What’s New in Public Law

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—Surbhi Karwa, PhD Candidate, UNSW-Sydney

—Yacine Ben Chaabane Mousli, University Paris Panthéon-Assas, Law clerk at the Administrative Court of Paris

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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 iconnecteditors@gmail.com.

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. French Council of State suspended the dissolution of the association “Les soulèvements de la terre”, invoking for the first time the notion of civil disobedience.
2. As provisional measures, the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights ordered Tunisia to grant the four political prisoners access to lawyers and doctors of their choice.
3. European Court of Human Rights does not recognize the embryo as an autonomous subject of law.
4. Historical Hearing in Israel’s Supreme Court starts in order to review the “reasonabless clause” that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu passed through parliament in July.
5. The Constitutional Court of the Central African Republic validates referendum results on adopting new constitution.

In the News

1. The pressure on Indian democracy continues, with the Indian government calling for a surprise special session of parliament and constitution of a committee for single election for union and state-level elections.
2. The date for the Voice referendum for recognizing Indigenous voices in the Australian Constitution has been announced. 
3. Rights groups criticize the conviction and sentencing of two prominent human rights activists in Bangladesh. 
4. In a first case, Brazil’s Supreme Court sentences a supporter of former President Jair Bolsonaro for rioting in the capital on Jan 8.

New Scholarship

1. Antoni Abat i Ninet, ‘Constitutional Law and Politics of Secession’ (presenting an analysis of the concept of secession and its constitutional accommodation).
2. Sandra Botero, ‘Courts that Matter: Activists, Judges, and the Politics of Rights Enforcement’ (presenting comparative study of the impact of socio economic rights rulings in Colombia and Argentina).
3. Ngoc Son Bui, ‘China’s Socialist Constitutional Identity’ (arguing that China’s constitutional identity is shaped by socialist commitments along with its three disharmonic aspects).
4. Albert H Y Chen, Po Jen Yap,  ‘The Constitutional System of the Hong Kong SAR: A Contextual Analysis’  (As part of the Hart series on contextual analysis of constitutional systems, the Hong Kong contribution is out).
5. Paul Dayl, Joe Tomlinson,  ‘Researching Public Law in Common Law Systems’ (presenting an exploration of research methodologies in public law).
6. Michael P. Foran, Khomotso Moshikaro, ‘The Virtues and Vices of Scholarly Activism’ (continuing on the  #scholactivism debate this piece flashes out the vices and virtues of activism in legal scholarship).
7. Thomas Perroud, ‘Service public et commun’ (Adressing the subject of cooperative public service).
8. Yaniv Roznai, Rosalind Dixon, David Landau, ‘Judicial Reform or Abusive Constitutionalism in Israel’ (presenting an assessment of Israel’s constitutional reform in comparative terms).
9. Two recent scholarships on Indian Supreme Court and its structural issues: Aparna Chandra, Sital Kalantry, William H.J. Hubbard, ‘Court on Trial: A Data Driven Account of Supreme Court of India’ and Gautam Bhatia, ‘Unsealed Covers: A Decade of the Constitutions, the Courts and the State’.
10. The Irish Judicial Studies Journal’s collection of essays on the relationship of Ireland with ECHR is out.
11. The Journal of Democracy’s special issue on democratic backsliding in India is out.

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. The Indian Law Review is now inviting proposals for special issue on varied topics of law.
2. Abstract submissions are now open for the ASAA 25th Biennial Conference.
3. Call for papers is now open for the Annual Workshop on the Vienna School of Jurisprudence and the Pure Theory of Law.
4. Call for papers is now open for the Constitutional Law Works in Progress Workshop.
5. Call for papers is now open for the LASSAA Workshop.
6. Proposals are welcome for a conference on Courts and their Interactions with Politics to be held at the University of Texas at Austin, hosted by Professor Rhonda Evans and the International Political Science Association.
7. Graduate students of all levels are welcome to the 2nd Graduate Conference on Constitutional Change at the University of Texas at Austin on January 11-13, 2024. More details here.

Elsewhere Online

1. Katharina Natter, ‘Reinventing a Broken Wheel: What the EU Tunisia Deal Reveal Over Europe’s Migration Cooperation’  (5 September 2023)
2. Abhinav Sekhri, ‘Decolonizing Criminal Law: On India’s New Draft Criminal Code’ (4 September 2023)
3. Jack Sproson, Tsvetelina van Benthem, ‘Three Legal Questions Arising from Reported Practices of Enforced Disappearance in Russian Occupied Ukrainian Territories’ (1 September 2023)
4. Anurag Deb, ‘The Good Friday Agreement and the European Convention on Human Rights’  (29 August 2023)
5. Marek Domin, ‘Constitutional Right to Use Cash in Slovakia: A Real Too of Protection or Pre Election Populism’ (29 August 2023)
6. Mark Deng, ‘12 Years in the Making: A Cumbersome Constitution- Making Process in South Sudan’ (1 August 2023)