martedì 31 gennaio 2012

Conference Is Constitutionalism on the wane? Presentation of P. Dobner and M. Loughlin (eds), The Twilight of Constitutionalism?

Is Constitutionalism on the wane?

Venue: University of Trento, Facoltà di Giurisprudenza, via Verdi 53
24th February 2012
h. 10:00-12:00

Presentation of P. Dobner and M. Loughlin (eds), The Twilight of Constitutionalism? (Oxford University Press, 2010)
Introduction
  • Marco Dani (University of Trento)
Is Constitutionalism on the wane?
  • Martin Loughlin (London School of Economics and Political Science)
Discussants
  • Jean Bernard Auby (Sciences Po, Paris)
  • Gianluigi Palombella (University of Parma)
  • Francesco Bilancia (University of Chieti and Pescara)
Concluding Remarks
  • Roberto Toniatti (University of Trento)



http://www.unitn.it/files/download/20177/locandina_24feb2012_2.pdf

lunedì 30 gennaio 2012

SEMINARIO DE INVESTIGADORES DEL CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS POLÍTICOS Y CONSTITUCIONALES (Febrero-Junio)

El seminario de investigadores constituye el núcleo y el punto de encuentro de la actividad de los investigadores posdoctorales García Pelayo del CEPC.  En la actualidad el programa cuenta con quince investigadores procedentes de instituciones académicas españolas, europeas y norteamericanas, que desarrollan sus trabajos en el campo de la sociología, ciencia política y derecho público.
Celebrados con una periodicidad semanal, los seminarios tienen vocación interdisciplinar y están diseñados para permitir la presentación de los proyectos y los avances científicos de los propios investigadores del CEPC, así como para convertirse en un foro de intercambio intelectual con la comunidad académica internacional. Un elemento esencial para ello es la incorporación a sesiones puntuales de los profesores invitados del CEPC.
Los seminarios se celebran en la Sala de Juntas del CEPC (Plaza de la Marina Española n. 9, Madrid).

Are International Human Rights Conventions Democratically Legitimate? Political Constitutionalism and the Hirst Case

Are International Human Rights Conventions Democratically Legitimate? Political Constitutionalism and the Hirst Case 


Taken from: http://lecture2go.uni-hamburg.de/veranstaltungen/-/v/13040

  In den CGG Lecture Series tragen in regelmäßigen Abständen externe Referentinnen und Referenten zu aktuellen Forschungsfragen mit Bezug zu den Themen Globalisierung und Governance vor.
 

Giuseppe Martinico "Lo spirito polemico del diritto europeo, Aracne, 2011"

martedì 24 gennaio 2012

Alemanno on the reform of the EU Tobacco Products Directive

Out of Sight Out of Mind - Towards a New EU Tobacco Products Directive


Alberto Alemanno


HEC Paris - Law Department



Columbia Journal of European Law, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2012

Abstract:     
This article offers a detailed legal and policy analysis of the most far-reaching and already controversial measures presently envisaged by the reform of the EU Tobacco Products Directive, standardized packaging and visual display bans of tobacco products, under EU law. In line with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, while the former prohibits logos, colours, brand images, and promotional elements on packaging other than brand names displayed in a mandated size, font and place, the latter forbids the display of tobacco products at points of sale. Although the analysis predominantly focuses on the adoption of EU-wide schemes mandating these measures within the framework of the revision of the Tobacco Products Directive, it also discusses the legal implications stemming from the adoption of similar mechanisms at the national level. While both actual and potential obstacles stemming from the enactment of national schemes may effectively substantiate the EU’s competence to embrace both standardized packaging and display ban, their inclusion in the new Directive is still wrought with legal obstacles. The article examines how these measures score under the principles of conferral, proportionality and subsidiarity as well as the trademark system and the fundamental rights regime. Once more, a legislative initiative in the field of tobacco is set to test, under the pressure of the relevant industry, the outer limits not only of EU’s legislative action but also of its underlying decision-making process.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 47
Keywords: EU Law, Plain Packaging, Display Bans, WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Legal Basis, Subsidiarity, Proportionality, Fundamental Rights, EU Trademark, TRIPs
 
Full text available at:

sabato 21 gennaio 2012

Alemanno on Participation in European Policy-Making

From: http://www.albertoalemanno.eu

Towards More Public Participation in European Policy-Making?

January 6, 2012 12:00 AM
The European Commission extends public consultations to 12 weeks and creates new 'alert service’ for upcoming initiatives. For those who have tried to interact with the EU Commission in recent times, these changes will be welcome. For the average citizen trying to follow what is going in Europe, they will be irrelevant.....

Full text available at: http://www.albertoalemanno.eu/articles/towards-more-public-participation-in-european-policy-making

Maartje De Visser on Judicial Activism

A Cautionary Tale Some Insights Regarding Judicial Activism from the National Experience


Maartje De Visser


Faculty of Law - Maastricht University; Tilburg University


January 13, 2012

Maastricht Faculty of Law Working Paper No. 2012-2

Abstract:     
Courts, whether national or European, are sometimes subject to charges of judicial activism. Adopting a comparative perspective, this contribution charts the ways in which constitutional courts in the Member States have sought to mitigate or pre-empt charges of activism. The primary purpose is to identify attractive solutions or lessons the ECJ may draw in dealing with this perception of judicial activism. Section 2 showcases examples of activist behavior of national constitutional courts. This functions as a prelude to some general reflections on the role and function of such courts to the extent that the reflections are relevant to questions of activism and legitimacy. In section 3, aspects of the jurisdiction of constitutional courts and standing rules are considered. These factors help to determine the prominence of these courts in the constitutional system and their likelihood of becoming embroiled in deciding contentious issues, with implications for their legitimacy. Section 4 looks at various decision-making techniques used by constitutional courts to safeguard their political legitimacy. It discusses the use of deference rhetoric; relying on technical and procedural grounds of review; well-balanced reasoning and choosing remedies that avoid an annulment verdict. In section 5, the responsibilities of the legislature to also uphold the constitution, in addition to constitutional courts, is considered. The contribution concludes that one of the main lessons for the European debate is to acknowledge that not all vectors of activism are fully within the control of the court. In addition, while national constitutional courts appear to alternate periods of judicial activism and restraint, this is more difficult for the ECJ, given the more dynamic pace of development and open-ended character of the Union. Finally, it is important to realize that most, if not all, of the techniques to mitigate charges of activism involve trade-offs. To the extent that a choice would be made to counter or pre-empt allegations of activism, one possible strategy that the ECJ may want to emulate concerns the way in which national constitutional courts communicate in their relationship with the political institutions, which should hopefully ameliorate the quality and persuasiveness of its reasoning.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 25
Keywords: Judicial activism, constitutional courts, jurisdiction, locus standi rules, techniques of decision-making


Full paper available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1984639

Podstawa and Puccio (eds.) on Economic development in EU External Relations‏

Framework for Economic Development in EU External Relations

Karolina Podstawa and Laura Puccio (eds.),



Abstract

This Working Paper is a collection of contributions presented during the Workshop "Framework for Economic Development in EU External Relations on 22nd and 23rd January 2010. The contributions explore various facets of what is known as economic development and what with time has incorporated many new aspects and developed links with other policy fields. Starting off with the traditional realm of the development policies – trade – the paper shifts to explore how the solely economic notion of development has been enhanced through the introduction of the concept of sustainable development, and how this concept was integrated into two policy areas – that of migration and human rights. Each of the contributors provides an in-depth analysis of a respective facet which build up a very complex picture of what economic development in EU external relations has become.


Full text available at: cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/20017/LAW_2012_01_PodstawaAndPuccio_eds.pdf?sequence=1

mercoledì 18 gennaio 2012

Garupa and Grembi on judicial review

Judicial Review and Political Bias: Moving from Consensual to Majoritarian Democracy


Nuno Garoupa


University of Illinois College of Law

Veronica Grembi


Catholic University of Milan


January 16, 2012


Abstract:     
Due to the collapse of the party system during the mid-nineties, Italy represents an interesting case study to test the eff ects of a moving from a consensual to a majoritarian democracy on judicial behavior at the level of the Constitutional Court. Using a dataset of 779 main reviews (ricorsi in via principale) from 1985 to 2005, and proposing new measures of political alignment within constitutional review, we analyze the impact of a change in the political party system on judicial behavior. We preliminarily result indicate that the rulings of a majoritarian democracy tend to produce more political aligned decisions than in a consensual democracy.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 26
Keywords: Electoral Rules, Party Systems, Judicial Behavior, Italian Constitutional Court, Judicial Politics

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1986318

Dawson on Judicial Actvivism

The Political Face of Judicial Activism: Europe’s Law‐Politics Imbalance


Mark Dawson


Hertie School of Governance


January 13, 2012

Maastricht Faculty of Law Working Paper No. 2012-1

Abstract:     
While much of the debate on judicial activism in the EU has focused on the degree of scrutiny that the European Courts should place on the political autonomy of the Member States, this paper will argue that the judicial activism debate carries deeply political origins. The limited mechanisms of political response on the part of the Union’s institutions to judicial decisions may drive forward controversy over the Court’s political role. In simple terms, the institutional structure of the Union creates a constitutional framework in which the possibility for institutional dialogue between the Court and legislature is inhibited. The essay will develop this argument in 3 steps. The first part (s II) will examine the imbalance in the Union between (legislative) competence and jurisdiction: a long-held observation that may limit the ability of the EU institutions to re-regulate at the EU level fields of policy-making which have been effectively de-stabilised by Court decisions. A second part (s III) will examine how the failure of the Court to properly explain its decisions inhibits the ability of legislatures and Courts to politically engage. Finally (in s IV) the paper will examine the relationship between the EU’s ‘law-politics’ imbalance and another asymmetry of integration – the relation in the Union between social and economic values. In all three cases, the institutional structure established by the EU Treaties themselves may make imbalanced political responses to legal decisions – and hence republican claims of judicial activism on the part of the European judiciary – more likely.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 25
Keywords: European Court of Justice, Judicial Activism, EU Competence, Constitutional Dialogue
JEL Classifications: K33, K40

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1984636 

Confucian Principles of Governance: Paternalistic Order and Relational Obligations Without Legal Rules

Confucian Principles of Governance: Paternalistic Order and Relational Obligations Without Legal Rules


Alex Chu Kwong Chan


affiliation not provided to SSRN

Angus Young


Department of Accountancy, Hang Seng Management College; School of International Law, Southwest University of Political Science and Law; Centre for International Corporate Governance Research, Victoria University


January 17, 2012


Abstract:     
Tung Chung-Shu (179-104B.C.) synthesized the works of Confucius and Mencius to come up with a blueprint for the creation of civil society based on hierarchical order and moral cultivation, known as ‘San Gang Wu Chang’. ‘San Gang’ refers to the obligations attached to three key relationships in any given society, they are those between the king and his subjects; father and son; husband and wife. It is essentially social stratification with the focus on paternalism. ‘Wu Chang’ speaks of the five virtues: benevolence (Ren), righteousness (Yi), propriety (Li), wisdom (Zhi), and trust (Xin). These five moral benchmarks are the underpinnings of human intercourse and relational obligations. Therefore, the application of this Confucian order in the context of corporate governance suggests an emphasis on the establishment of paternalistic order and the fulfillment of one’s relational obligations towards others in the company, the goal is to create a harmonious environment.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 17
Keywords: governance, paternalistic order, relational obligations, ethics, Confucius

Full text avaiable at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1986716 

Arnull on judicial activism of the ECJ

Judicial Activism and the Court of Justice: How Should Academics Respond?


Anthony Arnull


University of Birmingham


January 17, 2012

Maastricht Faculty of Law Working Paper No. 2012-3

Abstract:     
Do academics have a role to play in responding to judicial activism by the European Court of Justice? If so, what should that role be? Should they seek to defend the Court against accusations of judicial activism? Should they align themselves with the Court's critics in an attempt to persuade the Court to change its ways? Or should they adopt a more reserved posture, criticizing the Court on technical grounds where a decision appears to be legally unsound but at the same time recognizing the special features of the EU legal order and the role attributed to the Court under the Treaties? In an attempt to answer these questions, this paper begins by considering the perception academics have of themselves and what we mean by judicial activism. It then examines whether, and if so to what extent, the Court may be considered activist. It concludes with some tentative suggestions about the role academics might play in responding to the Court's case law.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 36
Keywords: academics, baseline, civil law,common law, consensus, contextual, contra legem, doctrinal, European Court of Justice, interdisciplinary, Judicial activism, rule of law, USA

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1986817 

Yoon on judicial precedent

How Judges Use Precedent


Albert Yoon


University of Toronto - Faculty of Law


December 1, 2011


Abstract:     
Legal scholars have long argued that judges are ideologically motivated when deciding cases, constrained only by judicial review or legislative oversight. Recent empirical research, consistent with this claim, shows that federal judges appointed by Democratic presidents decide cases differently than those appointed by Republican presidents. Largely overlooked, however, is how judicial ideology influences how judges use legal precedent when writing opinions. This article examines this question, constructing a unique dataset of federal appellate opinions from 1971-2007 of every citation to United States Supreme Court decisions from 1953-2007. The identification strategy exploits the random assignment of cases to three-judge panels. The results, using multiple measures of Supreme Court precedent, provide strong evidence that judicial ideology influences how judges cite precedent. Panels monotonically cite more conservative precedent as the number of Republican-appointed judges on the panel increase. This ideological difference, however, is most pronounced during the period 1988-2000.

full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1986489 

venerdì 13 gennaio 2012

Mavroidis on the Doha Round

Doha, Dohalf or Dohaha? The WTO Licks its Wounds

Petros C. Mavroidis

Abstract


The most flattering statement regarding the Doha Round is that there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding its fate. The Doha Round, as originally designed and understood, is not an option anymore. Although a formula has been found to keep the ball rolling, at this stage it is impossible to predict what direction it will take. There exists a lack of leadership to conclude the round and it suffers from inherent birth defects. This absence of a conclusion might send the wrong message at a moment when the WTO is emerging as the only genuine forum of multilateral cooperation. Though this is not the first trade round in the history of the multilateral trading system and definitely not the only one that is taking longer than planned to complete, it is the first time that the round risks being ditched altogether. In all previous rounds, which were essentially ‘business’ deals, trading nations managed to come up with an agreement in the end. This is the first time that they have announced ‘we do it for development’, and they now risk delivering nothing. Something has got to give at this stage, and we are running out of time as far as options regarding ‘deliverables’ are concerned. The accent has correctly been placed on priority issues for the bottom billion. The WTO, even if this effort succeeds, will have to face some tough tests in the near future arising from issues which were not at all addressed during the Doha Round.

Full text available at: 

mercoledì 11 gennaio 2012

German Law Journal: New Issue

13 German Law Journal No. 1 (2012)


Table of Contents
Articles

The Appeal of the Project of Global Constitutionalism to Public International Lawyers -  - Christine Schwöbel

The Territorial Challenge: From Constitutional Patriotism to Unencumbered Agonism in Bosnia and Herzegovina - - Zoran Oklopcic

Procedural Rules for the Implementation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises - a Public International Law Perspective -  - Christian Schliemann
Human Rights Symposium-Book Reviews

Introduction – The German Law Journal’s Human Rights Symposium (2012) - PDF - Tiffany Wong

Review Essay – Amartya Sen’s The Idea of Justice (2009) - - Michael Da Silva

Book Review – Eric A. Posner’s The Perils of Global Legalism (2009) -  - Heather Cohen

Review Essay— Do Treaties Matter? Beth Simmons’ Mobilizing for Human Rights: International Law in Domestic Politics (2009) -  - Virgílio Afonso Da Silva

Book Review – Charles R. Beitz’s The Idea of Human Rights (2009) -  - Angelina Ling

Review Essay – Pablo de Greiff & Roger Duthie (eds.) Transitional Justice and Development: Making Connections (2009) -  - Basil Ugochukwu
Developments

Case Note – Judgment of the European Court of Justice (Grand Chamber) of 1 March 2010: ECJ finally paves the way for unisex premiums and benefits in insurance and related financial service contracts - PDF - Felipe Temming

Copyright Licensing Revisited -  - Astrid Janssen

Review Essay – Capitalistic Constitutional Transformations? Danny Nicol’s The Constitutional Protection of Capitalism (2010) - - Agustín José Menéndez

Interview with Professor Dr. Christoph Möllers, Humboldt University, Berlin, Faculty of Law: On the Occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the German Federal Constitutional Court (“Bundesverfassungsgericht”) -  - Katja Gelinsky

Full text available at: http://germanlawjournal.com/

Henning and Kessler on Fiscal Federalism in the EU

Fiscal Federalism: US History for Architects of Europe's Fiscal Union


C. Randall Henning


Institute for International Economics (IIE)

Martin Kessler


affiliation not provided to SSRN


January 10, 2012

Peterson Institute for International Economics Working Paper No. 2012-1

Abstract:     
European debates over reform of the fiscal governance of the euro area frequently reference fiscal federalism in the United States. The "fiscal compact" agreed by the European Council during 2011 provided for the introduction of, among other things, constitutional rules or framework laws known as "debt brakes" in the member states of the euro area. In light of the compact and proposals for deeper fiscal union, we review US fiscal federalism from Alexander Hamilton to the present. We note that within the US system the states are "sovereign." The federal government does not mandate balanced budgets nor, since the 1840s, does it bail out states in fiscal trouble. States adopted balanced budget rules of varying strength during the nineteenth century and these rules limit debt accumulation. Before introducing debt brakes for euro area member states, however, Europeans should consider three important caveats. First, debt brakes are likely to be more durable and effective when "owned" locally rather than mandated centrally. Second, maintaining a capacity for countercyclical macroeconomic stabilization is essential. Balanced budget rules have been viable in the US states because the federal government has a broad set of fiscal powers, including countercyclical fiscal action. Finally, because debt brakes threaten to collide with bank rescues, the euro area should unify bank regulation and create a common fiscal pool for restructuring the banking system.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 24
Keywords: fiscal federalism, balanced budget rules, US financial history, state debt, euro crisis, fiscal compact
JEL Classifications: H77, F33, N41, N42

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1982709 

Johnston on Canadian Constitutional Dilemmas

Aboriginal Rights and the Constitution: A Story within a Story?


Darlene Johnston


UBC Faculty of Law



CANADIAN CONSTITUTIONAL DILEMMAS REVISITED, pp. 131-146, Denis N. Magnusson & Daniel A. Soberman, eds., Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, 1997

Abstract:     
Proponents of group rights generally point to section 35 of Canada's Constitution Act 1982 as the prime example of legal rights being vested explicitly in groups. Section 35 declares that 'the existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.'

In this paper, the author examines the 1990 Supreme Court of Canada decision in R. v. Sparrow, a leading case on section 35, and its application to a fishing rights case involving her own community, the Nayaashiinigmiing, a reserve belonging to the Saugeen Ojibway Nation.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 17
Keywords: Canada, Aboriginal rights, constitutional law

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1879516 

Abbott on the Maastricht judgment

The Maastricht Judgment, the Democracy Principle, and US Participation in Western Hemispheric Integration


Frederick M. Abbott


Florida State University College of Law



German Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 37, p. 137, 1994
FSU College of Law, Public Law Research Paper
FSU College of Law, Law, Business & Economics Paper

Abstract:     
The Maastricht Judgment of the German Constitutional Court has caused a considerable stir within the German legal community. The Judgment is perceived by some as a step backward in the European integration process, or at least as a halt, because it implies significant residual national constitutional constraints on the exercise of authority by Union institutions. Others view the Judgment as more or less in line with prior German jurisprudence regarding the process of integration in Europe. The Maastricht Judgment is of great interest from an American perspective because it addresses fundamental constitutional questions prompted by a level of regional integration far deeper than that to which the United States is, or might ever be, a party.

This article will concentrate on the principal question addressed by the German Constitutional Court in the Maastricht Judgment. That is, the extent to which the "democracy principle" may limit Germany's participation in the European Union. It will ask whether there is an analogy to the democracy principle in the US constitutional framework, and what the implications of the principle may be for US participation in Western Hemispheric integration. The German Constitutional Court's Judgment contains much that will be important and relevant to the "Constitutional Future" of US participation in the Western Hemispheric integration process.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 26
Keywords: Regional integration, constitutional constraints, democracy principle, European Union, NAFTA
JEL Classifications: F15, K33

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1982207 

Shany on Judicial Independence

udicial Independence as an Indicator of International Court Effectiveness: A Goal-Based Approach


Yuval Shany


Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Faculty of Law and Institute of Criminology



THE CULTURE OF JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE: CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS AND PRACTICAL CHALLENGES, p. 251, Shimon Shetreet and Christopher Forsyth, eds., Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2012
Hebrew University International Law Forum Working Paper No. 01-12

Abstract:     
The chapter seeks to contribute to the debate on the relationship between judicial independence and international court effectiveness by applying to it a model for international judicial effectiveness developed by the author elsewhere. In doing so, I hope to illustrate some of the problems attendant to the “broad brush” position taken by writers who have claimed a correlation between high levels of judicial independence and low levels of effectiveness. I posit that the proper question we should be discussing is not whether judicial independence is generally conducive to international court effectiveness (a question that assumes a linear relationship between the two variables); instead, we should ask questions such as which international courts are better served by judicial independence? what level of actual independence should courts strive to attain? what image of independence should they seek to project?
Number of Pages in PDF File: 19
Keywords: International courts, international tribunals, judicial independence, judicial effectiveness, international criminal courts, international criminal tribunal for Yugoslavia, international criminal tribunal for Rwanda, judicial functions


Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1982157 

Miller and Kommers on the German Federal Constitutional Court

Das Bundesverfassungsgericht: Procedure, Practice and Policy of the German Federal Constitutional Court


Russell Miller


Washington and Lee University - School of Law

Donald P. Kommers


affiliation not provided to SSRN



Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 3, No. 2, p. 194, 2009
Washington & Lee Legal Studies Paper No. 2011-37

Abstract:     
Karlsruhe was the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Baden (1806-1918). During the Weimar Republic, Karlsruhe continued as the capital of the Republic of Baden (1918-1933). After the Allies crushed Hitler's Nazi regime, they reclaimed Baden from the centralizing and totalitarian policy of Gleichschaltung and used it as an Allied Occupation Zone that was shared by American and French forces. Karlsruhe was the Zone's hub. But Karlsrughe's run as a regional capital soon met its end. As the map of the Federal Republic of Germany was being drawn strong arguments were advanced for merging Baden with its neighboring rival Wüttmberg. The Federal Republic's founders could not settle the emotional and hotly contested question during the Parlemtarischer Rat (Parliamentary Council or constitutional convention) and left it to the states themselves to resolve the Southwest State' question. When these rivals failed to reach a settlement, the federal government intervened and ordered a merger of the regions into the single state Baden-Wüttemberg, subject to approval in a federally coordinated referendum to be held in the relevant localities. Baden, fighting its demise by absorption, challenged the federal intervention and referendum before the new Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court).

The Court's Southwest State Case (1951), its first major decision, realized Baden's worst fears about its century and a half run as a regional capital. The Court explained: "In the case of the reorganization of federal territory consigned to the federation, it is the nature of things that people's right to self-determination in a state be restricted in the interest of the more comprehensive unit. The Second Senate of the Court allowed a federally orchestrated referendum to go forward, and the new, merged state of Baden-Wüttemberg resulted with its capital in Stuttgart. Karlsruhe, the proud and charming 'fan city' seemed fated to the ignominy of struggling on as Baden-Wüttemberg's 'second city.’

But out of the Southwest State Case came no small portion of redemption for Baden and, most especially, Kalsruhe. Afterall, Karsruhe is the seat of the Federal Constitutional Court. And, as the Court's first major decision, Southwest State launched the Court into the prominent role it has played in the German polity. Some have gone so far as to describe the case as 'Germany's Marbury v. Madison, analogizing it to the epochal US Supreme Court decision widely credited as the fons et origo of judicial review. From this perspective, Southwest's foundational character is rooted in the general principles of constitutional interpretation stated therein and in the clarity - and forthrightness - with which the Constitutional Court defined the scope of its authority under the Basic Law. The Court boldly asserted that its judgment and the opinion on which it rests are binding on all constitutional organs, even to the extent of foreclosing parliament from debating and passing another law of the same content.

Southwest State was the first major sign of the significant role the Court would play in the new Federal Republic. The Grundgesetz (Basic Law of Constitution) itself virtually assured that the Court would play such a role, for it confers upon the Court wide-ranging powers that place it near the epicenter of Germany's political system. In the years since, armed with these powers, the Court has found itself banning political parties as unconstitutional, striking popularly enacted legislation, policing federal-state relations, monitoring elections, overseeing the dissolution of governments, and perhaps most significantly, defining and enforcing a regime of individual rights that fairly can be described as its most important contribution to the development of Germany's constitutional democracy.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 19
Keywords: Democracy, Transnational Law

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1982674 

martedì 10 gennaio 2012

Programa "García Pelayo" Seminario de investigadores: Roberto Castaldi

January 17 2012 (11:30-13:30)

Towards a federal democracy in Europe?
Speaker: Roberto Castaldi, (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa; Centre for Studies on Federalism, Turin)
Discussant: Ana Mar Fernández Pasarín (Universitat Autonóma de Barcelona)

venue: CEPC, Plaza de la Marina española 9.


http://www.cepc.es/en/Inicio.aspx 

mercoledì 4 gennaio 2012

Godinho on Political Representation in Macau

Political Representation in Macau


Jorge A. F. Godinho


University of Macau - Faculty of Law; University of Macau - Faculty of Law



CHINA'S MACAO TRANSFORMED: CHALLENGE AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY, Eilo W. Y. Yu, Ming K. Chan, eds., Forthcoming

Abstract:     
The paper discusses the system of political representation in the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, focusing on the Legislative Assembly and the methods for selection of its members. Various proposals for reform are made. The paper also discusses the role and representation of the Portuguese-speaking or Lusophone community.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 7
Keywords: Macau, Macao, China, Politics

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1978837 

Silbey on Lock and invocations of law

J. Locke, Op. Cit.: Invocations of Law on Snowy Streets


Susan S. Silbey


M.I.T.



Journal of Comparative Law, Forthcoming

Abstract:     
Each winter in the northern cities of the United States, a familiar scene illustrates tacit and deeply sedimented, yet common invocations of law. After a heavy snow storm, one can see old chairs, traffic cones, milk crates, light weight tables, dead house plants, or other noticeably bulky objects in recently shoveled out parking spots on an otherwise snow-filled public street. "Before snowfalls, a parking space belongs to the one who occupies it: you leave it, you lose it. In wintertime Chicago, however," writes Fred McChesney in an economic analysis of this practice, "excavating one’s car [from the snow that fell on it] changes the system of property rights... The initial digger of the spot is given a limited monopoly for its use."

Although calculating an efficient duration for the monopoly preoccupies some analysts, my attention to the practice of claiming parking spots on snowy streets derives from an interest in understanding legal culture, more specifically, how practices of everyday life sustain the rule of law. The practice of holding shoveled-out parking spots on snow covered streets is not a recent invention in northern American cities, neither is it universal, nor without contest. It is, however, widespread, a subject of regular and increasing discussion in public forums, newspapers and internet media. It has been subject to legal regulation, although uneven law enforcement, and a topic of scholarly analysis. This essay uses the example of the chair in the shoveled out parking spot to illustrate how cultural analysis can document both the practices and systematicity of legal culture(s), in this way hoping to unravel some of the confusion characterizing discussions of legal culture as well as culture more generally. Following a more extended introduction, the section following both describes and interprets the practice of space-saving on snowy public streets, using the actors’ own accounts to construct an interpretation of what placing chairs in parking spots on snowy streets means to the participants. I follow this descriptive and interpretive work with a short discussion of what such cultural analysis brings to legal inquiry.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 33
Keywords: legal culture, urban property, law and economics, city streets, space savers, space saving
 

Workshop: Facing the Economic Crisis: Nine questions on the EU (Madrid, 16 January 2012)

 
Facing the Economic Crisis:
Nine questions on the EU

Centro de Estudios Politicos y Constitucionales, Madrid

January 16 2012


The aim of this workshop is to offer a multidisciplinary reflection upon the current crises faced by the EU.
We use “crises” instead of “crisis” because it is evident that the EU is experiencing a legitimacy crisis which goes beyond the more general economic and financial difficulties affecting the global system.
In order to favour a rigorous debate on some issues that we consider fundamental, the works of this workshop will be divided into three panels.
Panellists (three for each panel) are asked to deal with some key (common) questions which will introduce the debate.
Given the highly interdisciplinary content of the subject of this workshop, it was thought worthwhile to extend the invitation to scholars with different backgrounds who could confront with such complex issues from different angles.

Download the full programme http://csfederalismo.it/images/pdf/facing_economic_crisis_madrid.pdf

Programa "García Pelayo" Seminario de investigadores: Filippo Fontanelli

10 de enero de 2012 (11:30-13:30)
Santi Romano and L’ordinamento giuridico: The Relevance of a Forgotten Masterpiece for Contemporary International, Transnational and Global Legal Relations
Ponente: Filippo Fontanelli (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa)
Contraponente: Camil Ungureanu (Universitat Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona)

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

NEW STALS (Sant'Anna Legal Studies) Paper: Maxime Calligaro

 Maxime Calligaro, "Le droit de l’Union dans la jurisprudence récente de la Cour constitutionnelle italienne et du Conseil constitutionnel français. Vues d’ensemble, regard croisé", STALS Research Paper n. 6/2011

Abstract

Le thème de la pénétration du droit de l’Union dans les ordres juridiques nationaux est devenu un classique des études juridiques. De tous les domaines touchés par le phénomène, le droit constitutionnel est de loin l’objet d’étude le plus intéressant car sa friction avec le droit de l’UE renvoie aux thèmes sensibles et centraux que sont la souveraineté, la primauté, la suprématie et la hiérarchie des normes.
En se penchant sur les cas des juges constitutionnels français et italien nous verrons que les réponses apportées au défi qu’est l’intégration juridique européenne divergent. La Cour constitutionnelle italienne a parfaitement intégré la donnée UE à ses techniques contentieuses alors que le Conseil constitutionnel peine à trouver sa place dans ce nouveau rapport qui relève bien souvent du rapport de force. Si la Cour galope sur le fameux chemin communautaire, le Conseil semble lui rester sur le bord de la route. Après de brefs rappels historiques nous analyserons séparément et par contentieux les jurisprudences récentes de la Consulta et des juges de la rue Montpensier afin d’avoir une vue d’ensemble. Une fois les outils de comparaison en main, nous nous livrerons à l’exercice comparatiste afin de préciser les différences mais aussi de faire apparaître les similitudes. Par ailleurs et pour conclure, nous verrons que ce regard croisé est révélateur de la place des deux juges dans leurs ordres respectifs.

Full text available at:
http://www.stals.sssup.it/files/STALS_Maxime%20Calligaro%206.2011.pdf