Call for Papers--Conference on Constitutional History: Comparative Perspectives--Bologna, September 14-15, 2023

Jason Mazzone

Call for Papers

Constitutional History: Comparative Perspectives

Bologna, Italy

September 14-15, 2023

An international conference sponsored by:

• University of Illinois College of Law
• University of Bologna Department of Legal Studies
• Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development (Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe – University of Bologna)

Paper proposals are invited for the Fifth Illinois-Bologna conference on Constitutional History: Comparative Perspectives. The conference will be held in Bologna at the Department of Legal Studies of the University of Bologna on September 14-15, 2023.  

The conference keynote speaker will be Professor Mirosław Granat, former Justice of the Constitutional Court of Poland.  

For 2023, the focus of the conference is Landmark Judgments. 

Landmark judgments are foundational decisions that, rather than merely resolving a concrete case, set a key precedent, introduce a major legal principle or concept, or substantially impact the trajectory of the law. Such judgments, typically issued by Supreme Courts and Constitutional Courts, are found throughout the world. Examples include Marbury v. Madison (1803) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954) in the United States; Reference re Secession of Quebec (1998) in Canada; Décision Liberté d'association (1971) in France;  the Lüth Judgment (1958) in Germany; and S v Makwanyane and Another (1995) in South Africa. 

Landmark judgments in constitutional cases invite numerous questions that can benefit from comparative analysis. How do landmark judgments become landmark? What is their history? What determines their trajectory? What kinds of influence do these leading cases exert at the domestic level? When, how and to what extent do landmark judgments exert influence in other jurisdictions? Do landmark judgments gain different meaning when they travel abroad? Who decides whether a case qualifies as a landmark? Do some jurisdictions produce more landmark judgments than others? How easy is it to challenge, overturn or displace a landmark decision? Can a ruling be a landmark if it is widely perceived as erroneous?  What is the role of landmark judgments outside of the courts, in the political sphere and in society more generally? 

We invite papers that consider these and related questions about landmark judgments in constitutional cases and that can serve as the basis for a discussion among scholars interested in exploring landmarks from a comparative perspective. Papers that focus on a single jurisdiction—and even a single case—are welcome as are papers that examine landmark judgments from multiple jurisdictions.   

Scholars interested in presenting a paper at the conference should first e-mail a title and summary of the proposed paper along with a CV to Professor Jason Mazzone at mazzonej[@]illinois.edu. There is no word limit for the proposals but proposals in the range of 500-1,000 words are typical. Proposals received by April 1, 2023, will receive priority. After that date, submitted proposals will be considered if space remains. 

For those whose abstracts are accepted, draft papers will be required for circulation to other participants three weeks prior to the conference.

Subject to the usual requirements of peer review, papers from the conference will be published as a single volume by Brill. Authors who accept an invitation to present a paper at the conference must agree to have the paper included in the published volume. Additional information about length and formatting requirements for the final versions of the papers will be provided to authors. 

Conference participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation expenses. 

Organizing Committee:

Jason Mazzone Albert E. Jenner, Jr. Professor of Law and Director, Program in Constitutional Theory, History and Law, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Justin O. Frosini Associate Professor of Comparative Public Law, Bocconi University; Director, Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development

Francesco Biagi Associate Professor of Comparative Public Law, University of Bologna Department of Legal Studies; Research Fellow, Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development