Category: Comparative Law

Public Lecture in Hong Kong: A Rule of Law Crisis in Europe?

EDIT (1.9.16): It seems there is quite a bit of interest in this topic, so the location of the lecture has been changed to Room 724 & 725, 7/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, Centennial Campus, The University of Hong Kong. Registration is still open!

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I will spend next week as a visitor at the Centre for Comparative and Public Law at the University of Hong Kong. While there, I will be participating in a workshop and collaborating with colleagues in the CCPL, meeting with doctoral researchers and discussing their work with them, and also giving a public lecture on Friday, September 3rd.

The lecture, “Is there a Rule of Law Crisis in Europe?”, will take place at 5:30pm on the Centennial Campus of HKU (Small Moot Court, Room 723 Room 724 & 725, 7/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower). Registration is free but encouraged, as there is a registration limit of 50. If you are in Hong Kong at the time you can register here. Continue reading “Public Lecture in Hong Kong: A Rule of Law Crisis in Europe?”

New comment: on the end of TRAP laws

This morning I·CONnect (the blog of the International Journal of Constitutional Law) published a new commentary from me on Whole Women’s Health v Hellerstedt, the US Supreme Court’s recent decision striking down HB2, a Texan TRAP law. TRAP laws are Targeted Regulation of Abortion Provider laws, and have become a substantial part of anti-abortion and anti-choice efforts to restrict abortion in the United States. In this short commentary, I argue that Whole Women’s Health and particularly the contribution to the judgment by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, sharply constraints the possibilities that TRAP laws offered to undercut the constitutional right to access abortion in that jurisdiction. The whole post, which is around 1200 words, is here, and the core argument can be discerned from this passage: Continue reading “New comment: on the end of TRAP laws”

Human Rights in Collaboration: Launch Event & Getting Involved

CRsZdlCWIAAaWpDLast night I was very pleased to speak at the launch event for Human Rights in Collaboration, which was held in the beautiful Common Room at the Law Society in London. The event, entitled ‘Where are human rights headed?‘, was attended by almost one hundred delegates and featured short contributions from me (on terrorism and human rights), Nicole Bigby (on business and the human rights), and Stephen Grosz QC followed by a very involved Q&A session and discussion with the audience. The panel was excellently chaired by Jonathan Smithers, the President of the Law Society, and organised by Sarah Smith.

The event itself is the first in an ever-growing series of events across the country which aims to bring together academics, practitioners and civil society to discuss and debate human rights issues, often through unconventional means including poetry workshops. Human Rights in Collaboration will culminate with a closing panel, again in the Law Society, on December 10th when we will draw out and reflect on key questions and concerns that emerged across all of the events.

The programme of events was conceived and is coordinated by a small and informal committee of me, Nicole Bigby, Alison Klarfeld (BLP LLP), Sarah Smith (Law Society), and Rosa Freedman (Birmingham Law School). The website for the programme is here, and the events calendar is here (please note we are adding events all the time!).

If you are involved in an NGO, a member of a law school, or a legal professional of any kind who would like to organise an event to take place between now and December 10th do please get in touch!

New Book: Critical Debates on Counter-Terrorism Judicial Review

9781107053618I am delighted that my new book, co-edited with Fergal F. Davis (UNSW), has now been published by Cambridge University Press. The book, entitled Critical Debates on Counter-Terrorism Judicial Review, features an excellent collection of international scholars who bring their own unique perspectives to the debates about the role and nature of judicial review of counter-terrorist measures, as well as alternatives to judicial oversight (such as enhanced political oversight, enquiries and independent reviewers). This is reflected in the table of contents:

Introduction

Counter-terrorist judicial review: beyond dichotomies, Fergal F. Davis and Fiona de Londras

Part I. Judging Counter-Terrorist Judicial Review
1. Counter-terrorist judicial review as regulatory constitutionalism, Fiona de Londras
2. Counter-terrorism judicial review by a traditionally weak judiciary, Jens Elo Rytter
3. When good cases go bad: unintended consequences of rights-friendly judgments, David Jenkins
4. The rhetoric and reality of judicial review of counter-terrorism actions: the United States experience, Jules Lobel
Part II. Beyond Counter-Terrorist Judicial Review
5. Emergency law as administrative law, Mark Tushnet
6. The politics of counter-terrorism judicial review: creating effective parliamentary scrutiny, Fergal F. Davis
7. Independent reviewers as alternative: an empirical study from Australia and the UK, Jessie Blackbourn
8. Public inquiries as an attempt to fill accountability gaps left by judicial and legislative review, Kent Roach
Part III. Counter-Terrorist Judicial Review in the Political Constitution
9. Rebalancing the unbalanced constitution: juridification and national security in the United Kingdom, Roger Masterman
10. Running business as usual: deference in counter-terrorist rights review, Cora Chan
10. Deference and dialogue in the real-world counter-terror context, Gavin Phillipson
Part IV. Internationalised Counter-Terrorist Judicial Review
11. Counter-terrorism law and judicial review: the challenge for the Court of Justice of the European Union, Cian C. Murphy
12. Post 9/11 UK counter-terrorism cases in the European Court of Human Rights: a ‘dialogic’ approach to rights’ protection or appeasement of national authorities?, Helen Fenwick
13. Accountability for counter-terrorism: challenges and potential in the role of the courts, Helen Duffy.

The book emerged from a workshop generously funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust small grants scheme, and can now be ordered directly from CUP. You can also read the substantive introductory chapter written by myself and Fergal for free through my SSRN page, and my chapter on the Durham repository.