Human rights & comparisons The 3 Regional Human Rights Courts in context. Justice that cannot be taken for granted, Oxford, OUP, 2024, 576 p, Laurence Burgorgue-Larsen 3 May 202428 Apr 2024 Is it possible to compare the incomparable? The heterogeneity of the three Regional Courts of Human Rights, the diversity of normative instruments, the relativity of continental issues and the singularity…
Comparative constitutional law… ‘Federally Trapped’? Comparing and Contrasting Local Government in Multi-Layered Systems, by Matteo Nicolini and Alice Valdesalici 2 Feb 2024 A problem of collocation ‘What is the place of local government in federal studies?’ This is the question that we asked ourselves when we decided to venture forth into the…
Common law world… The Right to Same Sex Marriage: The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Constitutional Interpretation and Comparative Law, by Derek O’Brien 1 Dec 202317 Nov 2023 Introduction Over the previous two decades a consensus had been emerging amongst constitutional courts in the common law world, at both the state and national levels, that laws prohibiting same…
Comparative constitutional law… The Promise and Paradoxes of Transformative Constitutionalism: Protection of LGBTQ+ Rights in India and South Africa, by Anashri Pillay 24 Nov 202311 Nov 2023 In 2013, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India (SCI) handed down a controversial judgment, Koushal v NAZ Foundation upholding the constitutionality of section 377 of the Indian…
Comparative constitutional law… Against Methodological Factionalism in Comparative Constitutional Law, by Alex Schwartz 10 Nov 202310 Jun 2024 Ran Hirschl, in his book Comparative Matters (OUP, 2014), speaks of a “renaissance in comparative constitutional law”. This renaissance, he says, is evident in the proliferation of a more cosmopolitan…
Comparative constitutional law Responsive Rechtsstaat: Beyond the Dutch Context, by Balázs Fekete 20 Oct 202312 Oct 2023 The modern history of the idea of Rechtsstaat has been marked with various distinctions. Historically, it originated from a distinction drawn between Polizeistaat and Rechtsstaat in order to secure the…
Book Review… Rosalind Dixon, Tom Ginsburg & Adem Kassie Abebe (eds) Comparative Constitutional Law in Africa (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022), reviewed by Francois Venter 13 Oct 202314 Jan 2024 The title of this otherwise commendable book is slightly misleading. The title suggests that it deals with the field of “comparative constitutional law” in Africa, but in fact it is…
China… Harold Laski, Travelling Concepts, and the Evolution of the Human Rights Idea in Republic China (1919-49), by Ting Xu 9 Jun 20239 Jun 2023 Introduction Harold Laski (1893-1950) was one of the most important twentieth century public intellectuals. He was Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics (LSE), a centre for…
Comparative criminal law… Rafał Lemkin (1900-1959): A Life-Long Story of Engagement in the Development of Human Rights Law, by A. Krzywoń 26 May 202326 May 2023 Introduction: The Life and Legacy of Rafał Lemkin “Genocide is as old as humanity”. This statement by Jean-Paul Sartre highlights the sad reality that destroying entire groups of people has…
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