Yasuo Hasebe

On 19 September 2015, the National Diet of Japan enacted a series of statutes, which enable the government to exercise the right of collective self-defence. One of the statutes also enables the government to dispatch the Self-defence Forces to take charge of logistics for foreign military forces waging wars. This enactment symbolises Japan’s turn of course regarding its long-held stance on constitutional pacifism.

Bertrand Mathieu

Les événements récents qui ont vue négocier, s’affronter, s’accorder, la Grèce, un certain nombre d’Etats européens et les institutions européennes à propos de la dette souveraine grecque, traduisent des luttes de pouvoirs, des rapports de force qui intégrent les mécanismes démocratiques sans cependant qu’il y jouent un rôle prépondérant. Cette communication s’attache à montrer que cette question de la dette souveraine, témoigne de deux phénomènes corrélatifs : une crise de la démocratie dans son cadre naturel qu’est la structure étatique et un déplacement des centres de décision vers des organisations supranationales …

Andrew Fagan

Myanmar has taken a potentially momentous step away from dictatorship and towards democracy. More than 6,000 candidates from 91 political parties competed for the votes of 33m registered voters on November 8 in the country’s first credible elections since 1960. The precise outcome won’t be known for days, but Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) is claiming to have gained at least 70% of the votes cast.

Jónatas Machado

Last October 4th, Portugal had its general election. After four years of painful economic austerity, the people was called to pass judgement on the center-right coalition which ruled the country during the troubled Troika years. Surprisingly, the “Portugal Ahead” platform of Passos Coelho and Paulo Portas, the leaders of the ruling coalition parties (Social Democratic Party and the Democratic and Social Center/Popular Party), ended up winning the election, albeit with little less than 37% of the votes.

Brian Christopher Jones

The 800th anniversary of the much-revered Magna Carta has dominated much of the public law news this year not only in Britain, but also globally. Yet whether or not you praise Magna Carta or denounce the widespread praising of it, most appear to have forgotten (save for a few of those in the British press) another milestone just as significant—if not more so—than the venerated thirteenth century text: the 750th anniversary of the 1265 Parliament assembled by Simon de Montfort, which was the first to include representatives from the shires, cities, and boroughs, as well as feudal barons.

Coel Kirkby

Fijians will enjoy their first Constitution Day on 7 September next year. The new holiday will commemorate the 2013 constitution, the country’s fourth since independence in 1970. Last year Fijians voted in the first credible democratic elections since 2006. Over 80 per cent of registered voters turned out and it was the first voting experience for most young Fijians. But celebration plans may be spoiled by a wave of arrests in the interior of Viti Levu, Fiji’s largest island.

Marcelo Figuereido

La commission d’éthique publique de la Présidence de la République du Brésil a été créée en 1999. Cette commission a pour compétence assurer le respect du code de conduite de la haute administration fédérale, effectuer des suggestions d’amélioration des normes d’éthique, aider les ministres de l’État et le président de la République dans la prise de décision afin d’éviter la violation des normes du code de conduite, enquêter sur les accusations et régler des doutes quant à l’application du code de conduite.

Selin Esen

Turkish parliamentary elections, held on June 7, 2015, may hearald a significant realignment of the political landscape in Turkey. Below I will discuss these parliamentary elections explaining briefly the major political parties, the campaign period, the electoral system and results.

Adrienne Stone & Andrew Currie

Reform of the Constitution is again a live issue in Australia. This time, the debate concerns the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The Australian Constitution contains no equivalent to s 35(1) of the Canadian Constitution, which recognises and affirms “existing aboriginal and treaty rights”. In fact, the federal Constitution makes no mention of Indigenous Australians at all. And unlike neighbouring New Zealand, Australia never entered into treaty arrangementswith its indigenous people.

Thomas Fleiner

On June 14, the Swiss voters and the cantons had to decide on three popular initiatives. They adopted with 61% and 18.5 cantons a constitutional proposal of the parliament and government on Article 119 par 2c and rejected with more than 70% two initiatives of the people to change the constitution. One constitutional initiative provided a new competence for the federation with regard to student stipends for bachelor and master studies.

Cláudio de Oliveira Santos Colnago

On February 2015, a Brazilian judge from the state of Piauí issued an order to a large number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with a common goal: to suspend the application known as Whatsapp and, therefore, impede its users from communicating through the popular text-messaging app. The preliminary ruling was rapidly suspended on an appeal granted by the local state court, but the fact is that the broad scope of the order raised a lot of doubts regarding how judges in Brazil are to interpret the rules established by the Civil Framework for the Internet, Federal Statute 12.965/2014, known popularly as “Marco Civil”.

Eva Brems

L’un des éléments les plus remarquables en ce qui a trait aux débats et aux lois sur l’interdiction du voile intégral est le fait qu’ils ne sont basés que sur des suppositions concernant les femmes qui portent le voile intégral, qui ne sont elles-mêmes fondées sur aucune expertise ou connaissance. Ainsi, au moment où de telles interdictions étaient adoptées en Belgique et en France, des études empiriques documentant les expériences et les motivations de ces femmes dans ces deux pays n’étaient pas encore disponibles.

Yasuo Hasebe

This is to introduce some recent constitutional cases of the Supreme Court of Japan. While the Court has been generally perceived to be not particularly active in its exercise of constitutional review power, it has exhibited quite innovative moves in its recent decisions, which have had significant impacts on various areas.

Giovanna De Minico

Let’s consider the most significant recent anti-terrorism measures announced by some of the Member States and by the European Union.

Well before the French facts, the UK proposed to isolate suspects of terrorism, withdrawing and confiscating their passports in order to prevent them entering or leaving the country. This is in line with the aggressive policies of both the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001.

Marcelo Figueiredo & Konstantin Gerber

On December, 16th, 2013, the Higher Court of State of São Paulo delivered a landmark judgment in a civilian action (“ação civil pública“) against the Municipality of São Paulo, which aimed to provide education for 736 children and to expand the supply of childhood education by building school units to meet the demand officially registered, and also to compensate those missed for moral and material damages, due to the State Omission. The right of children to education has been regarded as priority obligation of the Municipality, provided for by the Brazilian Constitution in a judicial review (Appeal n. 0150735-64.2008.8.26.0002).

Jānis Pleps

The practice of the Constitutional Court of Latvia and the verities of the theory of constitutional law clearly mark the most essential fundamental values of the statehood of Latvia. The Court acknowledged that ‘the State of Latvia is based on the core values that among other include the fundamental human rights and personal freedoms, democracy, sovereignty of state and people, division of authority and rule of law. The state is obliged to guarantee these values, and they cannot be infringed by the statutory amendments to the Constitution.’ (Case no. 2008-35-01)