The French Yearbook of Public Law (FYPL), a new comparative public law periodical
May 8, 2024
The French Yearbook of Public Law, FYPL,,is published in English, once a year and is accessible free of charge online: https://fypl.fr Its Steering Committee is made up of Jean-Bernard Auby (Professor Emeritus, Science Po Paris), Philippe Cossalter (Professor at Saarland University), Giacinto della Cananea (Professor at Bocconi University, Milan) and Prof. Custos (University of Caen Normandy) and longtime member of the ASCL. Prof. Auby and Prof. Cossalter are respectively Director and Deputy Director of its Editorial Board. Its 45-member Scientific Committee, multinational in nature, is reflective of a diverse pool of public laws.
In part, the FYPL is designed to provide scholars across the world with resources on French public law developments, notably French administrative law. Through this newly generated stream of legal updates, the FYPL should contribute to a more contemporary and dynamic understanding of French public law. However, the FYPL is not French-centric. Besides helping the academia to keep abreast of the evolution of French public law, it is also designed to serve as a comparative public law forum. It is indeed worth stressing that, in addition to a French public law chronicle, chronicles covering recent changes in other public laws are also featured. Clearly, the breadth of the information derived from this multinational rubric is intrinsically valuable for comparative thinking. Moreover, each issue focuses on a central theme, which is dealt with across several legal systems. This allows for 08/05/2024in-depth comparative examination of a specific topic.
The inaugural issue (https://fypl.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/FYPL_ISSUE1_2023.pdf) exemplifies both these informational and comparative ambitions.
The issue is organized in 4 four sections. The first section, labeled “General”, deals with overarching public law questions. It includes two short pieces. One the one hand, that of Sabino Cassese updates a 2011 reflection on The Future of the French Model of Public law in Europe in which he discusses cross-fertilization and globalization in the context of the interactions between French law and European law. On the other hand, that of Jean-Bernard Auby shares some Conceptual and Linguistic “Surprises” in Comparative Administrative Law. Born out of a long scholarly experience, the article contains useful examples of the challenges faced by comparativists as decipherers of foreign laws expressed in a variety of languages, within or across legal traditions.
The second section is devoted to a ”dossier” directed by Jean-Bernard Auby and Laurent Fonbaustier (Paris-Saclay University): Climate Change and Public law. To compose this 286-page thematic section, they brought together a team of 14 contributors to examine the extent to which public law could furnish a toolbox to address the problems brought about by the ongoing ecological upheaval. Accordingly,
the greening of public law is unpacked from 5 standpoints (global law, constitutional law, litigation, vertical structuring of power, and democracy), with examples drawn both from state and multi-level government contexts. In their piece closing the dossier, Auby and Fonbaustier combine two approaches to assess the successes and failures of public law in the face of climate breakdown. The functional one focuses on the ongoing process of public law’s adjustment to the climate emergency. The optimism derived from the former is tempered by the conceptual approach. The latter very pointedly stresses the intrinsic obstacles posed by public law in this regard. Indeed, a significant conceptual re-gearing is required for public law to be up to the task. It at least entails prioritizing certain rights and values over others, seriously revisiting the notion of territorial jurisdiction both internally and internationally and to consistently proceduralize administrative democracy.
The third section is meant to inform on recent legal developments. While the French public law chronicle will be a permanent feature, the other chronicles will rotate among different legal systems in order to allow a wider coverage over time. In the first issue, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. are covered. Looking forward, among other legal systems to be also brought into the rotation, are the U.S. and the E.U.
The fourth section is miscellaneous. On the one hand, Prof. della Cananea reviews Prof. Susan Rose-Ackerman’s 2021 monograph, Democracy and Executive Power. Policymaking Accountability in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, and France and stresses its relevance for both legal scholars and social scientists. On the other, he presents the results of the E.U. funded research project (2016-2021) which he lead in search of the Common Core of Administrative Laws in Europe (COCEAL).
Clearly, the FYPL is worthy of your attention. It may illuminate a class discussion, or inform the updating of class notes, seminar materials, text and casebooks, or speed up the completion of research undertakings. Remember, while it is published in France, all its articles are couched in English.