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Conference Announcement: Judicial Review at Herbrew University of Jerusalem

By Lawrence Solum

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Conference: "JUDICIAL REVIEW: WHY, WHERE AND FOR WHOM?"
May 31- June 1, 2009

http://law.huji.ac.il/eng/iruim.asp?cat=1486&in=1485

Here is a description:

Judicial review of legislation is a controversial institution. It is controversial whether we should have it and, if we should have it, why. Advocates and opponents of judicial review design sophisticated arguments for and against it as if these arguments apply to all places and situations equally. Opponents of judicial review challenge its democratic legitimacy while advocates argue that it is essential for the functioning of a thriving liberal democracy. But perhaps the answer to the question of whether and why we need judicial review is that we should have it for different reasons in different places, times and situations. This conference will explore this possibility.

Participants in the conference will explore judicial review of legislation and its rationales from the viewpoint of their respective legal systems. We invite people representing seven jurisdictions belonging to diverse legal traditions and backgrounds (Germany, France, United Kingdom, Israel, Eastern European jurisdictions, International and the US). The main aim of the conference is to identify and discuss the rationale(s) most appropriate for each one of these jurisdictions. We wish to explore from the perspective of each jurisdiction the justification which best explains the legal doctrine in that jurisdiction. We hope to learn from this comparative exercise what rationales underlie the willingness of different legal systems to establish judicial review of legislation and in what ways these rationales influence legal doctrine.

Sunday, May 31 2009
09:00-09:30 Welcome and coffee
09:30-10:45 Prof. Louis Michael Seidman, Georgetown University, "Acontextual Judicial Review"
11:00-12:15 Dr. Rivka Weill, Interdisciplinary Center of Herzliya School of Law, "Sui Generis? The Hybrid Israeli Constitutional Experience"
12:30-14:00 Lunch
14:00-15:15 Prof. Christoph Moellers, Goettingen University, "Report on a Missing Debate: Scope and Legitimacy of Judicial Review in German Constitutional Law"
15:30-16:45 Dr. Oliver Lembcke, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, "Authority and Judgement. The Case of the German Constitutional Court"
17:00-18:15 Prof. Wojciech Sadurski, European University Institute, Florence "Judicial Review in Central and Eastern Europe: Rationales or Rationalizations?"
19:00-20:30 Dinner

Monday, Jun 1 2009
09:00-09:30 Welcome and coffee
09:30-10:45 Mr. Nicholas Barber, University of Oxford, "Reflections on the Nature of Public Law as Found in British Constitutional Scholarship"
11:00-12:15 Prof. Marie Claire Ponthoreau, Montesquieu University - Bordeaux IV, "What are the Justifications for French Judicial Review? A Cultural Approach for a Deep Understanding of National Justifications"
12:30-14:00 Lunch
14:00-15:15 Prof. Eyal Benvenisti, Tel Aviv University, "Toward Global Checks and Balances"
15:30-16:45 Prof. Alon Harel, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, "The Easy Core Case for Judicial Review"
16:45-17:15 Concluding Remarks

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on May 11, 2009 (boomark / email).