Digitalization is the megatrend of the early 21st century. Historically, much of digital innovation has originated in clusters around major US universities, most notably in Silicon Valley. Consequently, US internet law and policy had outsized influence and global impact. Yet, in current changing times, the emerging ‘digital law‘ will likely look more amorphous. This first...
Tag: <span>TUESDAY JUNE 26 2018 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM</span>
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS IN TIMES OF ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CRISIS: THE ROLE OF COURTS
Constitutional reforms often occur under moments of national crisis, mainly economic and political ones. Recent economic crisis around the globe have intensified the adoption of austerity policies, reducing public spending in health system, labor and pension rights. Furthermore, political crisis in the representative government have generated self-protection measures for the maintenance of politicians in office,...
RECONSIDERING THE LEGAL EFFECTS OF THE CHINESE CONSTITUTION
On the basis of newly available court decisions, official documents and literature, the panel investigates different layers of the legal effects of the Chinese constitution. Although the Chinese Communist Party holds sovereign power to determine the meaning of the constitution in the one-party state, legal scholarship and court practice advance their distinctive approaches to develop...
CONSTITUTIONALISM AND CONSTITUTIONAL ACTORS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
How do constitutions conceive of duties in addition to rights? How do constitutional provisions manufacture national identity through symbolism? What is the role of the courts in a dominant political party system in shaping the constitution? This panel brings together a range of theoretical, empirical, and comparative perspectives to challenge and explore concepts of constitutionalism...
RETHINKING PEACE AND CONSTITUTION MAKING
Constitutions are considered tools to entrench peace and the rule of law; however, using constitutions to fulfil these demands raises challenges and so requires new way of thinking on how constitutions are drafted/amended in such contexts. A result of these demands is that it has become necessary to simultaneously pursue the sometimes-inconsistent requirements of peace-making...
TRANSSYSTEMIC LEGISPRUDENCE
This panel explores questions of legisprudence from a transsystemic perspective. It examines the characteristics of “good“ legislation, focussing on intertwined questions of process and substance. Panellists will discuss the role of the participatory elements of law-making, including consultation and information-sharing. They will reflect on the function of parliamentary committees in the evaluation of legislation, and...
‘Popular Sovereignty and the Enemies of the People‘: Can a ‘Theory of Everything‘ Legitimise a Role for the Judiciary as Guarantors of Environmental Rights
The decline of sovereignty in a globalised post-sovereignty era is much spoken of but the term has both external and internal dimensions. If what is required is a new constitutional dynamic in which the claims of popular sovereignty require a reframing of constitutional thinking, the question then is what might or could be the normative...
“We didn‘t start the fire“: The Exercise of Authority in NAFTA Dispute Settlement and the Nationalist Backlash
As the discourse of economic nationalism seems to have gained political momentum, international trade and investment law stand at the eye of the storm. NAFTA, in particular, has (re)emerged as a point of contention more than twenty-four years after its entry into force. The threat of withdrawal by officials from the United States of America...