Some featured events are listed below. For a full listing of CPL events in 2013 please refer to the events calendar.
The Thirteenth Sir David Williams Lecture: 'The Relationship Between the European Court of Human Rights and National Constitutional Courts?' Jean-Paul Costa
On Friday 15th February 2013, the Centre for Public Law held the thirteenth in the series of lectures in honour of Sir David Williams. The lecture, entitled "The Relationship Between the European Court of Human Rights and National Constitutional Courts?" was given by Judge Jean-Paul Costa, former President of the European Court of Human Rights.
Public Law Seminars (Faculty Members and Visitors, Ph.D students and LLM Public Law students only)
Thursday 31st January: Christopher Forsyth (University of Cambridge) gave a seminar entitled "Validity and Discretion".
"In this seminar, Christopher Forsyth will consider the role of judicial discretion both in the remedial sphere and in granting or denying permission to apply for judicial review in the light of recent cases confirming that invalid acts are void. "
Thursday 14th February: Veronika Fikfak (University of Cambridge) gave a seminar entitled "The End of the Boundary Between Domestic and International Law?".
"Traditionally, international law is taught as separate from domestic. For international law to be relevant in the domestic context, it has to be made 'part' of domestic law. When and under what conditions this will occur is left for the legislature and the executive. Once the political branches decide to bring international rules into domestic law, international rules form 'part' of domestic, yet the law that is applied is of domestic nature, not international. The distinction between the domestic and international sphere is therefore rigidly maintained. In response to this traditional view, which gives great power to the political branches, the presentation will show how the recent practice of domestic courts has put the boundary between the international and the domestic under question and asserted courts as primary organs giving force to international law."
Thursday 28th February: Nicky Padfield (University of Cambridge) gave a seminar entitled "Shifting the Paradigm From Sentencing to the Sentence: A Growing Field for Public Lawyers?".
""Sentencing" has traditionally been seen as something done by criminal judges, to be understood by criminal lawyers. In recent years, much of Nicky Padfield's writing has focused on "back door sentencing": administrative recall, Parole Board decision-making etc. But the terms "front door" and "back door" sentencing mask the importance of recognising that sentencing is an on-going process. Crucial decisions are taken throughout the sentence by "the administration". This paper will explore the implications of this shift in focus for both practitioner and academic lawyers. "
Thursday 14th March: Lorne Neudorf (University of Cambridge) gave a seminar entitled "Judicial Independence in Pakistan".
"This seminar considers the topic of judicial independence in Pakistan. Specifically it looks at the Pakistan Supreme Court’s development of a constitutional law doctrine of judicial independence to control interactions between the judiciary and the other branches of government. How is this conception of judicial independence informed by Pakistan’s political context? What lessons does it hold for better understanding the idea of an independent judiciary?"
Thursday 2nd May: Judge Malcolm Wallis (Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa) gave a seminar entitled "Patrolling the Boundaries".
"Identifying the boundaries between legitimate judicial decision-making and trespass into the realm of the legislature and executive is a universal problem. The adoption of a Constitution that is the supreme law, containing a Bill of Rights that includes an extensive array of socio-economic rights, confronts judges in South Africa with a range of challenges in this area. In the seminar Judge Wallis will explore these challenges and ask whether it is possible to identify a principled basis for delimiting the judicial role."
Thursday 9th May: Professor Spyridon Flogaitis (Goodhart Visiting Professor, Cambridge) gave a seminar entitled "The administration of justice in the United Nations and the United Nations Administrative Tribunal: The case of Sokoloff and its contribution to the development of international administrative law".
"The United Nations, as with every other international organization, needs to have a comprehensive and justice-giving grievance system, otherwise it risks to lose immunity towards the judicial system of the host nation. The United Nations Administrative Tribunal (now United Nations Appeals Tribunal) was created in the early days of the Organization, composed of 7 judges, elected by the General Assembly. The case of Sokoloff dealt with an important theme of due process in the frame of action of the UNDP, and the Tribunal after having decided the case on the solid base of the positive law of that Organization, created a general principle of law transcending the law of Organizations composing the UN group."
Thursday 23rd May: Professor Maurice Sunkin (University of Essex) and Varda Bondy (Research Director, Public Law Project) gave a seminar entitled "Assessing the effects of Judicial Review: Realities and Myths".
"The University of Essex and the Public Law Project are currently engaged in a Nuffield funded project exploring the value and effects of judicial review in England and Wales. Given current discussions, including calls by the government to reform judicial review and legal aid relating to judicial review proceedings, gaining an independent empirically based understanding of the role and effects of judicial review has rarely, if ever, been more important. In this presentation we shall place the current research in the context of proposed reforms and discuss some of the emerging findings of research. The presentation will be of work in progress at this stage."
Friday 31st May: Professor Carol Harlow (LSE) and Professor Richard Rawlings (UCL) gave a seminar entitled "Superglue? The place of administrative procedures in European integration".
"Integrationists have focused mainly on courts as a motor for integration and also as transnational integration mechanisms. Professors Harlow and Rawlings argue that, with the tendency towards fragmented and network governance, convergence via administrative procedures is equally, if not more, effective."
