Public Law Discussion Group
About the Group
The Public Law Discussion Group provides a lively focus of discussion of issues of current interest in public law. It is open to faculty members and graduate students and usually meets at lunchtime over coffee and sandwiches. We aim to provide an informal focus for discussion of new developments and issues of current interest, both for the purposes of teaching and research. Staff and students in related disciplines are also encouraged to attend any of our events. Generally, discussion is opened by a brief introductory paper of around thirty minutes in length. This is followed by a chaired discussion during which the audience can ask the speaker questions. Over the past year papers have been given by guest speakers from around the world. We welcome any enquiries including requests to speak, ideas for future speaks, and general queries. Please feel free to browse the “termcards”, and the “papers and downloads”. Contact information is also listed on this page.
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Convenors: Paolo Ronchi, Stephen Dimelow
Senior member: Aileen Kavanagh
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The work of the Public Law Discussion Group is made possible by the generosity of the following sponsors: 
Recent papers and other downloads
Forthcoming Group Events
May 2013
Thursday 30 May 2013 Week 6
- Independent Reviewers of Anti-Terrorism Laws as Effective Oversight Mechanisms: Australia and the UK Compared
- Speaker: Jessie Blackbourn, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UNSW
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
June 2013
Tuesday 4 June Week 7
- The Coherence of the Doctrine of Legitimate Expectations
- Speaker: Dr Farrah Ahmed and Dr Adam Perry, Melbourne Law School and University of Aberdeen, School of Law, respectively
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
Previous Group Events
May 2013
Friday 24 May 2013
- A Panel on Dignity in Law
- Postponed
Speaker: Dr Justine Pila, Dr Alan Bogg, and Dr Tarun Khaitan, Oxford Law Faculty
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
Monday 20 May
- Selective Conscientious Objection: Philosophical and Conceptual Doubts in Light of Israeli Case Law
- Cancelled
Speaker: Dr Yossi Nehushtan, Haim Striks Law School, Keele Law School
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
Wednesday 8 May
- What is the True Face of Canadian Convention Refugee Adjudication? (with some additional comments about the United States)
- Speaker: Professor Michael J Churgin, Raybourne Thompson Centennial Professor, University of Texas at Austin, School of Law
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
Thursday 2 May
- Dimensions of Privacy
- Cancelled
Speaker: Dr Kirsty Hughes, Fellow and Turpin-Lipstein Lecturer in Law at Clare College, Cambridge
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
February 2013
Monday 18 February
- Judicial Review in a Federal System: The Example of the U.S. Supreme Court's Struggle with National Versus State Powers in Matters of Criminal Law
- Speaker: Professor John S. Baker, Jr., Visiting Fellow, Oriel College; Professor Emeritus, The Law School, Louisiana State University
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 13:00
Friday 15 February
- A Panel Discussion of 'The Global Model of Constitutional Rights' by Kai Moller
- Speaker: Dr Kai Moller, LSE; Dr George Letsas, UCL; Professor Mattias Kumm, NYU/EUI/WZB Berlin
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 16:45
Friday 1 February
- Declarations of incompatability, inapplicability and invalidity: rights, remedies and the aftermath
- Change of time
Speaker: The Hon. Mr. Justice Gerard Hogan, High Court of Ireland
Oxford Law Faculty The Cube at 13:00
January 2013
Tuesday 22 January
- The Nature of Rationality Review
- Speaker: Professor Paul Craig, Oxford Law Faculty, St John's College
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 17:00
Thursday 17 January
- The Reformation of English Administrative Law? 'Rights', Rhetoric and Reality
- Change of venue
Speaker: Dr Jason NE Varuhas, Junior Research Fellow in Law, Christ's College, Cambridge
Oxford Law Faculty Seminar Room D at 17:00
November 2012
Tuesday 27 November 2012
- The Transnationalisation of Counter-Terrorism Law: A Challenge to Law and to Legal Research Methodology?
- Speaker: Dr Cian Murphy, Lecturer in Law, King's College London
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 17:00
Friday 16 November
- Judging Social Rights
- Speaker: Dr Jeff King, Senior Lecturer in Law, UCL
Oxford Law Faculty The Cube at 17:00
October 2012
Tuesday 30 October
- Reforming the House of Lords: the Parliament Acts, Jackson, and the passage of 'constitutional' bills
- Change of venue
Speaker: Dr Chris Ballinger, Exeter College, Oxford
Oxford Law Faculty Seminar Room F at 17:15
June 2012
Thursday 7 June
- Free Speech in the US and the UK: Some Invidious Comparisons
- Speaker: Professor James Weinstein, Amelia D. Lewis Professor of Constitutional Law, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law Arizona State University
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
May 2012
Thursday 31 May
- Inventing the "Traditional Concept" of Sex Discrimination
- Speaker: Professor Cary Franklin, Assistant Professor, The University of Texas School of Law at The University of Texas at Austin
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
Tuesday 29 May
- Republican Theory and Federalism
- Speaker: Dr Hoi Kong, Assistant Professor Faculty of Law, McGill University
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
Thursday 17 May
- International law as a tool for judicial freedom
- Speaker: Ms. Veronika Fikfak, Currently submitting her doctoral thesis at the University of Oxford, Post-Doc at Sciences Po, Paris
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room
Thursday 3 May
- The theoretical foundations of public authority tort liability
- Speaker: Professor Peter Cane, Professor of Law, ANU and Joint A. L. Goodhart Visiting Professor in Legal Science 2011-2012, Cambridge
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
March 2012
Wednesday 14 March
- Democracy and the Justice-seeking Constitution
- Speaker: Professor Larry Sager, Alice Jane Drysdale Sheffield Regents Chair at The University of Texas School of Law at Austin
Oxford Law Faculty The Cube at 11:30
Thursday 8 March
- Smoke and Mirrors: the Human Rights Act and the impact of the Strasbourg case law
- Speaker: Richard Clayton QC, Barrister, 4-5 Gray's Inn Square and UK Representative to the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional law
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
Thursday 1 March
- Title to be confirmed
- Speaker: TBC
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 16:00
February 2012
Thursday 2 February
- Proportionality and incommensurability in human rights cases
- Speaker: Professor Timothy Endicott, Fellow, Balliol College, Professor of Legal Philosophy and Dean, Law Faculty
Oxford Law Faculty The Cube at 12:45
January 2012
Thursday 26 January
- Revisiting `The Coalition and the Constitution'
- Speaker: Professor Vernon Bogdanor CBE, FBA, Research Professor at the Institute for Contemporary History, former Professor of Government at Oxford University
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
November 2011
Thursday 24 November 2011
- The equality duty case law in administrative law - Too hot, too cold, or just right?
- Speaker: Dr. Tom Hickman, Blackstone Chambers
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 16:30
Wednesday 2 November
- The Partial Constitutionalisation of Equality
- Speaker: Colm O'Cinneide, Reader in Laws at UCL
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
October 2011
Thursday 20 October
- Proportionality: transatlantic perspectives
- Speaker: Professor Denise Réaume, Professor at University of Toronto - Faculty of Law and Visiting Professor, Oxford Law Faculty
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
June 2011
Thursday 23 June
- Same-Sex Marriage and Adoption in the European Court of Human Rights
- Speaker: Professor Robert Wintemute, Professor of Human Rights Law, School of Law, King's College London
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
Thursday 2 June
- Towards a Legal Constitution: One more step
- Speaker: Dr. Tarunabh Khaitan, Penningtons Student in Law, Christ Church
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
May 2011
Thursday 19 May
- Bringing Rights Back Home: should the UK consider leaving the jurisdiction of the ECtHR?
- Speaker: Dr Michael Pinto-Duschinsky and Dr Liora Lazarus
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 16:00
Thursday 5 May
- Debating Social Rights
- Speaker: Professor Conor Gearty and Dr. Virginia Mantouvalou, Professor of Human Rights Law at LSE and Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Leicester, respectively
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
Tuesday 3 May
- Courts and Constitutions
- Change of venue
Speaker: Professor Larry Sager, Dean of the The University of Texas School of Law at The University of Texas at Austin
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
February 2011
Friday 25 February
- The language of eternity - the French Constitutional Court and the issue of 'unconstitutional constitutional amendments
- Speaker: Professor Denis Baranger, Université Paris II - Panthéon-Assas
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
Thursday 10 February
- The Negotiable Constitution
- Speaker: Dr. Grégoire Webber, Lecturer in Law, LSE
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
January 2011
Thursday 27 January
- Religious Organisations and Public law: European Perspectives
- Speaker: Professor Norman Doe, Professor of Public Law, Cardiff Law School - Director of the Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff Law School - Visiting Fellow at Trinity College, Oxford
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
November 2010
Friday 26 November 2010
- The Role Of Women In Muslim Legal Institutions
- Speaker: Dr. Pascale Fournier , Associate Professor and Vice-Dean Research at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law (Civil Law Section)
Manor Road Social Sciences Building Seminar Room F at 13:00
Thursday 4 November
- The Changing Face of Parliamentary Sovereignty
- Speaker: Dr. Alison Young, Dr. Nick Barber, Senior Law Tutor at Hertford College, Senior Law Fellow at Trinity College, respectively
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 13:00
October 2010
Thursday 21 October
- Amateur Operatics: Strengthening the Parliamentary Protection of Human Rights
- Speaker: Dr. Jonathan Morgan, Fellow and Tutor in Law at St. Catherines College
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 13:00
June 2010
Wednesday 9 June
- Special Advocates, National Security, Control Orders, and the Courts
- Speaker: Prof. Lucia Zedner, Dr. Aileen Kavanagh, Prof. Victor Tadros, Murray Hunt, Martin Chamberlain, Corpus Christ College, Oxford St. Edmund Hall, Oxford Warwick University Barrister (Matrix Chambers), and Legal Advisor to Joint Committee on Human Rights, Special Advocate (Brick Court Chambers)
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 1230
Thursday 3 June
- The appointment of judges and the relevance of a judge's background and ideology
- Speaker: Hon Michael Kirby, High Court of Australia
Oxford Law Faculty Law Senior Common Room at 1230
May 2010
Wednesday 26 May
- Amateur Operatics: The Realisation of Parliamentary Protection of Civil Liberties
- Cancelled
Speaker: Dr. Jonathan Morgan , St Catherines College, Oxford
Oxford Law Faculty Law Senior Common Room at 1230
Wednesday 12 May
- The Canadian ‘Implied Bill of Rights’ and Freedom of Expression under English Common Law
- Speaker: Mr Han-ru Zhou, McGill University and Worcester College, Oxford
Oxford Law Faculty Law Senior Common Room at 1230
Wednesday 5 May
- Turning the European Convention on its head? Freedom of Expression, Academic Social Inquiry and the UK’s Data Protection Act (1998)
- Speaker: Dr. David Erdos, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies and Balliol College, Oxford
Oxford Law Faculty Law Senior Common Room at 1230
April 2010
Wednesday 28 April
- Title to be confirmed
- Cancelled
Speaker: Dr. David Erdos, Balliol College, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford
Oxford Law Faculty Law Senior Common Room at 1230
March 2010
Thursday 4 March
- Expert Panel on "Jewish Faith Schools" Case - JFS [2009] UKSC 15
- Speaker: Prof. John Finnis, Prof Sandra Fredman, Prof. Christopher McCrudden, Dr. Nicholas Bamforth, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford
Oxford Law Faculty Law Senior Common Room, Law Faculty at 1330
February 2010
Wednesday 17 February
- Courts of unlimited jurisdiction?
- Speaker: Professor Timothy Endicott, Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford
Oxford Law Faculty Law Senior Common Room at 12:30
Wednesday 3 February
- Transparency and Administrative Law: A Critical Evaluation
- Speaker: Dr. Liz Fisher, Reader in Environmental Law, Corpus Christi, Oxford
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 1230
June 2009
Thursday 11 June 2009
- Judicial Review and Merits Review: Comparing Administrative Adjudication by Courts and Tribunals
- Speaker: Professor Peter Cane, Australian National University, Visiting Fellow, University of Oxford
Oxford Law Faculty SCR at 12:30
May 2009
Wednesday 27 May
- Citizens, information, and the state
- Speaker: Professor Carol Harlow, London School of Economics and Political Science
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:00
March 2009
Wednesday 4 March
- How Good is a Bill of Rights? - the Australian Debate
- Speaker: Professor Tom Campbell, Charles Sturt University
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:00
February 2009
Wednesday 18 February
- Imperfect union or imperfect federalism? Or something perfect in the middle?
- Speaker: John Guess
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:00
Wednesday 4 February
- A European Res Publica
- Speaker: Dr. Ola Zetterquist, Gothenburg University, Sweden.
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 1315
January 2009
Wednesday 21 January
- Title to be confirmed
- Cancelled
Oxford Law Faculty
2009
November 2008
Friday 28 November 2008
- Common Law Constitutionalism
- Speaker: Dr Margaret Kelly, Macquarie University
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 13:00
Wednesday 26 November
- Judicial Recusal in the Common Law World
- Speaker: Justice Grant Hammond, New Zealand Court of Appeal
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:00
Wednesday 12 November
- The crime of Terrorism: What is it and do we need it?
- Speaker: Michel Paradis - Defense Counsel
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:00
2008
November 2007
Wednesday 28 November 2007
- Constitutional Conventions
- Speaker: Nick Barber, Trinity College, Oxford University
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:00
October 2007
Wednesday 31 October
- The New Commission on Equality and Human Rights
- Speaker: Dr. Nick OBrien, Disability Rights Commission
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 13:00
Wednesday 17 October
- The meaning of "public authority" under the Human Rights Act 1998: A critical assessment of the YL decision
- Speaker: Alison Young and others, University of Oxford
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:00
November 2006
Wednesday 29 November 2006
- Administrative Law in Multi-Level Orders: An EU and US Comparison
- Speaker: Dr. Catherine Donnelly, Wadham College, Oxford
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room, St. Cross Building at 12:00
Wednesday 15 November
- Understanding the Constitutional Status and Impact of the HRA 1998
- Speaker: Mr. Nicholas Bamforth, Queen's College, Oxford
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room, St. Cross Building at 12:00
October 2006
Thursday 19 October
- Rogers, Rationing, Reasons and Rationality
- Speaker: Dr. Keith Syrett, Senior Lecturer, Bristol University
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room, St. Cross Building at 12:30
March 2006
Wednesday 8 March
- Positive Duties to Assist the Destitute under Art.3 ECHR: Limbuela and beyond
- Speaker: Professor Sandra Fredman, Exeter College
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
February 2006
Wednesday 22 February
- Human Rights, the EU, the ECHR and the Bosphorus Case
- Speaker: Professor Paul Craig, St John's College
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
Wednesday 8 February
- "Parliamentary Sovereignty and the House of Lords in Jackson"
- Speaker: Richard Ekins, Balliol College
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 12:30
June 2004
Friday 4 June 2004
- Whither Oxford Public Interest Law? Notes for future directions
- Speaker: Kaveh Moussavi
Exeter College Upper common room at 1-2
May 2004
Friday 21 May
- The Private Finance Initiative Re-visited
- Speaker: Mark Freedland
Exeter College Upper common room at 1-2
