Paul Craig - 9th September 2019
Litigation is often predicated on certain assumptions. These may be the result of argumentation of the parties, the reasoning of the courts or an admixture of the two. The assumptions can take on an axiomatic character, and become ‘unchallengeable’. They may be regarded as expressive of uncontroversial facts, or perceived as inherent in the nature […]
- 3rd September 2019
Just over a decade ago, large numbers of Canadians turned to Google’s search engine’s algorithm to shed light on a political crisis named after a parliamentary procedure most people had never heard of. The 2008 Canadian prorogation crisis, followed by a similar episode a year later, forced Canadians to confront normally invisible aspects of their […]
Paul Craig - 31st August 2019
The Prime Minister’s recent announcement that Parliament would be prorogued, thereby severely curtailing the opportunity for parliamentary debate, raises important issues of constitutional principle and law, and also issues concerning fact and causation. They are examined in turn. Constitutional Principle and Law We begin with constitutional principle and law. We seek to decide whether the […]
Nick Barber - 31st August 2019
The idea of constitutional hardball was introduced to the world by Mark Tushnet. The sport is played when political actors decide the stakes are so high that any lawful action is justified, no matter how constitutionally problematic: hardball stays within the confines of the law, but runs against the spirit, and sometimes the conventions, of […]
Jeremy Lam - 29th July 2019
During the recent anti-extradition movement in Hong Kong, a High Court judge participated by signing a petition against the controversial bill amendments, which was considered inappropriate by the Chief Justice. This is reminiscent of an incident involving Australian High Court Justice Michael Kirby, who called upon the government to boost funding for state schools in […]
Jackie Dugard - 31st May 2019
On 3 April 2019, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) handed down judgment in the matter of Ngomane & others v City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality & Another (Ngomane). In its judgment, the SCA declared that the destruction of the applicants’ property by the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (Johannesburg) was unconstitutional, and […]
Renan Araujo - 20th May 2019
The Brazilian Supreme Court has begun a confidential inquiry, ex officio, to investigate alleged crimes against the honour of the Justices and ‘fake news’ about the Court. This inquiry is a part of a trend in which the Supreme Court has censored news reports relating corrupt conduct by its Justices and facilitated the confiscation of […]
Tom Lowenthal - 17th May 2019
On Wednesday, the UK Supreme Court delivered its judgment in Privacy International. The issue was whether the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), a body set up to review state surveillance decisions, was itself subject to judicial review in the ordinary courts. The Supreme Court decided that it was, in spite of the fact that an “ouster […]
Saeed Bagheri - 25th April 2019
While nearly three weeks have passed since local elections were held in Turkey on 31st March 2019, the Turkish Supreme Electoral Council has not issued any statement on the election results in two major cities of the country – Istanbul, and the Turkish capital, Ankara. According to Article 79 of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey (1982), election […]
Mwai Daka - 18th April 2019
Recent reports and video footage of the political unrest in Sesheke’s Parliamentary by-elections have brought to light the disproportionate use of force by Zambia’s police, who opened fire at the opposition party, the United Party for National Development (UPND) and its supporters, during a political rally. These events have brought the uneasy relationship between President […]
Azadeh Chalabi - 6th March 2019
What has been largely overlooked in the human rights theory and practice is what I would call the lack of “social will” as the twin concept of the lack of political will to implement universal human rights. Whereas the lack of political will is concerned with states’ rights practices, the lack of social will is […]
Stephanie Tai - 8th February 2019
The Hong Kong Bar Association formally issued a statement on 21st December 2018, regarding the Department of Justice’s choice to not obtain independent legal advice in its decision not to prosecute former Chief Executive C.Y. Leung over the UGL corruption incident. The Department of Justice’s decision not to consult independent legal advice is worrying and […]