Law Commons^™

Recent Attacks On Judicial Independence: The Vulgar, The Systemic, And The Insidious, James E. Moliterno, Peter Čuroš

Scholarly Articles

This article offers an opening to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) situation and attacks against the judiciary in this region since 2010. The focus is not primarily on historical path dependence like the rest of this issue. Instead, the focus aims at the nature of attacks on the judiciary. Such attacks have appeared in CEE and the US in recent years. Its interest lies in explaining similar patterns visible in the judiciaries of CEE. Particularly, it looks at the current conditions in the Czech judiciary, political interventions in Poland since 2015 and in Hungary since 2010, and undermining of trust …

Judicial Independence And Accountability: Withstanding Political Stress, Leah Wortham

Scholarly Articles

For democracy and the rule of law to function and flourish, important actors in the justice system need sufficient independence from politicians in power to act under rule of law rather than political pressure. The court system must offer a place where government action can be reviewed, challenged, and, when necessary, limited to protect constitutional and legal bounds, safeguard internationally-recognized human rights, and prevent departures from a fair and impartial system of law enforcement and dispute resolution. Courts also should offer a place where government officials can be held accountable. People within and outside a country need faith that court …

Expanding And Strengthening Legal Clinical Education In Ukraine, Leah Wortham

Scholarly Articles

On June 21, 2017, I submitted a report to USAID Nove Pravosuddya Justice Sector Reform Program (New Justice) titled A Role for Regulations, Standards, Best Practices, and Monitoring in Building Strong Clinical Legal Education Programs. That report centered on an analysis of three documents: (1) the Draft Model Regulation on Legal Clinic of a Higher Educational Institution as posted by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science (MOE) on April 19, 2017; (2) the Standards for Legal Clinics Functioning in Ukraine developed by the Association of Legal Clinics of Ukraine (ALCU) (hereafter Standards); (3) a draft instrument to monitor …

Germany's German Constitution, Russell A. Miller

Scholarly Articles

Comparative lawyers, working with blunt taxonomies such as “legal families,” have been satisfied with characterizing Germany as representative or a member of the “Germanic-Roman” law tradition. The life of the Federal Republic’s post-war legal culture, however, reveals a richly more complicated story. The civil law tradition, with its emphasis on abstract conceptualism and codification, remains dominant. But it has had to accommodate a new, vigorous constitutionalism that bears many of the traits of the common law tradition, including judicial supremacy and a form of case law. This is the encounter of discrete legal traditions within a particular legal system that …

A Role For Regulations, Standards, Best Practices And Monitoring In Enhancing Quality In Clinical Legal Education Programs, Leah Wortham

Scholarly Articles

This report analyzes and makes recommendations regarding three related documents: the Draft Model Regulation on Legal Clinic of a Higher Educational Institution as posted by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science on April 19, 2017 (hereafter Regulation); the Standards for Legal Clinics Functioning in Ukraine developed by the Association of Legal Clinics of Ukraine (hereafter Standards); and an instrument to monitor law school clinics being developed by the Association (hereafter Monitoring Instrument). The report also makes recommendations about how the Association Legal Clinics of Ukraine (hereafter ALCU or Association) might be strengthened to enhance its impact in building strong …

Germany Vs. Europe: The Principle Of Democracy In German Constitutional Law And The Troubled Future Of European Integration, Russell A. Miller

Scholarly Articles

This Article introduces the Demokratieprinzip. In Part II, I begin by more fully documenting the Euro-skeptical turn in Germany's relationship with Europe, paying particular attention to the central role played by the Constitutional Court's interpretation of the Demokratieprinzip. Part III, in four subparts, provides a doctrinal introduction to the principle of democracy. First, I map the principle's bases in the text of the German Grundgesetz (Basic Law or Constitution). Second, I present the gloss the Constitutional Court has given the principle, making special reference to the Court's recent decisions involving challenges to Germany's participation in measures seeking to advance European …

Régime Des Cultes Et Liberté Religieuse En Europe: Relectures Américaines, Robert A. Destro

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

‘Mixed’ Constitutions: Product Of An East-Central European Constitutional Melting Pot, Rett R. Ludwikowski

Scholarly Articles

Part I of this Article discusses the difficulties involved in attempting to classify the new constitutions using traditional criteria. Part II examines the processes involved in the adoption of the various components of existing constitutional models into the constitutions of the East-Central European states, including separate analysis of the distributions of power, the structures of the legislatures, the electoral systems, the systems of governance and mechanisms of judicial enforcement provided by these instruments. Finally, Part III makes observations and draws conclusions regarding the processes examined in Part II.

Supremacy And Integrity: Member-State Law As A Limiting Principle In The United States And The European Union, William J. Wagner

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Fundamental Constitutional Rights In The New Constitutions Of Eastern And Central Europe, Rett R. Ludwikowski

Scholarly Articles

The goal of this article is to review the efforts of the drafters. This study analyzes the process of drafting the new bills of rights against the background of the Western experience. The paper consists of two parts. The first examines the genesis of American and European constitutional protection of human rights, including the socialist concept of the bill of rights. The second is an analysis of basic constitutional rights as provided in several new constitutions and constitutional drafts of the countries of former Soviet dominance.

The article also examines the actual records of these countries in human rights protection. …