JOURNAL: (2013) 14 German Law Journal

The editors of the German Law Journal have circulated the following:

Dear Readers:

We are pleased to announce that the new issue, beginning the 14th volume of the German Law Journal, Review of Developments in German, European & International Jurisprudence, is now available at www.germanlawjournal.com.
As the Journal did with the German Constitutional Court's landmark Lisbon Case in 2009, we have again worked quickly to provide you with commentary on and criticism of the Karlsruhe and Luxembourg courts' recent engagement with the ESM Treaty. This timely special section, "The ESM Before the Courts," was coordinated by GLJ editors Moritz Renner, Emanuel Towfigh and Floris de Witte. The cases themselves, just as much as the challenging notes we've collected here, more than adequately fill the month's promised insight into "German" and "European" jurisprudence--even while demonstrating that those old categories are increasingly questionable. The general tenor of these pieces seems to be that the Karlsruhe court was up to its old tricks and that the Luxembourg court was helping the EU chart new, controversial territory, even if the path it laid out doesn't thoroughly convince or satisfy.

There's more European coverage in this month's "Article" from Matej Avbelj, who asks "Farewell to the EU-27?"

Perhaps all of this is building to the Journal's special issue "Regeneration Europe"--convened by GLJ editors Floris de Witte, Nina Boeger and Jen Hendry--which we expect to publish later this spring.

A rich set of works also awaits you in our "Developments" section. We particularly draw your attention to Christian Tomuschat's fine commentary on the German Constitutional Court's recent decision calling (once again) for amendment of the Federal Electoral Act, now before it causes trouble in the Federal election scheduled for this fall. Not only does his piece thoughtfully examine the Court's ruling. But it is also a useful primer on Germany's "sophisticated" mixed-member electoral system, which confounds with "negative votes" and "over-hang mandates".

The rest of the "Developments" pieces address foreign-citizen expulsion, U.S.-German conflicts in intellectual property law, the perilous (legal) fate of seals in the Arctic, and the perpetual tension between the promotion of trade and the protection of human rights.

We thank you, our readers, and the colleagues on the editorial team and our student editors, for their wonderful commitment, and wish you - as always - Happy Reading!

Russell Miller
Peer Zumbansen
Editors in Chief
The German Law Journal