Should you enter the academic blogosphere? A discussion on whether scholars should take the time to write a blog about their work, LSE, 30.11.2011

taken from: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2011/11/30/should-you-enter-the-academic-blogosphere/

While the blogosphere has always included sites by students, professors, librarians, administrators and other university members, more scholars are now tying their blogs to their work-related activities and making the connection between online presence and career development. Melonie Fullick discusses the advantages and disadvantages of scholars taking the time to write a blog about their work...

Mark Philp, Simon Caney and Adam Swift on Justice Between Generations

Mark Philp, Simon Caney and Adam Swift discuss the issue of intergenerational justice and ask questions like how do we allocate resources intergenerationally accross areas like welfare, pensions, higher education and environmental costs?

http://beta.podcasts.ox.ac.uk/justice-between-generations-audio

Winter Trento European Seminar: The New Constitution of Hungary (2012): Constitutional Identity and Conditionality in Question, Trento, December 15-16

Winter Trento European Seminar

The New Constitution of Hungary (2012): Constitutional Identity and Conditionality in Question

Luogo: 

Facoltà di Giurisprudenza - via Verdi, 53 Trento - Sala Conferenze

December 15^th-16^th, 2011

The ongoing process of European integration has been affecting – widely and in depth – established state-centred models, while suggesting the perception of a new supranational constitutional identity, still in need of adjustments and definitions. The European Seminar in Trento provides a periodical seasonal meeting for a scholarly assessment of the growing complexities, further developments and innovative impact of the European evolutionary dynamics.
Session 1
December 15, 2011
15.00-18.30

Ideological Options and Constitutional Rules

• Szilvia Dobrocsi, Károli Gáspár University, Budapest
• Tímea Drinóczi, University of Pécs
• Nóra Chronowski, University of Pécs
• Mattia Magrassi, University of Trento
• Mauro Mazza, University of Bergamo

Session 2
December 16, 2011
9.30-13.00

European Constitutionalism and Constitutional Sovereignty

• Lorenzo Zucca, King’s College, London
• Jens Woelk, University of Trento
• Katalin Kelemen, Örebro University
• Marco Dani, University of Trento
• Davide Strazzari, University of Trento

The programme is available in the download box.
Participation is free of charge, but advance registration - through the application form in the download box - is appreciated.
Please fill in the registration form and send it to the Conference Secretariat by fax or e-mail not later than December the 7^th, 2011.
Please note: the working language is English.

 http://www.unitn.it/dsg/evento/19827/winter-trento-european-seminar

The European Union and the Reform of the United Nations: Towards a More Effective Security Council?

The European Union and the Reform of the United Nations: Towards a More Effective Security Council?

Nicoletta Pirozzi Hubertus Juergenliemk Yolanda Spies

 

Abstract
This paper aims to assess the possible impact of the Lisbon Treaty on the EU’s
presence and performance at the United Nations and outline the prospects for future
developments under three main dimensions: coordination (among EU member states
and institutions); representation (of the EU as a single actor); and impact (measured
in terms of what the EU and its member states collectively achieve). In particular,
these benchmarks will be used to evaluate what influence the positions of the
Union’s institutions and member states produce on the crucial issue of UN Security
Council’s reform. Moreover, it offers an analysis of the EU’s cooperation with other
regional entities, primarily the African Union, at the UN and provides a model for
testing the possible role of regional organizations and the evolution of regionalism
within the UN system.

Full paper available at:
http://www.iai.it/pdf/MERCURY/Mercury-epaper_13.pdf

Garcìa Pelayo Seminar (Centro de Estudios Politicos y Constitucionales, Madrid)

29 de noviembre de 2011 (11:30-13:30)
Judicial dialogue on fundamental rights in the EU
Ponente: Aida Torres Pérez (Universitat Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona)
Contraponente: Giuseppe Martinico (CEPC)

http://www.cepc.es/es/Investigacion/Programa_Garcia_Pellayo/Seminario_investigadoresNW.aspx 

Mac Amhlaigh on constitutional pluralism

Concepts of Law in Integration Through Law (and the Price of Constitutional Pluralism)

Cormac S. Mac Amhlaigh

University of Edinburgh - School of Law


November 24, 2011

U. of Edinburgh School of Law Working Paper No. 2011/40
INTEGRATION THROUGH LAW REVISITED: THE MAKING OF THE EUROPEAN POLITY, D. Augenstein, ed., Ashgate, 2011


Abstract:     
This paper explores the concept of law in European integration studies with a particular emphasis on the conception adopted in the Integration Through Law project which was based in the European University Institute in the 1980s. It argues that notwithstanding claims to the contrary, the conception of law adopted in the project was a legal positivist one and that this is evidenced in its conception of law as the ‘object’ and ‘instrument’ of integration. The first part of the paper develops this thesis by arguing, firstly, that characterizing EU law as the ‘object’ of integration entails a Razian conception of the authority of law which results in the integration of national legal systems, and then, secondly, that law as the ‘instrument’ of integration entails a functionalist conception of law which is necessarily positivist.

The second part of the paper goes on to highlight the tension between this positivist conception of EU law and the federal principle which was central to the ITL project, given that the former relies on the resolution of the question of ultimate authority (the sources thesis brand of positivism) whereas the latter tends towards its irresolution. It argues that the emerging literature on constitutional pluralism in the EU implicitly endorses the federal principle of the ITL project at the cost of the positivist conception of EU law and that this is evidenced by the shift in models of constitutional pluralism from legal positivist conceptions of law to a more Dworkinian ‘principled’ form as exemplified in the work of Mattias Kumm. However, the paper concludes that this shift comes at a price which is potentially problematic in a fragile political community such as the EU, where the stakes are much higher than that of the sovereign state.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 20

Keywords: European Integretation, Integration Through Law, Constitutionalism, Constitutional Theory, Constitutionalisation, Federalism, Sovereignty, Legal Positivism, Functionalism, Constitutional Pluralism

Working Paper Series 

Full text available at:  http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1964258

Brooks on Citizenship

Citizenship

Thom Brooks

Newcastle University - Newcastle Law School


November 26, 2011

THE INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ETHICS, H. LaFollette, ed., Forthcoming

Abstract:     
A citizen is a member of a political community, who normally enjoys the rights and often assumes the duties of citizenship. The problem is identifying what, if anything, is required to be a citizen. This entry will explain the ways in which citizenship has been understood and the normative questions arising from considering the moral and political relevance of different features for membership. There will also be attention given to leading debates on citizenship including whether the idea of citizenship has much currency.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 16
Keywords: Citizenship, Democracy, Immigration, Global Justice, Justice, citizenship tests, Nationalism, Nationality
JEL Classifications: I28, J18, K00, K10, K49
Accepted Paper Series 

 

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1964942 

Gao on China’s Ascent in Global Trade Governance

China’s Ascent in Global Trade Governance: From Rule Taker to Rule Shaker, and Maybe Rule Maker?

Henry S. Gao

Singapore Management University; University of Hong Kong


July 10, 2010

MAKING GLOBAL TRADE GOVERNANCE WORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, pp. 153-180, Carolyn Deere-Birkbeck, ed., Cambridge University Press, 2011

Abstract:     
As China enters its tenth year of WTO Membership, has the dragon brought a ‘reign of fire’ to the multilateral trading system and rocked its institutional foundations? This paper will answer this question by reviewing China’s participation in two key activities of the WTO, i.e., trade negotiations and dispute settlement, as well as another important component of global trade governance: regional trade agreements (RTAs). I will argue that, overall, China has evolved from a passive ‘taker’ of the existing rules to a country that will ‘shake’ the rules for its own interests or even ‘make’ new rules. At the same time, the pace of China’s ascent has been uneven in different areas; the most aggressive strategy has been apparent in RTA negotiations, where China has been on a frantic shopping spree since its accession to the WTO. Similarly, while China was initially reluctant to use the multilateral dispute settlement system, it has become a major player since 2007. In terms of multilateral trade negotiations, China has been sending mixed signals: while it has made many submissions on negotiating issues in the Doha Round of WTO negotiations, China has so far successfully resisted calls from the US and EU for it to play a leading role in the long-stalled trade talks. After exploring the reasons for varying behavioral patterns in a range of areas, the chapter concludes by exploring China’s future role in the WTO, as well as the potential ramifications of China’s ascent in global trade governance.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 26

Keywords: China, WTO, Doha Round, Dispute Settelement, FTA, RTA

Accepted Paper Series 

 

Full text available at:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1941771

Alemanno on "Governing Disasters- the Challenges of Emergency Risk Regulation"

Governing Disasters – the Challenges of Emergency Risk Regulation

Alberto Alemanno

HEC Paris - Law Department


November 26, 2011

GOVERNING DISASTERS - THE CHALLENGES OF EMERGENCY RISK REGULATION, Edward Elgar, 2011

Abstract:     
Emergency crises have always tested our ability to organise and swiftly execute a coordinated response. Both natural and unnatural disasters pose new questions to which previous experience provides only limited answers. These challenges are arguably greater than ever, in a more globalised world confronted by a truly transnational hazard. This is the first volume that addresses the complexities of emergency risk regulations, i.e. regulatory action undertaken under the immediacy of a disaster in order to mitigate its impact. It does so from a multidisciplinary perspective, drawing upon research from economics, law, sociology and other fields, as well as moral philosophy and leading expertise in natural disasters. Whilst our knowledge base is wide-ranging, there is a common focus on the practical lessons of the ash cloud crisis as well as of the Fukushima disaster for emergency risk regulation more generally. Among many other insights Governing Disasters explains why in both instances it was that industry and regulators were largely unprepared for phenomena about which we were not scientifically ignorant. It concludes that the toolbox of risk regulation should not be expected to provide ready-made solutions but applied flexibly, creatively and with some humility.

Keywords: Risk Regulation, EU law, International Law, disaster law & policy, Risk Analysis, Volcanic Ash

JEL Classifications: K2, K3, K33, I00, L5, L50

Accepted Paper Series 

Full text available at:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1965010

Perspectives on Federalism Vol. 3, Issue 2, 2011 (Special Issue) Rethinking (EU) Citizenship

Vol. 3, issue 2, 2011

Table of contents

Editorial

Rethinking (EU) citizenship

Giuseppe Martinico- Roberto Castaldi                  I-IX

Essays

Identity vs. representation: what makes ‘the people’? Rethinking democratic citizenship through (and beyond) Carl Schmitt and Hans Kelsen

David Ragazzoni   E 1-30

“Euro-Bonds”

The Ruiz Zambrano judgment or the Real Invention of EU Citizenship

Loïc Azoulai                E-31-39

Operation Atalanta and the Protection of EU Citizens: Civis Europaeus Unheeded?

Joris Larik                E- 40-66

Protection of EU citizens abroad:

A legal assessment of the EU citizen’s right to consular and diplomatic protection

Madalina Bianca Moraru  E- 67-105

EU Citizenship, Naturalisations, and Mythical Cultural Exceptionalism in Europe Today

Dimitry Kochenov               E-106-127

 Full text available at:

http://www.on-federalism.eu/index.php/archives

German Law Journal, new issue: No. 11 (2011)

German Law Journal: 

"Prospects of the (German) Welfare State, Comparative Constitutional Law (Abortion rights), Call for Papers: Legal Positivism and Free Law Movement (Kantorowicz' Kampf um die Rechtswissenschaft)"

 

You can download the new issue at the following URL:‏

 http://germanlawjournal.com/pdfs/FullIssues/PDF_Vol_12_No_11_Complete%20Issue.pdf

New book "Alemanno (ed.) Governing Disasters - The Challenges of Emergency Risk Regulation

From http://albertoalemanno.eu/

Governing Disasters - The Challenges of Emergency Risk Regulation Edited by Alberto Alemanno Emergency crises have always tested our ability to organise and swiftly execute a coordinated response. Both natural and unnatural disasters pose new questions to which previous experience provides only limited answers. These challenges are arguably greater than ever, in a more globalised world confronted by a truly transnational hazard. This is the first volume that addresses the complexities of the volcanic ash cloud that overshadowed Europe in April 2011, but has subsequently struck again in Australia, Chile and Europe. It does so from a multidisciplinary perspective, drawing upon research from economics, law, sociology and other fields, as well as volcanology and leading expertise in jet engineering. Whilst our knowledge base is wide-ranging, there is a common focus on the practical lessons of the ash cloud crisis both for subsequent eruptions and for emergency risk regulation more generally. Among many other insights Governing Risks explains why it was that industry and regulators were largely unprepared for a phenomenon about which we were not scientifically ignorant. It concludes that the toolbox of risk regulation should not be expected to provide ready-made solutions but applied flexibly, creatively and with some humility. This unique and timely resource will be useful to policymakers, scholars, officials of international organizations, research institutions and consumer groups who want to acquire or further develop their capacities for risk regulation. For teaching purposes it is ideal for courses on risk regulation, disaster law and policy, and crisis management or as a supplement in courses on environmental law, transport law, space law or land use. Publisher Edward Elgar   Reviews "This comprehensive edited volume makes an important and much needed contribution to an increasingly important dimension of risk assessment and management, namely emergency risk regulation. Drawing upon the responses of government, businesses, and the public to the 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland - which disrupted European air travel, it offers important lessons for policy-makers who are likely to confront similar unanticipated global risks. The recent nuclear power disaster in Japan makes this volume both timely and prescient".

Call for Papers Working Papers CELS 2011-2012

The Center for European Legal Studies (of the Legal Studies Institute of the Romanian Academy) is pleased to announce a fresh call for papers.

Any interested person may send a letter of intent (in Romanian or English), which has to comprise the title and a summary of the proposed papers, until 10 February 2012. The title and summary must be drafted also in English (for the contributions that will be written in Romanian). Until 28 February 2012, a (peer-review) committee will select the proposed works. The final works shall be submitted until 20 June 2012.

The subject-matter of the papers will concern the “Role of the national courts in interpretation and application of European Union law”.

The rise in numbers of preliminary references coming from Romania, but also the constant use of the system of preliminary references (Article 267 TFEU) by courts and tribunals of Member States make the Court of Justice the most important source for EU law. Nonetheless, fundamental principles of EU law provide the courts and tribunals of Members States with criteria and sources for interpretation and application of EU law. The selected papers will have to approach both theoretical and practical issues of the preliminary rulings procedure, from a national and Union perspective.

For information and contact: mihai.sandru@csde.ro

Coordinators:

Mihai Şandru

Giuseppe Martinico

Mihai Banu

Guest Blogger: Katarzyna Granat on a very recent decision of the Polish Constitutional Court

SK 45/09 - Polish Solange II?

On 16 November 2011, the Polish Constitutional Court (hereafter “the Court”) sitting as a full chamber handed down a unanimous judgement that will certainly be seen as a precedent. For the first time, the Court ruled on the compatibility of EU secondary law with the Polish Constitution. The Court did not hold that the EU regulation violated the constitutional right to be heard. Nevertheless, future constitutional complaints against a EU legal act will have to prove that the EU act lowers the level of rights and freedoms protection compared to the level guaranteed by the Polish Constitution.

As the Tribunal has 30 days following the judgment to submit the grounds for its decision the following case note is based on the press release.

Facts

In 2004, the Court of Appeal in Belgium condemned the applicant, Anna S., to the penalty of 12.500 euros. After two years, the District Court in Warsaw enforced the ruling issued by the Belgian court and applied Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters. According to Article 41, second sentence of this regulation Anna S., as a debtor against whom the enforcement was sought, was not entitled to make any submissions on the application at the stage of first instance proceedings. As a result, the applicant brought a complaint against the District Court judgment to the Court of Appeal in Warsaw. The complaint was dismissed. Having exhausted all available legal remedies, the applicant lodged a constitutional complaint in the Constitutional Court. The constitutional complaint concerned inter alia the compatibility of Article 41, second sentence of the Regulation No 44/2001 with Article 45 (1) of the Polish Constitution (the right to a fair and public hearing of her case, without undue delay, before a competent, impartial and independent court).

Bognetti sul pareggio di bilancio nella Costituzione italiana

Dall'abstract:

"Offro alcune note critiche a commento delle proposte di riforma dell’art. 81 Cost., presentate fino alla data del 1° Ottobre 2011 alla Camera dei Deputati, partendo da una rapida analisi delle ragioni che possono aver indotto la nostra classe politica ad assumere l’iniziativa della revisione formale della Costituzione. Prima desidero però segnalare che, in ordine alla riforma che oggi si ritiene indilazionabile, e per la quale premono le Autorità europee, il progetto di revisione che delineai nei suoi principi nel mio libro Costituzione economica e Corte costituzionale (Milano, Giuffrè,1983) e poi specificai in un rigoroso, preciso articolato nel libro La Costituzione economica italiana (Milano, Giuffrè,1995), conserva, in tutte le sue parti, attualità. Ciò è dimostrato, tra l’altro, dal fatto che la proposta di legge costituzionale n.4526 (Beltrandi e altri, con amplissima relazione introduttiva) contiene normative in larga parte corrispondenti, punto per punto, a quelle da me suggerite nel 1995. Inoltre, alcune altre proposte (quella del Governo n.4620; quella n.4596 – Lanzillotta e altri -; quella n. 4607 – Martino e altri --; quella n. 4646 – Bersani e altri ) accolgono istituti, relativi alle deroghe al pareggio in situazioni di necessità, al tetto massimo da imporre alle spese pubbliche rispetto al PIL, ai sistemi di controllo ( coinvolgenti Corte dei Conti e Corte costituzionale), che hanno un diretto, esatto precedente negli istituti da me allora suggeriti. Fossi un parlamentare, non esiterei a proporre per la discussione le normative da me formulate nel 1995.

Paper on EU law before the Hungarian Constitutional Court

Hungarian Constitutional Court: Keeping Aloof from European Union Law

László Blutman

University of Szeged - Faculty of Law

Nora Chronowski

affiliation not provided to SSRN


November 17, 2011

Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 329-348, September 2011

Abstract:     
While the European Union is in the process of carefully navigating among the various forms of sub-federalism, Member States – including recent ones like Hungary, trying to find an equilibrium between their sovereignty and European supranationalism – have to cope with possible conflicts between their national legal systems and EU law. Since Hungary's accession to the European Union, the Hungarian Constitutional Court has faced questions regarding the constitutionality of EU legal rules and conflicts between European and national legal norms. This article examines these issues and analyzes criteria of constitutional review that the Court has gradually set out in dealing with some of these conflicts. So far, it has established two principles marking the boundaries of future constitutional practice. First, it will treat the founding and amending treaties of the European Union as part of domestic law for the purposes of constitutional review, thereby setting up a two-tier system of legal rules applicable within Hungarian legal practice instead of a possible three-tier construction that would distinguish between national, international and European law. Second, in the absence of jurisdiction to review substantive (un)constitutionality (as opposed to procedural constitutionality), the Constitutional Court does not regard a conflict between domestic law and EU law as a constitutionality issue and this mandates the ordinary courts to resolve such conflict of a sub-constitutional nature. Taking these conclusions as starting points, this article sets out the possible types of conflicts that may occur between EU rules and other legal rules applicable in Hungary, weighing the constitutional relevance of these conflicts; it also outlines the directions along which the practice of the Hungarian Constitutional Court may develop in this respect.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 20

Keywords: European Union, constitutional status of EU law, conflict between EU law and domestic law, constitutional review, primacy of EU law

 

Full text available at:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1961034

Kalb on Human Rights Treaties In State Courts

Human Rights Treaties in State Courts: The International Prospects of State Constitutionalism after Medellín

Johanna Kalb

Loyola University New Orleans College of Law


September 26, 2011

Penn State Law Review, Vol. 115, No. 4, 2011

Abstract:     
Subnational implementation of human rights law has been the subject of increasing interest among scholars and litigators in recent years, building on the call for independent state constitutionalism and the rise of New Federalism. The Supreme Court's decision in Medellín v. Texas may have the effect of limiting the space for this kind of independent state level initiative. This Essay examines the conditions under which state courts have engaged with the international human rights treaties the United States has signed or ratified, and considers whether and how these treaties will be affected by the Medellín decision. I conclude that because state courts have been more receptive to arguments based on treaties as non-binding persuasive authority, even the broadest reading of the decision will not end this type of human rights advocacy.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 22

Keywords: State constitutionalism, federalism, treaty implementation, human rights

 

Full text available at:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1961102

Mak on Harmonization in European Private Law

Full Harmonization in European Private Law: A Two-Track Concept

Vanessa Mak

Tilburg Law School


November 16, 2011

European Review of Private Law , Forthcoming


Abstract:     
This article seeks to elaborate a new understanding of full harmonization in European private law as a two-track concept. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) applies it in two different ways, namely in a ‘result-oriented’ or in a ‘basis of liability’ manner. Connecting them to private law theory, these distinctly different approaches bring to mind a famous dichotomy between common law and civil law systems on the way in which they perceive the relation between rights, wrongs and remedies. The article proposes that a new understanding of the CJEU’s legal reasoning in light of private law theory can provide new insights for law-making in European private law.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 40

Keywords: Full harmonization, private law theory, CJEU, unfair commercial practices, product liability

Accepted Paper Series 

 

Full text available at:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1960653

Runge on The European and European Union Patents Court:

The European and European Union Patents Court: The Way Forward After ECJ Opinion 1/09 on the Compatibility of the EEUPC with EU Law

Daniel Runge

July 22, 2011

Abstract:     
This article undertakes a critical examination of the EU Commission proposal for a EU and EC wide-unified patent recognition and litigation system. The paper examines the current EU patent system, the original and revised EU Commission proposal for the unified system and the opinion of the European Court of Justice as to the deficiencies of the original proposal. My conclusions include recommended changes to be made to the Commission proposal that will bring the unified system within the bounds of EU law, a discussion of the effect of those potential changes on the nature or effectiveness of the unified system and an examination of the potential significance the unified patent system may have on EU patent protection.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 19

Keywords: European Union, European Union Commission, Patent, Patent Court, Community Patent, European Court of Justice, ECJ

 

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1961741

Kochenov on Member State Nationalities and Internal Market

Member State Nationalities and the Internal Market: Illusions and Reality

Dimitry Kochenov

University of Groningen - Faculty of Law


November 19, 2011

FROM SINGLE MARKET TO ECONOMIC UNION: ESSAYS IN MEMORY OF JOHN A. USHER, Niamh Nic Shuibhne and Laurence W. Gormley, eds., Oxford University Press, May 2012

Abstract:     
This paper looks at the profound influence of EU citizenship and the Internal Market on the legal regulation of the areas where EU Member States retain full competence, using Member State nationalities as a case-study. In the context of a constant rise in the importance of the EU, and unavoidable growth in economic interdependence in Europe, the array of fields of law which come to be subjected to the indirect influence of the Internal Market is only likely to grow, presenting the division of competences between the Member States and the Union in a somewhat different light compared with what can be read in the Treaties. In a way, as long as the importance of European integration is growing it becomes much less important whether the Union actually has competence in regulating a certain area, since the national regulation by the Member States will necessarily take the changing reality into account, adapting national law to the Internal Market.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 33

Keywords: EU law, internal market, indirect regulation, EU citizenship, nationality, governance, competence, federalism, Europe

 

Full text available at:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1961969

SHAFFER & TRACHTMAN ON INTERPRETATION AND INSTITUTIONAL CHOICE IN WTO LAW

From the abstract:

"This Article develops the framework of comparative institutional analysis for assessing the implications of judicial interpretation in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The analytical framework offers an improved means to describe and assess the consequences of choices made in treaty drafting and interpretation in terms of social welfare and participation in social decision-making. The analysis builds on specific examples from WTO case law. Our framework approaches treaty drafting and judicial interpretive choices through a comparative institutional lens — that is, in comparison with the implications of alternative drafting and interpretive choices for social welfare and participation in social decision-making processes. By deciding among alternative interpretations, the judicial bodies of the WTO effectively determine which social decision-making process decides a particular policy issue. That decision, in turn, can have profound domestic and international implications. While this Article focuses on the WTO, the framework developed here has general relevance for understanding the interpretation of international and domestic legal texts from “law and economics” and “law and society” perspectives".

Published in VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 52:103]

full text available at: http://www.vjil.org/assets/pdfs/vol52/issue1/Shaffer-Trachtman_Final.pdf

Jakab on constitutional reasoning

Constitutional Reasoning in Constitutional Courts - A European

Perspective

András Jakab

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg


November 8, 2011

Abstract:     
In this paper we are going to analyse how constitutional courts are able to extract the most meaning from a (necessarily) short text, such as a Constitution, with the use of sophisticated tricks (or methods) of interpretation. Partly with the help of these methods, and partly on the basis of text-independent speculations, constitutional courts and legal scholars are able to develop a system of concepts (a Rechtsdogmatik or its specific constitutional part, the Verfassungsdogmatik) considerably more sophisticated than the one of the actual text of the Constitution in order to serve as a helping toolkit for the solution of future cases. The nature of this conceptual system will be analysed, before we turn to the question of styles of constitutional reasoning. The analysis concentrates on the practice of European constitutional courts, though for purposes of classification and comparison, non-European practices will also be mentioned.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 41

Keywords: constitutional reasoning, Verfassungsdogmatik, legal reasoning, effet utile, Scalia, living tree, legal method, Ius Publicum Europaeum, originalism, Begriffsjurisprudenz, plain meaning rule, Golden Rule, literal rule, purposive interpretation, teleological interpretation, Brandeis Brief, analogy

Full text available at:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1956657 

Murphy on Counter-Terrorism and Rule of Law

EU Counter-Terrorism & the Rule of Law in a Post-‘War on Terror’ World

Cian C. Murphy

King's College London - School of Law



EUROPEAN AND UNITED STATES COUNTER-TERRORISM POLICIES, THE RULE OF LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS, M. Schenin, ed., 2011

Abstract:     
It is clear that the ‘war on terror’ has had a detrimental effect on the rule of law. In the United States, the attempts by the Bush administration to step outside the legal constraints of the Constitution by declaring an ‘exception’ have been well documented.1 The EU has no coercive power of its own but relies on its Member States to enforce EU law. While less naked in its exercise of power, EU counter- terrorism should not be underestimated. Its effects are less overt and thus more difficult to counteract. Two broad trends can be discerned in post-September 11 EU counter-terrorism: accelerated cooperation and a shift towards pre-emption. Certain proposals, such as the European Arrest Warrant, were brought to the top of the legislative agenda. However, September 11 was not merely catalytic. There has been a shift towards pre-emption in the EU that echoes the shift in US counter-terrorism. Pre-emption involves taking intrusive action against potential threats based on, at best, mere suspicion. It is evident in policy documents such as the Action Plan on Combating Terrorism, in the preambles to various legislative acts and in the operative text of those acts. EU counter-terrorism seeks to eradicate any space in which violent politics could develop. Key enactments put in place the common European crime of terrorism, systems of targeted sanctions and financial, travel and telecommunications surveillance. Though the targets of EU counter-terrorism are those who incite, finance, support and carry out acts of terrorism, the entire population is affected by the law. The EU did not adopt the rhetoric of a ‘war on terror’ – yet many of the danger posed by US counter-terrorism in that state can also be seen in the EU. In particular EU counter-terrorism has seen the centralisation of power and the adoption of legal acts to the detriment of the rule of law and fundamental rights.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 8

Keywords: European Union, counter-terrorism, rule of law, war on terror, war on terrorism

 

Full text available at:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1958335

New Blog! fulviocortese.it

 public law, literature, music and much more...


http://fulviocortese.it/

Newsletter Associazione Italiana dei Costituzionalisti

sezione :: anticipazioni
IL “SEMESTRE EUROPEO” FRA SOVRANITÀ DI BILANCIO E AUTOVINCOLI COSTITUZIONALI: GERMANIA, FRANCIA E ITALIA A CONFRONTO
Di Giovanni Rizzoni

sezione :: Cronache e Dossier, Forma di governo
LA CONTROVERSA NOMINA DEL NUOVO GOVERNATORE E IL (PRESUNTO) RUOLO “AUSILIARIO” DELLA BANCA D’ITALIA
Di Elena Paparella

sezione :: Cronache e Dossier, Istituzioni sovranazionali e straniere
L’AVVIO DEL PROCESSO COSTITUENTE IN LIBIA ALLA LUCE DELLA DICHIARAZIONE COSTITUZIONALE E DELLA RISOLUZIONE DEL CONSIGLIO DI SICUREZZA N. 2009/2011
Di Gianluca Serra

STALS Seminar in WTO Law (Mavroidis and Rubini)

On November 15, 2011 (11.00-13.00), the Scuola Superiore S.Anna, Pisa will host a STALS Seminar in WTO Law with Petros C. Mavroidis (European Univ. Institute - Law) speaking on "Always look at the bright side of non-delivery: WTO and Preferential Trade Agreements, yesterday and today" and Luca Rubini (Univ. of Birmingham - Law) speaking on "The subsidization of renewable energy in the WTO: Issues and perspectives."

  Full programme