This paper comparatively examines the means for resistance of individuals against the constitutional judiciary. Starting with the case of the Slovak Constitutional Court, the paper critically assesses the different ways in which the Court relates to and interacts with an individual, including a change from a constitutional petition to complaint (coordinate) mechanism by an amendment...
Tag: <span>TUESDAY JUNE 26 2018 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM</span>
Internet Courts: Mapping a new development of Online Dispute Resolution mechanisms in China
This paper examines the online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanisms in China, with a particular focus on a new development: Internet courts. The paper questions the trend towards greater state intervention on ODR mechanisms, especially in the matter of regulation. China has applied a co-regulation approach toward the governance of solving online disputes, instead of allowing...
Is the Separation of Powers Applicable to Parliamentary Systems?
The paper examines the separation of powers in presidential and parliamentary systems. Some writers have argued that the separation of powers is not a feature of parliamentary systems. The paper examines the reasons for this scepticism, why it is groundless, and the ways in which the separation of powers structures the United Kingdom’s constitutional order.
Lese-Majeste and Sacred Kingship in Southeast Asia
In the works of 18th century comparative constitutional lawyer Montesquieu, the existence and use of lese-majeste laws was the ultimate marker of “oriental despotism“. Today, lese-majeste laws remain in use in various Southeast Asian countries to protect sacred monarchs, most prominently so in Thailand, but also in Brunei or Malaysia – and it was recently...
Litigating Religions
Religions are a problem for human rights, and human rights are a problem for religions. And both are problems for courts. This paper, based on a recently published book, presents an interpretation of how religion and human rights interrelate in the legal context, and how this relationship might be reconceived to make this relationship somewhat...
Media balance in referendum campaigns
Referendums, in the aftermath of Brexit and with the rise of populist movements worldwide, are viewed with a renewed scepticism. An acute concern is the promulgation of misinformation and alternative facts, as voters struggle to distinguish the signal from the noise in the face of new media. In Ireland, where referendums to change the constitution...
Legal powers and constitutional change
My object is to analyse the concept of a legal power to change a constitution (and more broadly, to change constitutional law). I will look at how the notions of constitution-making (constitution-changing) powers used in constitutional change literature map onto debates specifically on legal powers (in public law and in private law). For instance, I...
Legally Contextualizing American Confederate Monuments and Italian Fascist Monuments
In October 2017, shortly after violent clashes over the summer and the decisions of the city of Charlottesville, Virginia in The United States to remove monuments of the confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall“ Jackson, Ruth Ben-Ghiat wrote an article for The New Yorker entitled “Why are so many Fascist Monuments in...
Judicial Control over the Use of Closed Material Procedures
This paper identifies the key challenges posed by the innate secrecy of closed material procedures (CMPs), highlighting the concomitant importance of judicial control over their use. Judicial independence is of fundamental importance in any democracy of which judicial decision-making powers are an essential element, even in the national security context. In the UK, the Justice...