Articles for author: Guest Blogger

Prisoners‘ Votes (Again) and the ‚Constitutional Illegitimacy‘ of the ECHR

By COLM O’CINNEIDE The relationship between the UK and the European Court of Human Rights is once again in the news. On the 22th May last, the Grand Chamber of the Strasbourg Court delivered its judgment in Scoppola v. Italy (No. 3), Application No. 126/05. This decision marks a potentially decisive moment in the long-running saga of prisoner voting rights. In essence, the Grand Chamber reaffirmed its ruling in Hirst v UK (No. 2) that a blanket and indiscriminate prohibition on prisoners voting was not in conformity with Article 3 of the First Protocol (the right to free elections). However, ... continue reading

4. Juni 2012

Der arabische Frühling und das Völkerrecht

Ein kurzer Bericht über die Tagung des Arbeitskreises junger Völkerrechtswissenschaftler_innen (AjV) in Kooperation mit der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Internationales Recht (DGfIR), „Demokratie – Wandel – kollektive Sicherheit: Das Völkerrecht ein Jahr nach dem Umbruch in der arabischen Welt“, Düsseldorf, 23. und 24. März 2012 Von MIRKA MÖLDNER Frühlingsgefühle kamen im Heinrich-Heine-Saal der Düsseldorfer Universität nicht nur wegen des sonnigen Wetters auf, sondern auch wegen der erstmaligen Kooperation dieser Art des AjV mit der DGfiR sowie der Thematik der Tagung. Thema der Tagung war der „arabischen Frühling“. Erklärtes Ziel war, eine völkerrechtliche Bewertung des Umbruchs in der arabischen Welt vorzunehmen. Im ... continue reading

26. März 2012

Executing the Laws

By DOUGLAS EDLIN Lethal Force and Legal Process According to Article II, Section 3 of the US Constitution, the President of the United States must “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”  In a speech delivered earlier this month, Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the United States, offered a legal defense of actions taken by the United States government to kill American citizens living abroad who pose an imminent threat to US national security.  In the speech, Attorney General Holder explained the Obama Administration’s approach to the identification, detention, and prosecution of suspected terrorists.  Holder also explained that, ... continue reading

16. März 2012

Kollektivität – zwischen Staat, Individuen und kollektiven Akteuren

Von (dem Autor_innenkollektiv) HANNAH BIRKENKÖTTER, ANN-KATRIN KAUFHOLD, MICHAEL VON LANDENBERG-ROBERG, SABINE MÜLLER-MALL, ALEXANDER TISCHBIREK und TIM WIHL Die Assistententagung 2012 hat inzwischen Fahrt aufgenommen und in den ersten Stunden des wissenschaftlichen Programms die Fundamente des Kollektivitätsbegriffes eingekreist. Indem die Organisator_innen in einer kurzen thematischen Einführung ihr Verständnis von Kollektivität als „zugespitztes Querschnittsthema“ für die Wissenschaft vom öffentlichen Recht deutlich machten, es als den Bezug zum Überindividuellen bestimmten, der sich im Spannungsfeld von Gemeinwohl, Gruppen- und Individualinteressen bewege,  deutete sich die Vielschichtigkeit (und zugleich auch Uneindeutigkeit) des Kollektivitätsbegriffs und seiner Bezüge an. Drei Koordinaten, die für die Konkretisierung des Begriffs relevant ... continue reading

14. März 2012

Assistententagung 2012: Kollektives zum Auftakt

Von (dem Autorenkollektiv) HANNAH BIRKENKÖTTER, ANN-KATRIN KAUFHOLD, MICHAEL VON LANDENBERG-ROBERG, SABINE MÜLLER-MALL, ALEXANDER TISCHBIREK und TIM WIHL Einmal im Jahr versammelt sich der wissenschaftliche Nachwuchs im Öffentlichen Recht zur traditionsreichen Assistententagung. In diesem Jahr ist der Tagungsort Hamburg, und das Tagungsthema lautet „Kollektivität“ – womit bereits allerhand vorweggenommen ist: In Hamburg wird an drei Orten juristisch geforscht und gelehrt, an der Universität Hamburg, der Helmut-Schmidt-Universität und der Bucerius Law School. Man darf also bereits hinsichtlich des Umfelds und der Form der Tagung einiges zur Frage der Konstitution von Kollektiven erwarten: Drei Universitäten bzw. Hochschulen sehr unterschiedlicher Ausrichtungen und Traditionen, 16 ... continue reading

14. März 2012

Reforming the European Court of Human Rights: The Draft Brighton Declaration

By NOREEN O’MEARA Efforts to reform of the European Court of Human Rights are defining the UK’s chairmanship of the Council of Europe, a six-month term which comes “once in a generation”.  With the docket and adjudicatory problems affecting the Strasbourg court well-known, the UK is seeking to build on previous recent efforts to streamline practices at the Court, most notably measures agreed at high-level conferences at Interlaken (2010) and Izmir (2011). In contrast with the public and sound-bite infused speech in which Prime Minister David Cameron outlined the UK’s motivations for using its chairmanship to advance reform of the ... continue reading

4. März 2012

Adressing Race in Australia’s Constitution

By PAUL KILDEA Amending the text of the Australian Constitution has been described as a ‘labour of Hercules’. It has been changed just eight times since Federation in 1901 (out of 44 attempts) and has remained unaltered for more than three decades. But a thawing of our famously ‘frozen’ Constitution may be just around the corner. On 19 January 2012 a government-appointed panel of experts recommended that the Constitution be amended to give recognition to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is likely that a referendum will be held on the subject some time in 2013. Whether this referendum ... continue reading

1. Februar 2012

The Faith of Crisis

By  MARK SOMOS Last week’s “Athenian Legacies: European Debates on Citizenship” was an unusually thought-provoking conference. The technical thoughts were professionally and well-provoked,  and the setting prompted unbidden reflections. It’s hard to think of a better place than Athens to discuss topics like assumptions about human nature in constitutional law, ingroup-outgroup formation, contested and reassertive circles of family, tribe, village, state and federation, or the asynchronous imperatives to gradually form and suddenly rally a citizenry. The papers rolled on, and we strolled between sessions, talking and admiring the overwintering fruit trees. One palpable and recurring theme was the nature and ... continue reading

30. Januar 2012

Case-Law adopted by China?

By RUIYI LI This post was originally posted on UK Constitutional Law Group’s Blog and his reposted here with thanks. On the 26th of November 2011, the Supreme People’s Court of China (SPCC) announced the first set of ‘guiding cases’: two civil law cases and two criminal cases.  This marks the establishment of the guiding cases system in China.  What is a guiding case?  A guiding case is a judgement selected by the SPCC from judgments already handed down by courts – both lower level courts and the SPCC itself.  Once the judgment has been selected by the SPCC as guiding ... continue reading

30. Januar 2012

The Dual Character of Supra-Nationalism and the Euro Crisis

By CORMAC MAC AMHLAIGH Thirty years ago, Joseph Weiler wrote of the ‘dual character’ of the then EEC as legally supranational but politically intergovernmental.  Whereas the motor of integration took the form of the formulation, implementation, execution and adjudication of supranational law primarily by EU institutions, and particularly European Court of Justice, EU politics lagged behind, confined to intergovernmental bargaining and negotiation more redolent of classic international relations. The relationship between supranational law and politics was inverted, in that the success of the former was causally linked to the weaknesses of the latter. Watching ‘Merkozy’ on the steps of the ... continue reading

8. Dezember 2011