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What’s New: Week of February 23

— Yassin Abdalla Abdelkarim, Judge at Assyut Economic Court, Egypt. LLM Leeds Beckett University, UK, Founder of Cyber Jurisprudence International Initiative (CyJurII).

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. The UK Supreme Court granted permission to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision in the case XGY v. CPS & Chief Constable, which centers on the disclosure of a domestic abuse survivor’s address to her abuser during bail hearings, despite police assurances of confidentiality. The High Court initially supported XGY’s claims for damages premised on her argument that she was forced into homelessness and suffered psychiatric harm as a result of the disclosure, but the Court of Appeal reversed this verdict citing advocates’ immunity, which protects statements made in court. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the scope of advocates’ immunity and whether it extends to the police as well, but will not hear arguments whether the Human Rights and Data Protection Acts bar such claims in principle.
  2. The European Court of Human Rights, in the case of Florio and Bassignana v. Italy held that there had been a violation of the protection of property. The case concerned the combined effect of a measure imposed by the criminal courts to confiscate the proceeds of an offence, and an order by the Court of Audit to pay the authorities compensation for the damage caused by that same offence.
  3. In a judgment in the case of Erol Aksoy v. Türkiye, released on February 10, 2026, the European Court of Human Rights found a violation of Article 6 § 1. The case involved the Turkish Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) failing to enforce court judgments that had annulled the sale of the applicant’s media assets (Viva TV/Radio). The Court ruled that by ignoring these judicial decisions, the State deprived Aksoy of his right of access to a court. While a procedural violation was found, the Court noted that his status as a shareholder did not automatically grant him victim status for property loss.
  4. In the case of Salvador Coutinho dos Santos Amado v. Portugal the European Court of Human Rights held that there had been no violation of the right to a fair hearing. The case concerned an appraisal of the applicant by the High Council of the Judiciary (Conselho Superior da Magistratura), in which his performance was rated as “poor”. As a result, disciplinary proceedings were automatically opened against him, pending the completion of which he was temporarily suspended from his duties as a judge.
  5. In the case of Davit Laliashvili v. Parliament of Georgia (No. 1878), the Constitutional Court of Georgia addressed the legality of strict penalties for drunk driving accidents involving “self-harm.” The claimant, Davit Laliashvili, challenged Article 116(7) of the Administrative Offenses Code, which imposes a 2,000 GEL fine and a 3-year license suspension for drunk driving that results in property or health damage. Laliashvili, who crashed while intoxicated but injured only himself and his own car, argued the law was vague and inappropriate. The Constitutional Court dismissed the claim without a full hearing, concluding that the state has a positive obligation to protect individuals even from risks they create themselves and the law is sufficiently clear and consistent with existing judicial practice.

In the News

  1. Special measures for administrative processing of a possible large influx of applications against Türkiye concerning the dismissal of civil servants, members of the judiciary, military officials and other public officials after the 2016 attempted coup d’état in Türkiye will enter into force from 1 January 2026.
  2. On 13 February 2026, a delegation from the European Court of Human Rights, led by its President, Mattias Guyomar, visited the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom for a series of meetings and discussions, during which judges of the UK Supreme Court, and senior members of the judiciaries of Wales, Scotland, England, and Norther Ireland exchanged views on topics including judicial communication, public international law, and the influence of fundamental rights on the use of AI in judicial processes.
  3. On 30 January 2026, the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia, Arman Dilanyan, held a meeting in Strasbourg with Marta Cartabia, President of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), and Simona Granata-Menghini, Secretary of the Venice Commission, during which they discussed issues relating to cybersecurity, the application of AI tools in the administration of justice and emerging challenges relating to technology, as well as the work done by the Venice Commission’s amicus curiae in shaping domestic legislation and legal practice.
  4. The Constitutional Court of Korea has published its biannual newsletter, covering the second half of 2025.
  5. From 7 to 9 February, 2026, the ninth High Level Meeting of Presidents and Judges-President of Constitutional Courts, Supreme Courts, and Constitutional Councils of Africa was held in Cairo, Egypt, providing an opportunity for co-operation and conversation on constitutional questions that concern African countries. Presentations included a speech by Judge Victoria Izata, Vice-President of Angola’s Constitutional Court, who spoke on constitutional jurisdiction as an essential aspect of the rule of law.

New Scholarship

  1. Leslie Johns, Politics and International Law: Making, Breaking, and Upholding Global Rules (Cambridge, 2025) (second edition, using contemporary examples to explain the sources of international law as well as issues of compliance, and how global rules shape and transform international politics, pairing each chapter with current political issues including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel/Gaza war).
  2. David Chan Smith, Hannibal ad portas: Necessity, public law and the common law emergency in the Case of Ship Money in in P.D. Halliday, E. Hubbard, and S. Sowerby (eds.) Revolutionising politics: Culture and conflict in England, 1620–60. Manchester University Press (arguing that the 1637 case of Ship Money, in which the levy of ship money, a medieval tax levied by royal prerogative, had its sources in common law traditions relating to emergency powers, and examining the effect of emergency norms more generally).
  3. Mark Fathi Massoud, ‘Building the Disciplines with Law and Society‘ Law and Society Review (2026) (introducing a symposium celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Law and Society Review, and considering the relationship between law and society and other disciplines, including law, anthropology, political science, history, and sociology).
  4. Jared Holley et al, ‘Global constitutionalism and/as enlightenment‘ 15(1) Global Constitutionalism (2026) (examining how scholars interested in global constitutionalism should approach questions that concerned writers and thinkers in the eighteenth century enlightenment).
  5. Martijn van den Brink, ‘Constitutionalism without Principle: Article 2 TEU and the Doctrinal Construction of EU Values‘ European Law Open (2026): 1–26 (providing a critical evaluation of contemporary EU constitutional scholarship, drawing from Martin Shapiro’s work to argue that formalistic approaches to the interpretation of article 2 of the EU treaty ignore political realities, and calling for more contextualised approaches to EU constitutional law).
  6. Serhii Lashyn, The effects of enlargement on European Union citizenship Yearbook of International Law (2026) (arguing that the enlargement of EU citizenship has a two-fold effect: even as it expands the scope of EU citizenship, it also undermines coherence and integrity through mechanisms of differentiated rights and transitional limitations on newly-acceded states).
  7. Stefanus Hendrianto, Democracy and the Rule of Law in Indonesia A Legal Philosophical Analysis (Routledge 2026) (exploring the development of Indonesian democracy, and arguing that electoral democracy cannot be sustained without republican institutions, norms, and laws. Hendrianto presents the claim that Indonesia has been practicing a Schumpeterian form of democracy that emphasizes electoral functions rather than republican institutions and norms, drawing from a historical and philosophical analysis of Indonesian law and politics).

Calls for Papers and Announcements

  1. The Beijing Law Review invites front-line researches and authors to submit original research and review articles for a special issue on Law and Human Behavior. The deadline is 30 June 2026.
  2. The Cambridge Forum on AI: Law and Governance invites submissions for the upcoming themed issue: Rethinking Liability in the Age of AI. The deadline is 28 February 2026.
  3. The Cyber Jurisprudence International Initiative (CyJurII) invites researchers and scholars worldwide to join its establishment to refine the global understanding of essential legal topics in cyberspace, such as digital constitutionalism, data privacy, etc. on an ongoing basis.

Elsewhere Online

  1. David M Crane, ‘The Case for Structured Patience: Why Ukraine Needs a Deconfliction Office, Not Another Peace Plan‘ JURIST News (11 February 2026) .
  2. Arnav Laroia and Ria Garg, ‘The Rohingya Crisis in Court: A Guide to the ICJ Proceedings‘ JURIST News (2 February 2026).
  3. Julie Szu-Yi Lee, ‘Corporate Double Exposure: Taiwan’s 2025 Reform of Outbound Investment Control and the Fragmented Legal Order‘ ASIL Insights (19 November 2025)
  4. Ady Niv, ‘The Immunity of International Judges in Their Home Countries: Final Accord in the Case of Judge Akay v. Türkiye‘ ASIL Insights (29 August 2025)

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