What’s New in Public Law

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—Vini Singh, Assistant Professor & Doctoral Research Scholar, National Law University Jodhpur, India.

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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 contact.iconnect@gmail.com.

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The High Court of Australia ruled that the detainees of Don Dale who were deliberately and intentionally teargassed are entitled to compensation.
2. The Constitutional Court of Taiwan upheld the right to privacy and sexual autonomy and declared the laws criminalizing adultery as unconstitutional.
3. The High Court of South Africa declared lockdown restrictions as unconstitutional.
4. The Supreme Court of the United States upheld the restrictions imposed by Governor of California on attendance in places of worship due to COVID – 19.
5. The ECHR held Azerbaijan liable for discrimination and violation of right to life in Gurgen Margaryan’s case.

In the News

1. Protests over the death of George Floyd continue across U.S.
2. The Supreme Court of India proposes that the States should send stranded migrant workers home within 15 days and must generate employment opportunities for those returning home.
3. Central African Republic’s Constitutional Court rejects bid to extend President’s mandate. 
4. Kosovo’s Constitutional Court paves way for new government.
5. Burundi’s Constitutional Court rules that the presidential elections held on May 20, were flawless and that Evariste Ndayishimiye is the president – elect.
6. Kenya’s President strips his deputy of powers.
7. The Supreme Court of India rejects plea for renaming India to Bharat.
8. Eight democracies including the U.S. form the Inter – Parliamentary Alliance on China.
9. Pakistan’s Supreme Court rejects the plea against acquittal of convicts in the Daniel Pearl case.

New Scholarship

1. Joanna Bell, The Anatomy of Administrative Law (2020) (examining the nature of administrative law doctrine and adjudication).
2. Andrew T. Kenyon & Andrew Scott, Positive Free Speech: Rationales, Methods and Implications (2020) (interrogates the rationales of positive free speech, the political and juridical methods by which it is reflected in modern state and practical contexts in which its valorisation has significant implications.)
3. Mordechai Kremnitzer, Talya Steiner and Andrej Lang, Proportionality in Action: Comparative and Empirical Perspectives on the Judicial Practice (2020) (empirically examines the proportionality doctrine in a comparative study of six jurisdictions).
4. Gary J. Jacobsohn and Yaniv Roznai, Constitutional Revolution (2020) (examines the many ways in which constitutional revolution occurs and what happens when constitutional paradigms change).
5. Agnidipto Tarafder and Adrija Ghosh, The Unconstitutionality of the Marital Rape Exemption in India, 3(2) University of Oxford Human Rights Hub Journal 203 (2020) (argues that the marital rape exemption is unconstitutional in the light of the recent judgments of the Indian Supreme Court upholding right to privacy and sexual autonomy).

Calls for papers and announcements

1. The International Journal of Discrimination and the Law invites submissions for a special issue entitled “COVID – 19: Lessons for and from Vulnerability Theory.” The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2020.
2. The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies invites submissions for “The Director’s Series 2020/2021: Law and Humanities in a Pandemic.” The deadline for submission of abstracts is June 30,2020.
3. The Editorial Committee of Public Law invites submissions to the journal’s analysis section on the theme “Public law dimensions of the current COVID – 19 pandemic.” The submission deadline for the January 2021 issue is end of June, 2020. 
4. The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and Westminster Foundation for Democracy are organizing a digital conference on “Are Emergency Measures in Response to COVID – 19 a Threat to Democracy? Fact and Fiction.” The deadline for submission of abstracts is June 30, 2020.
5. The South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law (University of Johannesburg) will conduct an online panel discussion on “Constitutional Law, the Global South and COVID – 19: Comparing Colombia, South Africa and India.” The Zoom meeting will be held on June 9, 2020 at 1500 hrs (GMT plus 2).
6. The Eurac Research Institute for Comparative Federalism invites applications for the Federal Scholar in Residence Program 2021. Applications may be submitted by July 1, 2020.

Elsewhere Online

1. Burcu Tuzcu Ersin and Burcu Guray, Turkish Constitutional Court: Decision to Completely Block Access to a News Site Violates Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press, Lexology.
2. Angela Huyue Zhang, The Faceless Court, Verfassungsblog.
3. Chrystie Swiney, Will Governments use Pandemic Emergency Orders to expand their Powers Indefinitely?, Washington’s Post Monkey Cage Blog.
4. Chrystie Swiney, Grounding Breaking Case Identifies a New Fundamental Right: The Right to a Basic Education, Sunwater Institute.
5. Benedikt Reinke, Rights Reaching Beyond Borders, Verfassungsblog.
6. Gautam Bhatia, Coronavirus and the Constitution -XXI: The Mandatory Imposition of the Aarogya Setu App, Indconlawphil.
7. Vini Singh, Technology, Privacy and COVID – 19 Pandemic, Economics, Law and Social Sciences Review.