Recent judgments of the ECtHR provide nationalists with an opportunity to promote a nationalist discourse that is seemingly in line with human rights, but fundamentally at odds with the counter-majoritarian core of human rights. The analysis focuses on several judgments in which the ECtHR accepts arguments of liberal democratic states to infringe fundamental rights of...
Negotiating sovereignty in the preliminary reference procedure
The organisation of the judiciary is close to the heart of any system of government. For that reason, the EU Member States have largely resisted surrendering regulatory power over judicial procedures and remedies to the Union level. In the absence of legislative action, it has fallen upon courts to manage the enforcement of Union rights...
Privates involvement in law enforcement activities: a preliminary assessment of the emerging role of Internet Services Providers under EU law
The image of Internet as a tool providing easier, maybe even more democratic, access to the freedom of expression has by now proved to be too idyllic. Indeed, Internet has also shown is face as a vehicle, if not a catalyst, of conducts that impinge on individuals‘ rights no less seriously than off-line conducts. Online...
Private Implementation of Global Standards in EU Law: The Case of Certification
Under the influence of WTO law, a private infrastructure for the implementation of international standards has emerged. The paper identifies its development out of independent conformity assessment bodies, called certifiers. The basis for the conduct of certification are International Standardization Organization (ISO) standards. The EU has intervened in different ways to integrate these global implementation...
Preventive Entry Policies as a violation of the Right to Leave
Current practices of “interception-at-sea“ preempt many travellers, from irregular migrants to would-be refugees, from claiming a legal right to enter the EU. This policy often hinges upon the consent of the sending country to agree to have its waters policed by foreign maritime authorities and to accept the return of migrants provided that countries of...
Privacy and GPS investigation in Japan
In 2017, the Japanese Supreme Court held that warrantless GPS searches are illegal. This case shows the boundary of permissible investigation using high technology. Rapidly developing technology challenges legal research. The Japanese Constitution has no term for “privacy,“ and its notion and scope have been questioned in Japan. This paper reviews notion of privacy in...
Privacy issues of artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence applications and Big Data technologies raise significant questions in the area of privacy. Users tend to disregard the fact that many databases they have provided their personal data to, are interconnected or are being harvested by data brokers. In this new era of Digital Age the privacy of citizens should be protected not...
Politics and Political Footballs: Malaysian Monarchy in an Age of Consumerism
Over the last 15 years the Malaysian monarchies (constituting about a fifth of all extant monarchies globally) have re-established themselves not only reputationally but also as important elements in the Malaysian political system. This paper looks at what has been dubbed ‘Nazrinian’ monarchy and its Johor variant, ‘The Order’, and their impact on acute political...
Poly-parenting
A handful of jurisdictions (California and Canada) have recently passed laws that allow a child to have three or four legal parents; other jurisdiction have reached similar results through judicial decisions. This paper considers legal and philosophical arguments for and against “poly-parenting“ and suggests that these recent laws make good public policy sense for various...
Regulatory Takings and Planning Compensation Rights in the Sharing Economy
How does the regulation of the sharing economy affect constitutional rights? This question is particularly salient in the area of property rights. In particular, do restrictions on short-term leasing (such as via Airbnb) constitute unconstitutional takings of private property without just compensation? Do these restrictions rise to the level of regulatory takings (in the U.S....