From: Dr J.N.E. Varuhas <jnev2@cam.ac.uk>
To: obligations@uwo.ca
Date: 24/09/2013 13:26:51 UTC
Subject: Public Law Conference 2014

Dear List Members,

It is with some trepidation that I am emailing this List on the topic of public law, and specifically to forward an announcement and call for papers for a major public law conference in Cambridge next September 2014.

Before you instinctively press "delete" there are at least two reasons why the announcement will be of interest to List Members.

First, the establishment of this series of biennial public law conferences, of which the 2014 conference will be the first, owes a lot to the great success of the Obligations model. Like the Obligations series the public law series will be a biennial series which brings together academics from across common law jurisdictions, and like Obligations we expect that future conferences will be hosted by different Universities across the common law world; in many ways we see the series as the public law equivalent to Obligations. Indeed, the series may never have been established but for Obligations as the idea for a public law series first arose in a conversation between myself and Richard Hart at Obligations VI at the University of Western Ontario. As with Obligations Hart Publishing Ltd is sponsoring the public law series, and we are very grateful for their support.

Second, in large part owing to the legacy of the Diceyan principle of equality many members of this List research both public and private law and the intersection between the two fields. There are numerous areas where application of expertise by public and private lawyers is needed. There are many recent examples from the UK Supreme Court alone including the cases of Lumba (false imprisonment claims against public officials), Sinaloa Gold (should a law enforcement agency be required to proffer an undertaking as to damages in exchange for grant of a freezing order?), Smith (concurrent human rights and negligence claims against the Ministry of Defence), Faulkner and Rabone (human rights damages claims), and Hayes (rationality principle applied in civil claim). Another area which stands out for inquiry is where private law meets statute, paradigm examples being the Australian Civil Liability Acts, the ACC scheme in New Zealand, statutory regulation of public contracts, and the trend towards statutory provision for civil claims against government to be made via closed material procedures. Many more examples could be given.

The conference convenors would thus welcome submissions from List members which fall within the conference theme.

The formal announcement and call for papers follow below.

Yours sincerely,

Jason Varuhas

 

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Public Law Conference – Call for Papers
15 – 17 September 2014
University of Cambridge
 
In September 2014 the Faculty of Law in the University of Cambridge will host a major international conference on public law. It will be the first in an ongoing series of biennial conferences. The theme of the inaugural Public Law Conference is Process and Substance in Public Law. The conference will bring together scholars, judges and practitioners from a range of public law fields and a variety of common law jurisdictions. The intention is that the Public Law series will become established as a pre-eminent forum for the discussion of public law matters in the common law world. 
 
Academics and doctoral students are invited to submit proposals to present papers addressing the conference theme, broadly construed. Without intending to be prescriptive, examples of topics that would fall within the theme include the interrelationship between legal procedures and substantive law, procedural aspects of substantive obligations, substantive aspects of procedural obligations, the interrelationship between procedural and substantive obligations, various types of processes such as processes regulating constitutional relationships, constitutional reform, and the resolution of grievances, as well as governmental and parliamentary processes. The focus of the conference is on common law jurisdictions.
 
Proposals will be considered by the conference convenors and Advisory Board on the basis of academic merit and fit with the conference theme. Abstracts of no more than 500 words should be submitted to the convenors at publiclawconference@law.cam.ac.uk as soon as possible, and by 31st December 2013 at the very latest. Those accepted to present papers will be required to submit full written papers by 30th June 2014 and to register for the conference in the ordinary way.
 
Our confirmed speakers include leading public lawyers from a range of common law jurisdictions, including Prof Mark Aronson (UNSW), Prof Julia Black (LSE), Prof Peter Cane (ANU), Prof David Dyzenhaus (Toronto), Prof David Feldman (Cambridge), Prof Carol Harlow (LSE), Prof Robert Hazell (UCL), Prof Cora Hoexter (Witwatersrand), Lord Justice Laws (England & Wales Court of Appeal), Prof Janet McLean (Auckland), Prof Jerry Mashaw (Yale), Prof Tony Prosser (Bristol), Prof Richard Rawlings (UCL), Prof Cheryl Saunders (Melbourne), Prof Maurice Sunkin (Essex), and Prof Mark Walters (Queen's Ontario).
 
We are grateful to our principal sponsor, Hart Publishing Ltd, for their generous support of the conference. It is our intention to publish with Hart Publishing Ltd an edited collection of the best papers from the conference.
 
Conference registration is now open. To register and for more information on the conference please visit our website: www.publiclawconference.law.cam.ac.uk. To receive updates on the conference you can follow us on Twitter at @PublicLawConf or subscribe to our email list here: www.publiclawconference.law.cam.ac.uk/contact-us.
 
Professor John Bell, Dr Mark Elliott, Dr Jason Varuhas (Convenors)
Mr Philip Murray (Assistant Convenor)
Centre for Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge
 

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Dr Jason N. E. Varuhas

Junior Research Fellow

Christ's College

University of Cambridge

Website: www.law.cam.ac.uk/people/academic/jne-varuhas/2238