Law and Other Things and NALSAR University of Law are organizing the 3rd Edition of the Courts and the Conference Constitution. Entries for the same are invited from interested students, scholars and practitioners of law and other related fields.
About the law and other things
India’s Oldest Public Law Blog, Law and Other Things (“LAOT”) was founded in 2005 by a few enthusiastic young lawyers, to blog and share posts and articles on constitutional and legal developments in India. Since 2017, the blog has been run by the team of students from NALSAR University of Law under the active supervision of the LAOT Core Editorial Board, all of whom are well-established scholars/practitioners in public law. (In 2020 we marked our 15th anniversary, you can read more about the history of the blog here).
About the Courts and Constitution Conference
The inauguration editing of the Courts and the Constitution took place on January 26 and 27, 2019, on the theme “2018: review of the year”. It was a unique initiative of its kind in India and examined major legal developments and landmark judgments of the year 2018 in light of their long-term impact on the governance and rights of the Republic. The second edition of the conference, “The Republic at 70: past, present and future orientations” was organized on January 25 and 26, 2020. More than 25 legal luminaries participated in several panels on Evolution of Equality Jurisprudence, Reform the courts, Federalism and the Constitution, and Citizenship, residency and constitution, as well as public lectures on capital punishment, among others.
Speakers for the last two editions included, among others, Arun Thiruvengadam, Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Arvind Narain, Chintan Chandrachud, Nizam Pasha, Suhrith Parthasarathy, Aparna Chandra, Anup Surendranath, Arundhati Katju, Alok Prasanna Kumar, Malavika Prasad, Harish Narsappa, Rohit De , Suchindran Bhaskaran, Ujjwala Uppaluri, as well as NR Madhava Menon, MP Singh and Indira Jaisingh. Both editions were held in person at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. The third edition will take place on March 26 and 27, 2022, in a hybrid model (in-person and limited online streaming) in light of the extraordinary circumstances created by the pandemic.
About the call for proposals
This year, in addition to guest speakers for the various panels, interested students and professionals in the legal and related fields are invited to submit proposals to present their papers at the conference. If accepted, the candidate will have the opportunity to present their article/ideas as part of the panel, and the proposals will also be developed into articles that will be published by the blog. Proposals must address one or more of the six panel themes.
Themes for the panels
This year, LAOT invites authors to submit proposals on the themes of each panel. They are:
- The state of the judiciary
- Public health crisis and the Constitution
- Emerging Voices – Shamnad Basheer Memorial Roundtable
- Contemporary issues of Indian federalism
- Environmentalism and Governance in South Asia
- Civil liberties and criminal justice
More details on each panel can be found in the attached concept note here.
Eligibility
Submissions are invited from students and professionals in the legal field and all related fields. Given that the objective of the call for proposals is to make the conference more accessible to a younger population; students, scholars and practitioners, approximately under the age of 30, will be given preference.
Structure and rewards
● The authors of the best entry for each panel may be selected for a hybrid conference (allowing for a virtual or in-person presentation), subject to a maximum cap of one presentation per panel. The selected authors will have the opportunity to present their article alongside recognized academics.
● Please note that the paper presentation will be subject to a high quality threshold. The organizers reserve the right not to select any of the applications to be presented if this threshold is not reached.
● Participants may adopt any appropriate means to present the communications, including audio-visual aids, such as a PowerPoint presentation.
Selection criteria
Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria: quality of the research question(s), research methodology (if appropriate/relevant to the author), treatment of the research question(s) in the literature, main argument and structure of the arguments, the originality of the content and the relevance of the proposal (in time as well as in relation to the questions formulated in the concept note of this panel).
Entry Guidelines
● Co-authoring of entries (maximum two) between individuals from the same or different institutions is permitted.
● Multiple entries by the same author(s) are not permitted.
● Entries must be original, unpublished and unplagiarized.
Submission Guidelines
● Word Limit: The proposal should be between 1,000 and 1,500 words, excluding footnotes.
● Mode: please fill in this google form to apply. We will not accept submissions made through any mode other than the Google Form.
● Essay font and size: Times New Roman – 12
● Font and size of footnotes: Times New Roman – 10
● Paper size: A4
● Line spacing: 1.5
● Margin: 1″ on all sides
● Alignment: justified
● Document type: Word document
● Citation Style: Footnotes/endnotes should be properly cited in a uniform style of your choice. Footnotes are preferred over endnotes.
Miscellaneous rules
● The copyright for all entries belongs to the LAOT Committee who hereby reserves the right to modify, postpone or defer the selection indefinitely as requirements of an unforeseen nature may arise.
● Any attempt, direct or indirect, to contact the jury will result in the immediate disqualification of the application concerned.
● Any mention of the name of the author or the university in the registration will lead to immediate disqualification from the Competition. Author details can only be specified in the body of the mail and the author’s name should not be mentioned in the name or properties of the submitted Word document.
Important appointments
The deadline for manuscript submission is February 25, 2022. Late registrations will not be accepted. Authors will be informed of the selection of their proposal before March 10, 2022.
Contact details
Email ID (for queries): courtsandconstitution[at]gmail.com
contact people
Shravani Shendye: 9399736197
Eeshan Sonak: 8380074901
