Public Law Issues Research Articles

Continuity and Evolution in Vermeule on Legal Interpretation

Abstract This article is a constructive interpretation of Adrian Vermeule’s thought on legal interpretation, putting his previous work on these issues in conversation with his explicit embrace of the classical legal tradition so prominently on display in Common Good Constitutionalism. What emerges is a picture of Vermeule’s contemporary thinking on interpretation that has an interesting core of continuity, one running concurrently with several significant conceptual and normative evolutions brought about by his more explicit embrace of a classical legal framework. Part I offers a synthesis of Vermeule’s treatment of core questions of legal interpretation pre-Common Good Constitutionalism. Part II begins by outlining Vermeule’s express turn to the classical legal tradition and how this tradition approaches important public law issues linked to interpretation. Part II then proceeds to pick out and elaborate on themes of continuity and evolution. I argue here that while Vermeule’s embrace of the classical legal tradition has involved several significant conceptual and normative shifts in his thinking, this has not involved repudiation of his prior work on legal interpretation. Rather, the thrust and insights of much of his previous public law thought on interpretation retain vibrancy within the explicitly classical framework he has now adopted. Overall, I suggest Common Good Constitutionalism, and the works accompanying and building upon it, can be profitably read as providing a form of retroactive coherence to Vermeule’s long-standing arguments concerning legal interpretation, offering them a unifying conceptual framework. From the perspective of a classical natural law jurist at least, Vermeule’s embrace of the classical tradition provides his extensive body of scholarship in this area a more explicit and robust conceptual and normative anchor.

Public Health Law In Malaysia And The United States: Comparing Current Applications

Background: The main objective of public health law is to pursue the highest possible level of physical and mental health in the population, consistent with the values of social justice. Aims: To elaborate on Malaysia’s public health laws that share unique commonalities with those of the United States of America, due to both countries’ colonial past as part of the British Empire. Methods: Historical review and analysis of current public health law issues in both nations. Results: The United States of America gained full independence from the British Empire on 3 September 1783, while almost three years later, on 11 August 1786, the Union Jack was raised on the island of Pulau Pinang in Malaysia. When the colonies first formed the United States, there was no national public health law; the American colonies adopted the English laws on the control of diseases. This is similar to Pulau Pinang, after the implementation of the Charter of Justice in 1807. Conclusion: Current applications of the law, which include quarantine, sanitation, disease reporting, and vaccination,exhibit interesting similarities as well as differences between the United States and Malaysia.

Has the UK Supreme Court Become More Restrained in Public Law Cases?

In recent years, a number of academics, judges and politicians have noted that the UK Supreme Court has adopted a more restrained approach when it comes to public law than it had done previously. This article assesses the quantitative and qualitative evidence for this apparent conservative turn. It finds that, in a number of important respects, the Court has indeed adopted a more restrained approach to public law issues in recent years. However, conservatism and caution are not apparent across the board, and there are a number of areas in which the approach of the Court has been anything but restrained. Overall, the Court should not be considered ideologically conservative, nor should it be deemed constitutionally supine. Rather, it is most accurate to suggest that the Court is basing its judgments on a vision of the law rooted in the tradition of political constitutionalism.

기후위기 대응과 공법의 역할

The state and local governments are implementing emissions trading systems and carbon neutral policies to reduce greenhouse gases. Nevertheless, the Earth is facing a climate crisis due to the increase in greenhouse gases generated from energy generation, steel and chemical industries, energy in the home and transportation, industrial processes such as cement, agriculture, and waste. The number of cases of youth and future generations filing climate lawsuits in the Constitutional Court and courts regarding the climate crisis is increasing, and the issue of guaranteeing basic climate rights under the Constitution is becoming a social issue.
 Therefore, a public legal response is urgently needed so that the state and local governments can protect the lives, bodies, and property of citizens in order to respond to the climate crisis and achieve sustainable development, and guarantee the right of current and future generations to live in a pleasant environment.
 In this paper, after examining the concept of climate crisis and Korea's climate crisis response legislation, we review legislative precedents and precedents in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and France to find implications for Korea. In addition, the provisions on climate crisis response are stipulated in the Constitution, guaranteeing basic climate rights to protect against damage caused by climate change, the role of the Climate Crisis Response Act, climate crisis response and cooperation through cooperative climate governance, and the freedom of the current generation to respond to the climate crisis. We review the role of public law by discussing emergency declarations and public law issues in response to the crisis of climate change, guaranteeing future generations' temporal climate crisis protection rights, and protecting future generations.
 For climate protection and response to the climate crisis, the Constitution should specify climate change reduction goals, basic climate rights, and cooperative measures to respond to the climate crisis, and legislatively consider the “urgent need” of the climate crisis beyond the concept of climate protection. In addition, in order to ensure equity and fairness due to infringement of basic rights related to the climate crisis, basic climate rights should be guaranteed under the constitution as well as legislative, scientific, and judicial responsibilities. In addition, the Climate Crisis Response Act should be enacted on necessary measures to make the climate crisis effective by public law. The Climate Crisis Response Act shall be guided and complementary in relation to the Building Act, the National Territory Planning Act, the Economic Act, the Disaster Safety Act, etc., and shall prescribe clear legal responsibility and due process for the climate crisis. In addition, climate crisis response requires cooperation by establishing climate governance between the state and local governments, between local governments, and between countries, so climate change reduction technologies and climate crisis response strategies should be shared, and legal countermeasures should be prepared in cooperation with each other. In addition, in order to reasonably allocate the cost burden of the climate crisis, the right to protect the temporal climate crisis should be clearly established legally and systematically to lead a life in a comfortable environment in accordance with the principle of equity and proportionality for current and future generations. The state or local government's climate emergency declaration and emergency plans on climate change crises and risks, administrative measures under executive orders, scientific predictions of climate crises and improve the vulnerability of disasters, and the role and legal responsibility of responding to climate crises should be considered in public law.

정보화 사회의 규제 변화와 공법적 쟁점

Regulation in an information society goes beyond the discretionary choice of regulatory means based on the superior status of the administrative agency, and a new approach is being made by creating regulatory status and regulatory methods through debate and agreement between regulators and regulators. In other words, as a highly authoritative administrative disposition, there is an increasing demand for regulatory methods that realize the basic values of administrative law, the rule of law, and the principle of guaranteeing basic rights without undermining the value of technological development and information use. The demand for a change in regulatory methods has emerged since the early 1990s, but it has been further promoted through the information technology revolution in the 2000s and the expansion of non-face-to-face services in the COVID-19 era in 2020. However, in the information age, service types have atypical, technology-oriented, and international characteristics, and due to network effects, inevitable monopolies that did not exist have appeared, making it difficult to respond with existing regulatory methods. Until recently, it has been noted that both regulators and regulators are increasingly tired of regulation as legislative solutions are used, administrative issues are discussed to enforce regulatory discretion and choice of enforcement measures. Therefore, regulators, regulators, and service users have all criticized the problem of regulatory gaps in some cases, and in other cases, criticized the problem of inappropriate regulations or excessive regulations on the premise of services before new service types appeared. The recent pragmatist discussion in U.S. administrative law is also considered to be important in the study of regulatory theory under our administrative law in that it considers discussions at the administrative, policy, and economic levels in terms of regulatory rationality, predictability, and administrative procedures. In particular, in the United States, formalist law and pragmatist discussions have been combined in the 1920s, and have been strengthened through the Federal Administrative Procedure Act in 1946 and Chevron docrine in 1984, this trend is becoming more important in regulatory theory in the information age. In the case of Korea, as the self-regulation policy for the platform was declared in 2022, discussions on specific self-regulation methods are mainly taking place. Platform services enjoy network effects and strengthen their status as a group that controls and manages data in a situation where market boundaries are unclear, but in Korea, direct regulation centered on laws can shrink or limit the service model. Accordingly, it is thought that the value of securing rationality and predictability in terms of regulatory content, presenting concise and clear regulatory standards in terms of regulatory form, understanding complex contexts in terms of regulatory design, and protecting basic rights of the people in terms of regulatory ideology should be guaranteed. Furthermore, it is thought that continuous research is needed in terms of administrative law regulatory theory on regulations in the information age, such as platforms, which have shown the limitations of competitive legal discussions.

스포츠 뇌 도핑(brain doping)과 인권

The use of tDCS (Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation), a non-invasive and painless brain stimulation technique, could be used in sports as a new form of brain doping. The World Anti-Doping Agency prohibits doping in competition, and brain doping has the potential to be used as a substitute or workaround for traditional doping methods. As brain doping technologies may provide performance enhancement in a similar way to doping athletes with banned substances or other devices, it is necessary to examine the normative implications of brain doping as an advanced technology. This article examines constitutional principles from the perspective of fundamental rights, such as the rule of law and fairness, and how they relate to human rights issues. In order to focus the discussion on the constitutional issue of anti-corruption, the article examines the public law issues of rule of law and fairness, and the human rights issues of equality, mental freedom, and the right to health, in the context of brain doping in athletes, and suggests implications for anti-doping policy. The implications of imposing restrictions on performance enhancement by intervening in the brain may be a matter of limiting an individual's right to self-determination as a form of self-determination in that it may restrict an individual's ability to improve their performance in a variety of ways of their own free will. In order for brain-doping devices to contribute to sporting fairness, it is important to ensure that access to brain-doping devices is equitable among individuals, while minimizing the adverse effects of using the technology and ensuring that athletes are safe from health risks. Guidelines are needed to ensure that devices that have the potential to undermine the fairness of sporting events through brain doping are included on the anti-doping rule's prohibited list and that athletes who use them are suspended from competition, and that underage athletes are not coerced into using brain-doping devices by coaches, managers et al. When tDCS used for brain doping is marketed as a wellness healthcare product, there is a need for consumer protection. Considering that doping may emerge in new ways in line with advances in science and technology, international cooperation and discussions should be carried out with the participation of civil society to ensure that technological advances do not jeopardize the safety of citizens and become a tool for corruption.

Public law issues of increasing the agricultural land area in the Russian Federation in the context of digitalization

The article discusses the problems of developing new methods of transferring unused lands, in particular ownerless and unaccounted lands, into agricultural lands in order to replenish their volume. The relevance of the research subject consists in the fact that agricultural land has the highest value among all categories of land that constitute the land reserves of the Russian Federation (RF).

The right of a person to the secret of correspondence: issues of public law and private law terminology

The article addresses the problems of public law and private law terminology in the field of secret correspondence. There are any differences and conflicts in the application of terms in international legal acts and in the national legislation of Ukraine were revealed. It was found out that the constitutional right of a person to the secrecy of correspondence, phone conversations and correspondence is the only right, which should be called the right to secrecy of correspondence. In the field of public law, a person's right to secrecy of correspondence is protected by establishing prohibitions, forms and measures of responsibility for their violation. In the field of private law, protection of the right to secrecy of correspondence is carried out by defining the positive content of this right and granting a person specific powers to implement it.
 According to the norms of constitutional and criminal legislations, the object of the right to secrecy is the exchange of letters, telephone conversations and correspondence, while in the norms of civil legislation such an object is "correspondence", which covers all types and means of communication used by a person, including telephone conversations, any exchange of letters, etc.
 In the texts of regulatory legal acts, the terms "private life" and "personal life" are used as identical. At the same time, the norms of criminal procedural law establish the «right to communication», which is not found in the norms of civil legislation, nor in the doctrine of private law, where the "right to privacy" is widely used. According to international law, secrecy of correspondence is an element of the right to privacy, but this idea is not embodied in the provisions of the legislation of Ukraine, where the right to secrecy of correspondence is protected as an independent right of a person. The right of a person to secrecy of correspondence in its content is related to the concept of a person's private life and is undoubtedly an element of his private life. Therefore, regardless of the content of the correspondence, the privacy of each person's correspondence must be protected to the same extent as the right to respect for private life is protected.

INTERNATIONAL LAW BEFORE UNITED KINGDOM COURTS: A QUIET REVOLUTION

AbstractIn the 36 years since Francis Mann published Foreign Affairs in English Courts, the engagement of the United Kingdom courts with issues of international law has greatly increased. This article addresses the reasons underlying this trend and identifies four key developments: first, the nature of international law has evolved to embrace individuals as subjects; second, the Human Rights Act 1998 has had a profound influence, often requiring domestic courts to rule on matters of international law in order to give effect to the European Convention on Human Rights; third, in recent decades there has been a growing willingness on the part of courts in the United Kingdom to address and investigate the conduct of foreign States and issues of public international law; and fourth, these developments have been accompanied by a shift in attitudes to the relationship between customary international law and the common law.

A Study on Public Law Issues Surrounding the Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Era of the 4th Industrial Revolution

지능정보사회와 인공지능의 발달로 새로 문제되는 다양한 법적 문제들은 기존의 법체계에서는 논의되기 쉽지 않다는 점에 공감대가 있는 것으로 보인다. 특히 인공지능을 ‘일반적‧일괄적으로’ 법적 주체로 인정하기 위해서는 기존 법체계 등에 관한 패러다임이 획기적으로 변화될 필요가 있을 것이다. 인공지능의 활용은 그 편의성이나 효율성은 물론이고 국가의 영역에서는 그 중립성과 투명성으로 인해 권력남용이나 부패방지와도 연결되는 것으로 가능한 범위에서 긍정적으로 검토될 수 있을 것이라 생각된다. 이상을 바탕으로 본고는 먼저, 기존 법적 논의의 방향 개관, 인공지능 이용의 주체와 관련하여서 국가와 개인을 중심으로 한 공법적 논의들을 개관하고 있는데, 오늘날 인공지능이 나타내는 결과 값은 많은 경우 일정한 데이터 곧, 표현으로 나타나고 있다는 점에서 ‘인공지능 표현’에 관한 공법적 문제도 함께 논의하고 있다. 다음으로, 인공지능 구현 기술을 딥러닝을 중심으로 살펴보고 이를 기반으로 한 법적 규율의 기틀을 도출해보고자 시도하고자 하였다.

Piotr Winczorek – badacz, nauczyciel i przyjaciel

This article was written to commemorate Professor Piotr Winczorek, who passed away on 9 February 2015. He was associated with the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw for over 50 years. However, the article focuses on three dimensions of Professor’s academic activity: those of a researcher, teacher and friend. Piotr Winczorek’s scientific interests evolved. Initially, he studied the functioning of political parties, especially in Poland during the communist regime. In this context, he tried to study various forms of social and political pluralism. In the 1980s, Piotr Winczorek concentrated on the issues of legal theory, developing his own approach to legal realism. After 1989, Professor focused on issues of public law, especially on axiological assumptions and the practice of constitutionalism, particularly the primacy of the constitution in the legal order, the rule of law, the separation of powers, and equality before the law. Piotr Winczorek was also an extraordinary teacher. He conducted classes with students, initiated new subjects and new curricula. He wrote several textbooks and coursebooks for students, including the textbook Introduction to Jurisprudence, which had 14 editions published over the past 30 years. Professor was also known for his many articles and commentaries on constitutional issues. For his younger colleagues, Piotr Winczorek was a true friend. He would invite them on a daily basis to cooperate, do joint research, and publish together. He also showed great civil courage in defending us against bureaucratic or political attacks. His honesty and wisdom is still remembered well beyond the walls of the University of Warsaw.

A Study on Public Law Issues on State Mass Surveillance - Based on discussions and judicial precedents in Europe for the guarantee of basic rights -

바야흐로 디지털 정보기술은 자유와 기본권, 그리고 민주주의를 보증하는 매개체가 된 듯하다. 불과 10여 년 전, 트위터나 페이스북과 같은 소셜 네트워크를 기반으로 중동지역에서 “아랍의 봄”이라는 민주화 물결이 전개된 것이 그 대표적인 예이다. 그러나 근래에 미국이나 유럽국가의 정보기관들이 통신감청의 목적으로 인터넷에 제약 없이 접근하고, 이로 인해 개인의 자유가 중대하게 침해되는 결과가 초래되었음이 밝혀졌다. 이는 정보기관이 개인의 사적인 영역을 소멸시키고 헌법상 보호된 권리를 경시해왔다는 사실을 명백히 보여주고 있다. 국가 안보의 수호를 위한 예외적인 상황 하에서는 법률상으로 예정된 감청조치가 필요불가결하다는 점은 인정된다. 그렇다고 하여 국가가 무제한의 재량을 보유함을 뜻하는 것은 아닐 것이다. 전 세계적으로 발생하고 있는 테러의 위협을 퇴치하는데 적합하다고 여겨지는 수단이라고 해서 모두 다 취할 수 있는 것으로 볼 수는 없기 때문이다. 국가의 보호의무와 관련하여, 인격발현의 보장에 기초가 되는 수단을 선택함에 있어서 국가는 넓은 재량의 여지를 지닌다. 국가에게 특정행위를 강제할 수는 없는 것이다. 물론 그렇다고 하여 국가가 완전히 부작위를 한다거나, 또는 대단히 미흡한 불충분한 조치를 취할 수 있다는 것을 의미하지는 않는다. 다시 말해, 입법자는 사안의 평가와 관련하여 주어지는 넓은 형성의 여지를 행사하면서도, 기본권 보호가 적절히 담보되도록 규범을 제·개정하여야 한다. 외국정보기관의 대단위 감시조치 역시 법의 규율을 받아야한다. 그러나 현실적으로 법질서는 커다란 도전에 직면하고 있는바, 국내법상으로 권리구제가능성은 전무하거나 극히 제한적이라 평가할 만하다. 한편, 디지털 정보처리기술이 급속히 발전함에 따라 국가에 의한 위험탐지와 위험의 제어가능성이 높아지고 있는 것은 사실이다. 동시에 기본권이 침해될 우려가 점점 커지고 있음도 간과되어선 안될 것이다. 무엇보다, 위험의 방지를 위한 사전대비적 정보수집이 완전히 금지되어야 한다는 것은 아니다. 그러나 이러한 수단도 그 한도와 절제를 요하는바 안전보장의 수준을 높여준다고 해서 항상 정당화될 수만은 없다. 현대의 테러위협에 있어서 정보취득을 위한 선제적 사전활동은 불가피하지만, 여기에서도 일정한 한계가 준수되어야 함은 의문의 여지가 없다 할 것이다.

Public health and public law issues for the toxicological risk assessment of chemical mixtures

1. Hernández AF, Tsatsakis AM. Human exposure to chemical mixtures: Challenges for the integration of toxicology with epidemiology data in risk assessment. Food Chem Toxicol. 2017;103:188-193. doi:10.1016/j.fct.2017.03.012 CrossRef Pubmed Google Scholar

Le droit public face aux populismes en Europe: les cas de la Pologne et de la Hongrie

Populism is by no means a legal term, and its conceptual matrix is unclear. Nevertheless, it remains a challenge for Public law, as populist trends challenge the notion of the rule of law and the formal mechanisms for the protection of fundamental rights. The European context illustrates this challenge. In this context, this contribution addresses three points: first, in general terms, the concept of populism is considered in its potential contacts with Public law issues; second, the cases of Poland and Hungary over the last decade are developed, highlighting their contexts and the way in which political and legal institutions, and more specifically constitutional courts, have been able to respond to populist trends. Finally, a concluding point discusses the lessons that can be drawn from these European cases, not only with regard to Poland and Hungary, but more broadly at the European and international levels. The article permits to identify the shortcomings of the instruments for the protection of fundamental rights, which are also the shortcomings of a still incomplete European Public law.

Pravni položaj žene u Dušanovom zakoniku sa posebnim osvrtom na vlastelinke

Dušan’s Code continues the earlier regulation of legal relations following the local legal tradition, paying a lot of attention to the legalization of social stratification: determining the legal position of different categories of the population in different ways. In addition to their social status, their sex also had a great influence on their position: through the regulation of the general position of the „poor spinner” and the procedural one of the „poor woman”, as well as through other provisions on the legal position of women. At the opposite end of the social spectrum are female members of the ruling class – the noblewomen. They are found especially in the matter of inheritance law, less so in criminal and other branches of law. In addition to the analysis of the rules that apply to them, the paper will also address the specifics of the application of other, „neutral” rules to the status of women in Dušan’s empire, as well as those concerning the „Lady Empress”, to which certain issues of public law are related. Finally, conclusions will be drawn on the legal status of (noble)women in the Serbian Empire, as well as their placement in the context of the rights of the Nemanjić Serbia.

Protection of intellectual property rights in the conditions of innovative development of countries

The article deals with practical problems of application and use of reservations to international treaties by states. The issue ofreservations to treaties is one of the most complex of all issues of public international law. By means of a reservation, the state expressesits will by a unilateral act in order to exclude or change the legal effect of certain articles or provisions of an international treaty as toitself. In case of reservations under one international treaty, a number of other additional agreements are allegedly established, whichcreate different legal regimes.In the context of the positive influence of international law on the expansion of both international relations and domestic law ofstates, the institution of reservations in the law of international treaties is becoming increasingly important. Various aspects of the problemof reservations to international treaties are constantly the subject of research by both domestic and foreign scholars and practicinglawyers in international law.Modern state practice shows that when concluding multilateral agreements, the interests of the subjects of international law donot always coincide, and in this regard, the right to make reservations is an important means of securing them.Many attempts have been made to challenge the sovereign right of states to make reservations to international treaties. Such statementswere made at the UN Commission on International Law and at the Vienna Conference during the discussion of the reservation.It was argued that the reservations destroyed the integrity of the agreement in the international treaty (French lawyer A. Gro), that theymade illusory the universality of the treaty (Italian lawyer R. Ago). It has been suggested that the reservation be valid only if it is accep -ted by two-thirds of the participating States in the conference that adopted the treaty. There was even the idea of creating a special mecha nism that would determine the compatibility of reservations with the object and purpose of the treaty. However, all these propo -sals did not receive the support of the majority of participants in the Vienna Conference.It is now clear that a number of provisions of the Vienna Convention, due to their ambiguity, create many difficulties in the applicationof the reservation regime, in addition, certain aspects of the legal regime of reservations are left out of consideration of legalregu lation. The legal consequences of accepting reservations, the content of the condition of compatibility of the reservation with theobject and purpose of the international treaty remain unclear; the possibility of applying the rules relating to reservations to internationalhuman rights treaties, etc.

Micronations: A lacuna in the law

Abstract Around 100 active micronations exist across the globe. Led by committed and eccentric individuals, these aspirant or wannabe states assert their claims to sovereignty in myriad ways. In dressing in the language of statehood, they challenge understandings of, and approaches to, international legal personality. In this article we provide the first legal survey of micronations. We develop a conceptual framework to understand what it means to be a micronation, explore their various forms, and analyze key public law issues. Our survey reveals that, although public law has not engaged with this phenomenon, states respond to the assertion of sovereignty by micronations in both benign and violent ways.

The first binding treaty on business and human rights: a deconstruction of the EU’s negotiating experience along the lines of institutional incoherence and legal theories

ABSTRACT When the UN Human Rights Council initiated negotiations towards the first international legally binding instrument for the accountability of transnational business activities, EU Member States opposed it, and EU institutions themselves endeavoured to obstruct it by making it conditional upon the widening of its scope, as to cover all domestic companies, too. This move, phrased in human-rights terms, might rather account for the EU's reluctance to have its subsidiaries in developing countries compete with domestic businesses subject to less rigorous due-diligence standards (and thus, lower labour costs). Developing countries replicated that human dignity resides in countries not being imposed harmful developmental trajectories for market-competition purposes, and in indigent workers not being prevented from seeking survival means in domestic employment. Mentioned stalemate exposed frictions between different EU institutions, and evoked issues of both EU law and public international law, including: competence demarcation between Brussels and Member States; 'extraterritoriality' of EU obligations in (negotiating) foreign policy; responsibility of non-state actors. Furthermore, these negotiations unearthed the problematic 'identity' of human-rights policymaking, in its intersection with the concrete needs of its addressees. The EU has risked to either disrupt the initiative, or lose sight of the stances of this project's actual stakeholders: the poorer.

Kulick, Andreas/Goldhammer, Michael (Hrsg.): Der Terrorist als Feind? – Personalisierung im Polizei- und Völkerrecht

The ZaöRV has been published since 1929 under the auspices of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg. Its English name is Heidelberg Journal of International Law (HJIL). The journal is a forum for discussing fundamental and current issues of public international law, European Union law, comparative public law, and occasionally topics in the domestic public law of EU member states and beyond. Its ambition is to publish contributions by authors from all over the world, with a wide gamut of scholarly methods and outlooks. The journal is bilingual (English and German). All German pieces are made visible to that audience by their English abstracts and translated titles.

Casey, Christopher A.: Nationals Abroad: Globalization, Individual Rights, and the Making of Modern International Law (2020)

The ZaöRV has been published since 1929 under the auspices of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg. Its English name is Heidelberg Journal of International Law (HJIL). The journal is a forum for discussing fundamental and current issues of public international law, European Union law, comparative public law, and occasionally topics in the domestic public law of EU member states and beyond. Its ambition is to publish contributions by authors from all over the world, with a wide gamut of scholarly methods and outlooks. The journal is bilingual (English and German). All German pieces are made visible to that audience by their English abstracts and translated titles.