Rainer Arnold – författare

The rule of law represents the heart of constitutionalism. Public power can only be legitimately exercised if it is based on and complies with the law. The Constitution and its fundamental values – human dignity, freedom and equality – are the ultimate sources of orientation for the rule of law. Domestic rule of law is complemented by its external dimension, the duty to respect international law and, for EU member states, supranational law.

For the World Jurist Association, the realization of the Rule of Law has been the central concern since its founding more than 60 years ago. Its biennial world congresses, which bring together leading figures from politics, the judiciary and academia under the presidency of Javier Cremades, focus on the universal importance of the rule of law, which experts from numerous countries discuss on the basis of current problem areas.

At the 2021 World Law Congress in Barranquilla, Colombia, one central topic was the tension between combating pandemics and the rule of law. The contributions gathered here examine how this challenge was met in political-legal practice, and the role of constitutional jurisdiction in the process. They analyze and evaluate the legal situation in numerous countries in Europe and Latin America. In addition, they reflect on fundamental issues, such as the concept of the rule of law, its relationship to democracy, its universal character and its implementation via jurisprudence.

The book deals with the effective operation of the rules related to biomedical research and pays attention to the activities of the national legislatures of the 27 Member States in the field of scientific research. This multilevel system has an impact on biobanking activity. The book answers questions realized by operators on the main biobanks around the EU in the field of GDPR. The authors and editors used the questions born from brainstorming among members of the Association European, Middle East & Africa for Biopreservation and Biobanking (ESBB) to offer to the operators in biobanking activity and researchers quickly answer to their daily questions, but with authors highest quality. Further the book provides a comprehensive review of the rapidly expanding field of biobanking. It provides researchers and scholars working on biobanking and bio-sharing and more in general in the university hospitals and clinical trial consortiums, and companies, biomedical researchers, but also jurists and the professionals (in particular judges, lawyers, officers) an instrument rigorous but easy to use of the GDPR in the case of biobanking activities. The book identifies a methodological path to tackle the legal or ethical problem on a specific scientific-technological to verify existing solutions and give ideas for future applications. The importance of the legal solution influences the implementation of the development of the biobanking activity service itself.

A constitution has the task of realizing its regulatory objective for the entire duration of its existence. In doing so, it bears responsibility for the present, but also for the future. It must ensure that the legitimate interests of future generations are also taken into account in today’s decision-making and policies. The concept of intertemporal protection of fundamental rights developed by German constitutional jurisprudence and the jurisprudence in other countries have particularly stimulated the discussion on the constitution''s responsibility for the future, which is important in numerous areas.

At the World Congress of the International Association of Constitutional Law in Johannesburg in December 2022, one workshop, which was chaired by the two editors of this volume, was dedicated to this topic. This book brings together the presentations of 13 authors from 10 countries on fundamental questions and specific aspects of this important issue.

Is there universalism of human rights? If so, what are its scope and limits? This book is a doctrinal attempt to define universalism of human rights, as well as its scope and limits. The book presents tests of universalism on international, regional and national constitutional levels. It is maintained that universalism of human rights is both a ‘concept’ and a ‘normative reality’. The normative character of human rights is scrutinized through the study of international and regional agreements as well as national constitutions. As a consequence, limitations of normativity are identified, usually on the international level, and take the form of exceptions, reservations, and interpretations. 

The book is based on the General and National Reports which were originally presented at the 18th International Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law in Washington D.C. 2010.