Public Law
The public law research area at Edinburgh Law School provides cutting-edge research and teaching in some of the most pressing issues in contemporary law and politics.
It covers a wide variety of issues, including: questions of sub-state nationalism, plurinational constitutionalism, and the constitutionality of independence and secession of states; the legal and constitutional issues emerging from societies transition from conflict, such as inclusive peace process design and the role and status of peace agreements in constitutional and international law; the regulation and administration of environmental issues including climate change law; as well as the legal and constitutional implications of suprastate governance and adjudication, especially with respect to the EU and ECHR.
It has also been a major hub of research in pressing issues facing the constitutional futures of the UK, such as the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum and the process of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
Christine Bell, Professor of Constitutional Law
Elisenda Casanas Adam, Lecturer in Public Law and Human Rights
Navraj Singh Ghaleigh, Senior Lecturer in Climate Law
Cormac Mac Amhlaigh, Senior Lecturer
Stephen Tierney, Professor of Constitutional Theory
Asanga Welikala, Lecturer in Public Law
Research Project Staff:
Sanja Badanjak, DFID Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Juline Beaujouan, PSRP Research Associate
Tim Epple, PSRP Research Associate
Kevin McNicholl, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Kathryn Nash, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Robert Wilson, PSRP Research Associate
Laura Wise, Research Analyst
Journal articles
Peace agreements and the institutionalisation of human rights – a multi-level analysis.
Nash, Kathryn; Lacatus, Corina. In: International Journal of Human Rights , 15.11.2019. View article
The territorial constitution and the Brexit process.
Tierney, Stephen. In: Current Legal Problems, 19.09.2019. View article
The right to vote: Constitutive referendums and regional citizenship.
Stjepanović, Dejan; Tierney, Stephen. In: Ethnopolitics, Vol. 18, No. 3, 06.03.2019, p. 264-277. View article
Introducing PA-X : A new peace agreement database and dataset.
Bell, Christine; Badanjak, Sanja. In: Journal of Peace Research, 04.03.2019. View article
Principled pragmatism and the ‘Inclusion Project’ : Implementing a gender perspective in peace agreements.
Bell, Christine; Mcnicholl, Kevin. In: feminists@law, Vol. 9, No. 1, 01.03.2019. View article
Law, polity and the legacy of statehood : An introduction.
Walker, Neil; Mac Amhlaigh, Cormac; Michelon, Claudio. In: Icon-International journal of constitutional law, Vol. 16, No. 4, 21.01.2019, p. 1148-1155. View article
Books chapters
Paris Agreement: Article 3.
Ghaleigh, Navraj Singh. Research Handbook on Climate Change Mitigation. ed.
Geert Van Calster; Leonie Reins. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020. View chapter
Just transitions for workers: When climate change met Labour Justice.
Ghaleigh, Navraj Singh. The Constitution of Social Democracy. ed.
Alan Bogg; Alison Young; Jacob Rowbottom. Hart Publishing, 2019. View chapter
The Scottish Independence Referendum: Lessons learned for the future.
Casanas Adam, Elisenda. Claims for Secession and Federalism: A Comparative Study with a Special Focus on Spain. ed. Alberto Lopez-Basaguren; Leire San-Epifanio. Springer, 2019. p. 183-202. View chapter
Who's afraid of Suprastate Constitutional Theory? Two reasons to be sceptical of the sceptics.
Mac Amhlaigh, Cormac. Legitimacy: The State and Beyond. ed. / Wojciech Sadurski; Michael Sevel; Kevin Walton. Oxford University Press, 2019. p. 182-205. View chapter
Keith Forum on Commonwealth Constitutionalism
The Keith Forum aims to harness the reservoir of comparative ideas from the Commonwealth for current UK constitutional debates, and to benefit Commonwealth states facing similar challenges.
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Law and Polity Project
The Law and Polity Project addresses the challenges of how the modern state polity is affected by new legal and political forms.
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Political Settlements Research Programme
The Political Settlements Research Programme (PSRP) engages with political settlements to build stable institutions, reduce poverty, and minimise violence.
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The International Legitimacy Research Project
The International Legitimacy project is an interdisciplinary project examining various dimensions of legitimacy beyond the state.
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Edinburgh Dialogues on Post-Conflict Constitution Building
Edinburgh Dialogues on Post-Conflict Consitution Building is a partnership that seeks to bring together a network of academic and professional experts to share experiences, discuss contemporary challenges, and reflect on current scholarship and policy practice. The initiative is premised on the benefits of informed constitutional comparativism, an interdisciplinary approach to constitutional substance and processes, and the mutual benefits of regular and structured engagement between scholars and practitioners of constitution building.
Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law
The Centre for Constitutional Law provides a focal-point for research in public law and constitutional theory in the United Kingdom and beyond.
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Edinburgh Centre for Legal Theory
The Centre for Legal Theory combines an openness to diverse areas and styles of theoretical research with a deeply collegiate atmosphere.
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Global Justice Academy
The Global Justice Academy is an interdisciplinary research network at the University of Edinburgh and beyond exploring global justice in its broadest sense.
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