Judicial impartiality, decorative comparative law and the Human Rights Court : ECtHR, Alexandru Marian Iancu v. Romania, Application No. 60858/15

This case-note analyses the case of Alexandru Marian Iancu v. Romania, decided by the European Court of Human Rights in February 2020. The comment addresses two essential issues involved. The first issue concerns potential partiality of a judge who has been involved in overlapping proceedings. The second issue concerns the judicial method the Court uses in its reasoning. The note explains the background to the judgment, summarizing the facts leading to the judgment and the human rights issues before the Court. Then the proceedings before the Court and the Court?s decision are reviewed, before commenting on the judgment?s key points of significance for human rights law and use of comparative law as a part of human rights reasoning. The critical focus is on the comparative approach deployed by the Court.Peer reviewe

Judicial Review in Norway - A Bicentennial Debate

Reviewed book: Anine Kierulf. Judicial Review in Norway—A Bicentennial Debate. Cambridge University Press, 2018 (hardback). Pp. xxiii+ 298. £ 85.00. ISBN: 9781108426688.Judicial review is one of the classical issues in constitutional law.1 It is not practiced in every system, and even in the systems where it is practiced there are different variations. For a long time it has been recognized that, whatever the differences might be, it is certainly not a uniquely American institution.2 Anine Kierulf’s book tells the story of judicial review in Norway. She has penned a dense narrative that is rich with detail on how this Nordic system has balanced democracy and judicial oversight for 200 years.Non peer reviewe

Book Review : The Foundations of the EU as a Polity, by Massimo Fichera. (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018)

Non peer reviewe

Language of Law and Invasive Legal Species : Endemic Systems, Colonisation, and Viability of Mixed Law

The article asks what is the significance of language for the viability of an endemic mixed legal system. The analysis applies the ecological conceptualisation of endemism and explains how invasive species colonise an endemic mixed system. It is argued that the process of displacing takes place in a manner similar to the process of colonisation of the lifeworld as explained in Habermas’ theory of communicative action. It is also argued that a socio-linguistic infrastructure is needed to ensure the use of minority legal language under the influence of the surrounding bigger legal culture. The argument is tested with four illustrative cases allowing theory building. The cases addressed are Hong Kong, Scotland, Quebec, and Louisiana. The article concludes that language itself is not the cause of legal cultural colonisation. Language, if common to both a smaller and a bigger legal culture, is the medium through which invasive legal species are carried.Peer reviewe

Turning the Curriculum Upside Down: Comparative Law as an Educational Tool for Constructing Pluralistic Legal Mind

The argument in this paper draws inspiration from the pedagogical theory of so-called constructivism. An effective law curriculum is one which can stimulate students to learn legal thinking. The constructivist approach suggests that the learner is more actively involved in a joint enterprise with the law teacher of constructing new legally relevant, and perhaps competing, meanings. Comparative law and/or foreign law and even approximate knowledge of different foreign approaches to similar types of questions may be regarded as a valuable tool for the construction of a primary pluralistic legal mind

Locking in Constitutionality Control in Finland

Monitoring the constitutionality of laws in Finland – Political control rather than judicial control – Understanding why requires a study of historical layers – Evidence that at several historical points certain elemental choices were locked in – Resulting difficulties in later abolishing or changing patterns – Interactive relationship between the political and the legal – Finland’s constitutional past still circumscribes the role of the judiciary in constitutionality controlPeer reviewe

Hybrid Law and Culinary Metaphor : Empty Coquetting or Something Else?

A metaphor is not merely a rhetorical device belonging to certain comparatists’ personal writing style, but it is an intrinsic part of the attempt to think comparatively. Essentially, metaphorising as an act of epistemic simplification has a special place in comparative law. This chapter discusses the use of metaphor in comparative law by looking at an example from macro-comparative law by Esin Örücü, who has used culinary terms as metaphors while discussing mixed legal systems. The purpose of the following analysis is to illustrate particular epistemic benefits of using metaphors in comparative legal literature. The chapter concludes that metaphors are helpful because they provide points of understanding by making cognitively sense of foreign legal systems and legal hybridities.Peer reviewe

Book Review of John O. Haley, Law's Political Foundations: Rivers, Rifles, Rice, and Religion (2016)

Book review. Reviewed work: Law's Political Foundations: Rivers, Rifles, Rice, and Religion / John O. Haley. - Cheltenham/Northampton, MA : Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016. Pp. viii, 256. (ISBN 9781785368493).Comparative law and legal history are both fields with their own difficulties and challenges. When they are combined, their challenges can compound. The wider the chronological, geographical, and linguistic scope, the more arduous it becomes. When the account covers systems ranging from Ancient China and Japan to Western Europe and Hispanic America, the challenge appears gargantuan. Haley’s book meets this challenge and is certain to impress. It tells grand historical stories of the development of political systems and their concurrent legal institutions.Peer reviewe

Macro-Comparative Law - Reloaded

This article deals with macro-comparative law by making use of the metaphor of ‘reloading’. Legal family, culture and tradition are regarded as key parts of the conceptual software of comparative law. The metaphor of reloading is used as a device for seeing macro-comparative law in terms of starting afresh without rejecting the old notions. The article shows that, despite differences, these macro-constructs overlap each other even though their methodologies and disciplinary frameworks differ. Hong Kong law, Dutch legal culture and Hindu legal traditions are used as illustrations. It is argued that the key macro-notions can be used simultaneously, and that there is no black-or-white logic requiring only one conceptualization. In short, what needs to be removed is the taxonomical objective of twentieth century comparative law. This means embracing the paradoxicality of the world of law today and accepting commensurable overlapping conceptualizations.Peer reviewe

Constitutional Mentality

Nordic Constitutions have both differences and similarities. This chapter explains certain key differences by reflecting legal-cultural and historical dimensions of living Nordic constitutional law. The underlying idea is to offer a thematic and comparative overview for a non-Nordic reader. First, the general comparative context of Nordic constitutions is explained shortly. Secondly, chosen key feature of each constitution is thematically highlighted. In Finland’s case, the focus is on the role of the parliament’s Constitutional Committee as the guardian of constitutionality. When it comes to Sweden, the focus is on the exceptionally central position of its parliament. Section for Norway explains the central role of the Supreme Court. Discussion on Denmark centres on national sovereignty. In the case of Iceland, the new creative manner of reforming constitution is addressed. Final section speaks of the Nordic experience – or “Nordicness” – and questions its future in the world of expanding judicial review.Peer reviewe