The failures of others: Justifying institutional expansion in comparative public and international law.

On Wednesday, 26th March, the Centre for Law and Society hosted a seminar with Professor Michaela Hailbronner (University of Münster) on her forthcoming book The failures of others: Justifying institutional expansion in comparative public and international law. She writes:

Arguments from failure – arguments that an institution must expand its powers because another institution is failing in some way "to do its job" - are commonplace. From structural reform litigation where courts sometimes assume administrative or legislative functions, to the Uniting for Peace Resolution of the UN General Assembly such arguments are offered in justification for unorthodox exercises of public power. But in spite of their popularity, we lack a good understanding of these arguments in legal terms. This is partly because failure itself is a highly malleable concept and partly because arguments from failure blur into other more familiar legal doctrines about implied powers or emergencies. We can do better. We should recognize arguments from failure as a distinct concept of public law and understand that contemporary constitutional theory offers us tools to evaluate such arguments in different settings.

Michaela Hailbronner is a Professor of German and International Public Law and Comparative Law at the University of Münster. Michaela completed two German law degrees at the University of Freiburg and the Kammergericht of Berlin before doing an LL.M. and a J.S.D. (doctorate) at Yale Law School (LL.M. 2010 and J.S.D. 2013). She is Co-President of the International Society of Public Law, involved in a number of international collaborations as well as part of the advisory board of the International Journal of Constitutional Law (ICON) and World Comparative Law (WCL/VRÜ).