C|M|LAW’s Joseph C. Hostetler – Baker & Hostetler Professor of Law Brian E. Ray recently published a blog post entitled South African Informal Traders Forum and Others v The City of Johannesburg and Others: A Promising Start by the South African Constitutional Court, on Oxford Human Rights Hub.  In that decision, the South African Constitutional Court enjoined the City of Johannesburg from evicting informal traders in the inner city.  Regarding this decision, Ray writes “Departing sharply from its normal procedures, the South African Constitutional Court recently issued what we in the States would call an “interim injunction” in a case pending before the South Gauteng High Court called South African Informal Traders Forum and Others v The City of Johannesburg and Others (“SAITF”). The order prohibits municipal authorities in Johannesburg from “interfering” with the activities of multiple street traders in the city center who are lawfully licensed to trade by the City.

Ray notes that the temporary injunction in the SAITF case is an example of this Court playing a stronger procedural role in policy decisions. Recent cases show that, “when operating in a role that it can safely characterize as procedural—especially when faced with a policy that either completely ignores or actively infringes upon social rights—the Court has been much more willing to exercise its authority to at least temporarily stop implementation of a challenged policy, and sometimes even to change it.”

To read this post, click here:  

http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/?p=4546

Professor Phyllis L. Crocker

C|M|LAW Professor of Law Phyllis L. Crocker, who has served C|M as a Professor, as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and as Interim Dean, has been named the new Dean of the University of Detroit Mercy College of Law.  Congratulations, Dean Crocker!  C|M|LAW is proud of you.

To read the announcement, click here:

http://www.law.udmercy.edu/index.php/17-news/534-phyllis-l-crocker-named-university-of-detroit-mercy-school-of-law-dean

Steven H. Steinglass, C|M|LAW’s Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus, made several presentations this fall on Ohio constitutional history and revision.

On September 23, 2014, he made a presentation to Ohio teachers at the Law and Citizenship Conference sponsored by the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education.  The presentation was on What Every Ohio Teacher Should Know about the Ohio Constitution.

On October 11, 2014, he presented Constitutional Revision–Ohio Style at a Symposium at Wayne State University Law School Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Michigan Constitution and the Evolution of State Constitutionalism.

On October 18, 2014, he delivered comments at a program at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia recognizing the 25th anniversary of the Rutgers University Center on State Constitutional Law.  The principal lecture was delivered by Professor Sanford Levinson of the University of Texas Law School, whose book Framed addresses issues of constitutional structure and constitutional change in the US Constitution and the constitutions of the states.  Dean Steinglass’s comments were in reaction to Professor Levinson’s lecture.

Professor Milena Sterio

Cambridge University Press has agreed to publish an edited piracy volume, for which C|M|LAW’s Charles R. Emrick Jr. – Calfee Halter & Griswold Professor of Law Milena Sterioshe will serve as one of three main editors. The other two editors are Professor Michael Scharf  (Case) and Professor Michael Newton (Vanderbilt).  Sterio will also write two chapters for the volume.  

In addition, Sterio and Scharf have become editors-in-chief of www.piracy-law.com, a blog dedicated to maritime piracy.  

Finally, Sterio was elected Secretary of the International Human Rights section of the AALS, as well as a member of the Executive Committee of the International Law section of the AALS.

C|M|LAW’s Leon and Gloria Plevin Professor Law and Director of the Center for Health Law and Policy Browne Lewis published Linking the Certainty of Death and Taxes in the Trusts and Estates edition of Jotwell on January 13, 2014.  In this article commentary, Lewis reviews Reid Kress Weisbord’s article, Wills For Everyone: Helping Individuals Opt Out of Intestacy, which was published earlier this year in the Boston College Law Review (53 B.C.L. Rev. 877 (2012)).  Lewis praises Weisbord’s attempt to simplify the testamentary process.  She agrees with his assertion that in failing to execute a will, most people are not fearing their own mortality and instead are just not willing or able to navigate a complicated testamentary process.  She supports his suggestion to make executing a will more like filing a simple tax return, when possible.  In sum, she praises his efforts to reduce the rate of intestacy by simplifying the testamentary process.

To see Lewis’ article, click here: http://trustest.jotwell.com/