bridge Too Far? in Proportionality: New Frontiers, New Challenges, Vicki Jackson and Mark Tushnet eds. (forthcoming 2016) (discussing proportionality in constitutional courts)
2. Mohamed A. Arafa and Jonathan G. Burns, Judicial Corporal Punishment in the United States? Lessons from Islamic Criminal Law for Curing the Ills of Mass Incarceration, 25 Indiana International and Comparative Law Review 385 (2015) (comparing the experience of the United States and jurisdictions that apply Islamic criminal law and suggesting that judicial corporal punishment represents a more effective alternative to incarceration)
3. Nadjma Yassari, Lena-Maria Möller, and Imen Gallala-Arndt, Introduction – Negotiating Parenthood in Muslim Countries: Changing Concepts and Perceptions, 63 Journal of Comparative Law 819 (2015) (exploring how parenthood is negotiated in Muslim countries and examining the legal concepts that reflect changing perceptions of parenthood that have emerged over the course of the last few decades)
4. Eirik Bjorge, Domestic Application of the ECHR, Courts as Faithful Trustees (2015) (analyzing the application of the ECHR in different European jurisdictions)
5. Eduardo Biacchi Gomes Sr. and Luis Alexandre Carta Winter, Citizenship and Fundamental Rights: A Reading from the Brazilian Constitution and Mercosur, 6 Education and Science without Borders Journal (2015) (examining citizenship in the Brazilian Constitution of 1988)

Calls for Papers

1. The Younger Comparativists Committee of the American Society of Comparative Law is accepting nominations for the Richard M. Buxbaum Prize for Teaching in Comparative Law. The deadline for nominations is February 22, 2016.
2. In advance of the Migration and Law Network 2016 conference, academics and researchers are invited to submit papers on “Europe’s Crisis: What future for immigration and asylum law and policy?” for the conference to be held on June 27-28, 2016 in association with Queen Mary University of London.
3. The Society of Legal Scholars, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, and the European Society of International Law’s Interest Group on International Legal Theory have issued a call for papers for the 25th SLS-BIICL Conference on Theory and International Law to be held on April 25, 2016 in London.
4. The School of Law, Charles Darwin University, Australia invites papers for its inaugural Transnational Law Research Workshop and Student Showcase to be held on March 16, 2016.
5. Organizers have issued a call for papers for the 16th Annual WTO Conference to be held on June 10-11, 2016 in Geneva.

Elsewhere Online

1. Gunal Kursun, The Suicide of the Constitutional Court, Today Zaman
2. Linda Greenhouse, The Supreme Court vs. The President, The New York Times
3. Eugene Volokh, Can Florida restrict doctor’s speech to patients about guns?, The Washington Post
4. Dimitrina Petrova, Mind the Gap Between Poor and Rich: An Equal Rights Approach is Key in Global Development, Jurist
5. Shawn Marie Boyne, From Common Constitutional Core to Dialogue Among Courts, Comparative Law Prof Blog
6. Evelyn Merckx, Mandet v. France: Child’s duty to know its origins prevails over wish to remain in the dark, Strasbourg Observers
7. Lyle Denniston, Constitution Check: What does the “Take Care Clause” mean?, Constitution Daily