What’s New in Public Law

–Angélique Devaux, Cheuvreux Notaires, Paris, France, Diplômée notaire, LL.M. Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law

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. Spain’s Constitutional Court cancels Catalonia’s declaration of independence.
2. Moldova’s Constitutional Court approved the proposal to change the official language from Moldovan to Romanian.
3. The Supreme Court of Canada approved development of a ski resort on indigenous lands.
4. Brazil’s Supreme Court suspended a governmental decree changing the definition of slavery.
5. The French Constitutional Court ruled a 3% surtax on dividend unconstitutional.

In the News

1. The election of the head of the Ukraine Constitutional Court failed.
2. Dubai now allows non-Muslims to write wills.
3. A federal judge in Washington blocked President Donald Trump’s transgender military ban.
4. United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg confirmed that she is not leaving the Court.
5. The Constitutional Court of South Africa is expected to hear a case about the constitutionality of the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE).
6. Venezuela’s Opposition Leader seeks refuge in the Chilean ambassador’s residence after being targeted for arrest.
7. The Netherlands Electoral Council announced a referendum on a surveillance law next year.

New Scholarship

1. Richard Albert and David R. Cameron, eds., Canada in the World, Comparative Perspectives on the Canadian Constitution, Cambridge University Press (2017) (discussing the evolution of the Canadian Constitution since the British North America Act, 1867 and the growing global influence of the Constitution and decisions of the Court on legislatures and courts in other countries)
2. Tom Gerald Daly, The Alchemists, Questioning our Faith in Courts as Democracy-Builders, Cambridge University Press (2017) (presenting a searching critique of the contemporary global model of democracy-building for post-authoritarian states, arguing that it places excessive reliance on courts)
3. Mohamed A. Arafa and Adam J. Revello, Terrorism Under the Umbrella of International Criminal Law: Legislating Terror in Egypt Under a Draconian Counter-Terrorism Law, Ex Aequo Et Bono, in Europe in Crises: Crime, Criminal Justice and the Way Forward, Essays in Honour of Nestor Courakis, Editions Ant. N. Sakkoulas Limited Partnership (Athens, Greece) (Fall 2017) (exploring terrorism in international criminal law with reference to the post‐Morsi terrorist attacks in Egypt as a case study).
4. Mohamed Badar and Masaki Nagata, Modern Extremist Groups and the Division of the World: A Critique from Islamic Perspective, Arab Law Quarterly 31 (2017) (examining the evolution of Islamic Dogma throughout Islamic history, their misinterpretation by extremist groups and their modern legal status)
5. Benjamin Schonthal, Formations of Buddhist Constitutionalism in South and Southeast Asia, International Journal of Constitutional Law, Vol. 15 (2017) (examining the Buddhist influence on constitutions in contemporary South and Southeast Asia)
6. Ilya Somin, Obama’s Constitutional legacy, 65 Drake Law Review 1039 (2017) (analysing the Obama’s legacy in constitutional law)
7. Rivka Weill, Secession and the Prevalence of Militant Constitutionalism Worldwide (examining secession approaches in world constitutions)

Calls for Papers and announcements

1. The Younger Comparativists Committee (YCC) of the American Society of Comparative Law (ASCL) invites submissions for its Seventh Annual Conference, to be held on April 20-21, 2018, at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. The deadline for submission is December 31, 2017.
2. The University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law invites paper proposals for a conference to mark the retirement of Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, to be held in Ottawa, Canada, on April 10-11, 2018.
3. The City University of London organizes a conference on “Modelling Divergence(s) and Convergence(s) of the EU in the World,” to be held on November 24, 2017, in London, United Kingdom.
4. The Koc University Law School, Istanbul, Turkey launches a new website to  assess the impact of the individual application system to the Turkish Constitutional Court for protection of human rights from a comparative perspective. The Law School welcomes submission in English, German and French.
5. The Northern Public Law Forum is pleased to announce the annual seminar series on public law that rotates around law schools in Northern England. The inaugural seminar will be held in January 2018 at the University of Sheffield, followed by the University of Liverpool (2019), and the University of York (2010).
6. The Asian Journal of Comparative Law invites submissions for future issues.
7. The University of Illinois College of Law is organizes the annual Illinois-Bologna Conference on “Constitutional History: Comparative Perspectives,” to be held on November 13-14, 2017, in Bologna, Italy.
8. The Hague Academy of International Law invites applications for the 2018 summer courses in Public International Law and Private International Law.
9. L’Amicale des Référendaires of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the University of Luxembourg, and the University of Groningen organize a conference on “EU citizenship, Federalism and Rights,” to be held on November 17–18, 2017, at the Court of Justice of the European Union / University of Luxembourg.
10. The Asian Law Institute (ASLI) and Seoul National University (SNU) School of Law invite submissions for the 15th ASLI Conference on “Law into the Future: Perspectives from Asia.” The deadline for submission of abstracts is November 24, 2017.
11. The Fordham Urban Law Center, in partnership with the Mackenzie Presbyterian University (MBU), invite submissions for the Fifth Annual International and Comparative Urban Law Conference to be held on June 21 and July 22, 2018, at MBU in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The deadline for proposal submissions is February 19, 2018.

Elsewhere Online

1. David R. Cameron, After Catalonia declares independence, Spain takes over and sacks the government, Yale Macmillan Center
2. Richard Stacey, The Tenuous Connection between Popular Sovereignty and Constitutional Referendums, Blog of the IACL, AIDC
3. Sedef Asli Topal, The Future of Europe: Is Europe really moving forward to Federalism?, JURIST
4. Anne Sanders and Luc von Danwitz, Defamation of Justice – Propositions on how to evaluate public attacks against the Judiciary, Verfassungsblog
5. Mohamed Arafa, Humanity Lost the Legend: Cherif Bassiouni, The Godfather of International Criminal Law and Justice, Jurist.org
6. Laurence H. Tribe, The Supreme Court should strike down the death penalty, The Washington Post
7. Emily Baumgaertner, A 40-Foot Cross Has Honored War Dead for 90 Years. Is It Unlawful?, The New York Times
8. Safura Abdool Karim, Eviction and the Law: What the Constitutional Court says, News24
9. Peter C. Oliver, Canada @150, UK Constitutional Law Association
10. Tania Pagotto, Italy: Widespread conscientious objection violates right to health and right to work in dignity, reprohealthlaw blog
11. Argelia Queralt Jiménez, Still not a Dictatorship: Spanish Law and Judiciary in Times of Constitutional Crisis, Verfassungsblog
12. Adem K. Abebe, Beyond Catalonia: Secession movements in Cameroon, Nigeria, Yemen and Kurdistan, ConstitutionNet
13. Julian R. Murphy, Justice Edelman’s originalism, or hints of it, AUSPUBLAW
14. Elisa Arcioni and Helen Irving, Form over substance? Foreign citizenship and the Australian Parliament, Blog of the IACL, AIDC
15. Pierre de Vos, No, the constitution does not guarantee a right to be presumed innocent by everyone until proven guilty, Constitutionally Speaking