Unwritten Constitutional Norms and Principles Project

🚨 Exciting news for public law scholars: @icon-s.bsky.social ICON•S Annual Conference 2026 will be hosted in Dublin @ucdschooloflaw.bsky.social Centre for Constitutional Studies ⬇️

🎉 The ICON-S 2025 Annual Conference kicks off today-we’re excited to see so many important conversations in public law taking place! Best of luck to our project members who will be attending & presenting their research.
Wishing everyone a great week of ideas, exchange & collaboration! 🌍📚
#ICONS2025

Our Summer 2025 Newsletter is out and you can check it on the link below: lnkd.in/dFJze_Ew

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Notre Infolettre d'été 2025 est sortie et vous pouvez la consulter au lien ci-dessous: lnkd.in/dFJze_Ew

@vanessamacdonnell.bsky.social @ucnpproject.bsky.social

A write-up of our June event (with some photos) on the relevance of unwritten norms for parliamentarians is now available on the UCL Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism website. I think it is fair to say the event was a success, thank you to all involved!

www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/parliam...

This event, hosted in Westminster, featured panellists from UCL, Durham University, the Institute for Government, uOttawa, and Parliament itself. Read more at our website: www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...

This month, our project, in collab with the UK Parliament’s Public Administration and Constitution Hub & UCL’s Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism, held a workshop exploring the role of politicians & key parliamentary personnel in sustaining the unwritten dimension of constitutionalism

La conférence est organisée par Professeurs @vanessamacdonnell.bsky.social, Noura Karazivan, et Naiomi Metallic, et Dalhousie University - Schulich School of Law, Université de Montréal, et University of Ottawa.

Nous tenons à remercier nos commanditaires JFK Law, ICON-S Canadian chapter, et SSHRC.

La Conférence du 150e anniversaire de la Cour suprême du Canada le University of Ottawa approche à grand pas, et nous sommes ravi.e.s de partager des mises à jour au programme de la conférence.
Vous pouvez encore vous enregistrer: lnkd.in/eVN_uXUN

The conference is convened by Professors Vanessa MacDonnell, Noura Karazivan, and Naiomi Metallic, and by Dalhousie University - Schulich School of Law, Université de Montréal, and @uottawa.ca.

We are very grateful to be supported by JFK Law, SSHRC, and ICON-S Canadian chapter.

The Supreme Court of Canada 150th anniversary conference at the University of Ottawa is fast approaching, and we are delighted to share some updates on the conference program. There is still time to register: lnkd.in/eVN_uXUN

In 2022, the @uodroitpublaw.bsky.social and the CIAJ held a conference to mark the retirement of Justice Rosalie Abella from the Supreme Court of Canada. I am delighted that an open-access collection flowing from the conference has now been published! utppublishing.com/doi/book/10.3138/9781552216712

Experts participating will include @efieldingd.bsky.social, @vanessamacdonnell.bsky.social, @seshauna.bsky.social, @paolosandro.bsky.social, @colmocinneide.bsky.social, @rogermasterman.bsky.social, @drhannahwhite.bsky.social

On 2 June, the @houseofcommons.parliament.uk will collaborate with scholars incl our members @ucllaws.bsky.social, @durham-university.bsky.social & @uodroitpublaw.bsky.social on a workshop on the role of politicians & parliamentary personnel in sustaining the unwritten dimension of constitutionalism

Now out in the April 2025 edition of Public Law:

Registration is now open for this conference marking the 150th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada, which takes place 11-12 June at @uottawa.bsky.social Faculty of Law ⬇️

Slowly putting together a #FeministConstitutionalism starter pack: go.bsky.app/8XoUPR9

Please send in your suggestions for people to add. Let me know if you want to added or taken off the list.

The April 2025 issue of Public Law is now avail. on
Westlaw feat. a themed analysis section - Race and Public Law - compiled by @vidyakumar.bsky.social. Papers are by Vidya, on "Race and the UK Constitution"; Shreya Atrey "A Common Law principle of racial equality?"; Tom Frost ...

Overseen or Overlooked? | Stanford University Press "War is too important to be left to the generals," declared French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau over a century ago. But which civilians, exactly, play the most important roles in controlling the ...

How involved are legislatures in overseeing military and defence issues?

Our new @stanfordpress.bsky.social book answers that question by comparing fifteen countries.

"Overseen or Overlooked? Legislators, Armed Forces, and Democratic Accountability"

www.sup.org/books/politi...

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! On June 10-12, 2025, the @uodroitpublaw.bsky.social, the @umontreal.ca and @schulichlaw.bsky.social will hold an academic conference to mark the 150th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada. Conference and registration details here: lnkd.in/esKJMbqR. Join us!

INSCRIPTION MAINTENANT OUVERTE! Le @uodroitpublaw.bsky.social, @umontreal.ca et @schulichlaw.bsky.social tiendra une conférence académique pour marquer le 150e anniversaire de la Cour suprême du Canada. Informations sur la conférence et les modalités d'inscription ici: lnkd.in/esKJMbqR

New Substack on the recent John Howard decision macdonnell.substack.com/p/securing-t...

The federal government is in ‘caretaker mode’. What does that mean? No new laws will be passed until the election is over, but a caretaker government is still empowered to manage Trump’s trade war

www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Philippe Lagassé: Time to prepare As Donald Trump continues his threats, here are the scenarios Canadians must be thinking about - and planning to confront.

In the spirit of proper preparation, I discuss three worst case scenarios for Canada over at The Line:

open.substack.com/pub/theline/...

The Rule of Law in Germany The rule of law, or Rechtsstaatsprinzip, is one of Germany's oldest constitutional principles and forms part of Germany's constitutional self-understanding. Thi…

Dana Burchardt's @kfgintlaw.bsky.social and my book on the Rule of Law in Germany @hartpublishing.bsky.social's Rule of Law in Context series will be published Jan 9 - have a look here www.bloomsbury.com/us/978150996...

Quote: “Reading Project 2025 as a manifesto heralds a warning of what is potentially to come, it offers a blueprint for the US Constitutional structure it seeks to prefigure.”

Reading Project 2025 as a Manifesto

Manifestos have often prefigured constitutional crisis, revolution, and the overthrowing of legal orders.

R. HOUGHTON (@ruthhoughton.bsky.social) & A. O'DONOGHUE (@aoifemod.bsky.social) on Project 2025 and constitutional change
verfassungsblog.de/reading-proj...

Poster reads: Coming Soon...Utopian Legalities, Prefigurative Politics and Radical Governance Utopias Reading Group. Online on 7th, 14, and 21st May 2025. Get in touch to sign up for info.

Coming up in May, @aoifemod.bsky.social and I will introduce Series 4 of the Utopias Reading Group. Dates for diaries: 7th, 14th & 21st May. Get in touch if you want to be added to the mailing list.

Check out @vanessamacdonnell.bsky.social’s Substack here ⬇️

Our Trans-Atlantic Platform project - "Open Constitutional Democracy" - is now on Bluesky! Follow us @opencondemocracy.bsky.social for project announcements, including news about events and research publications.
@davidvitale.bsky.social @ukri.org @odileammann.bsky.social @snsf-ch.bsky.social

The Rules of the Coronation: Differentiating Convention from Practice and Custom The coronation of a new monarch is a constitutional event governed by unwritten rules. To understand which aspects of the coronation are constitutionally significant—and which are better understood a...

New article from @royalhistorian.bsky.social and me in @politicalquarterly.bsky.social:

"The Rules of the Coronation: Differentiating Convention from Practice and Custom"

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Improving parliamentary scrutiny of legislation An expert panel discusses how to improve the UK parliament’s scrutiny of legislation.

What problems are there with the legislative process? Have they got worse? And what can be done to fix them?

Join Meg Russell, David Natzler and @danielgover.bsky.social to discuss just this on 24 February.

Sign up for this free, online event 👇