Call for Papers

Prospective speakers are invited to engage with the theme from a range of disciplinary perspectives and using doctrinal, theoretical, empirical, comparative or other suitable approaches.

Papers might address specific topics relating to the following (non-exhaustive) list of subthemes:

• The future of constitutional democracy and the rule of law / the separation of powers
• The legislature, electoral systems, democratic participation and the future of constitutional democracy
• Executive power (hard or soft), accountability and the future of constitutional democracy
• Judicial independence, the judicial role and the future of constitutional democracy
• Administrative justice and the future of constitutional democracy
• Populism, nationalism, fundamentalism and the future of constitutional democracy
• Private disruption of public power in a constitutional democracy
• Identifying and upholding the unwritten norms, values and cultures that sustain constitutional democracy
• The role of integrity institutions and other public-law bodies, including the public service, in supporting constitutional democracy
• Public law as a bulwark against the erosion of individual, indigenous or community rights, including socio-economic rights
• Constitutional democracy for future generations: environmental law, climate change, climate litigation
• The intersection of international law and public law
• Technology and the risks and benefits to constitutional democracy
• Restricting protest, speech or dissent and the impact on democratic participation
• The expansion of punitive state power and the erosion of constitutional democracy: surveillance, incarceration and militarised policing
• The ways in which race, class and spatial inequality shape public law, including the experience of the criminal justice system.

Submission of Abstracts (1 Sept 2025 - 14 Nov 2025)

Prospective speakers are invited to submit an abstract of no more than 500 words addressing any aspect of the conference theme. Abstracts must be submitted via the Oxford Abstracts electronic system, which will open on Monday 1 September 2025 and close on Friday 14 November 2025. You will be informed by Monday 12 January 2026 whether your abstract has been accepted for presentation.

Please submit your abstracts by following the Oxford Abstracts link here.

Abstracts are invited from those at any career stage. Papers will be accepted on the basis of merit and fit with the conference theme. Those who have their abstracts accepted will be required to submit a full written paper by Friday 15 May 2026 for distribution in advance to conference delegates. Please note that speakers will have to meet their own expenses and pay the conference fee in the ordinary way.

Limited funding will be available to subsidise intending speakers resident in Africa who face financial challenges in attending the conference. Speakers in this category may apply for assistance on acceptance of their abstract. Regrettably, such funding cannot be assured.

In common with previous conferences, it is intended that an edited collection will be published by Hart Publishing, the conference sponsor, of a small selection of papers given at the 2026 conference.

Doctoral Students

Like previous conferences, the 2026 conference will include dedicated panels for doctoral students. A reduced fee or, it is hoped, a fee waiver will apply to doctoral students whose papers are accepted.

Richard Hart Prize

The Richard Hart Prize for the best paper by an early-career scholar will be awarded at the 2026 conference. Those who are eligible and wish to be considered for the prize should indicate this by ticking the relevant box in the electronic application system. The eligibility criteria are as follows:

Anyone who:

(a) is studying for, but who has not yet been awarded, a doctoral degree in Law; or

(b) was awarded a doctoral degree in Law on or after 1 July 2023; or

(c) was appointed to their first full-time academic position on or after 1 July 2023.

No person who has held a full-time academic position for more than three years as of 1 July 2026 shall be eligible for the prize. The conference convenors’ decisions as to eligibility shall be final.

Please note that the prize will be awarded on the basis of the full written papers submitted in advance of the conference.

For queries about the conference, please email the organisers at publiclawconference2026@gmail.com

The conference programme will be available in 2026.

Conference registration will be available here once registrations open.

Full conference information details will be available here once conference logistics are finalised.

For queries about the conference, please email the organisers at publiclawconference2026@gmail.com