European Law & International Law (e-books)

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Ladislav Orosz    Ignác Brosch  (eds.)

Scientific proceedings from the traditional international scientific conference organized by the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic and the Faculty of Law of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, titled “The Relationship Between Domestic Law and European Union Law – 14th Constitutional Days,” consists of papers by renowned representatives of domestic and foreign constitutional doctrine, as well as authors who currently serve as judges of constitutional courts and the Court of Justice of the European Union, or as their advisors. From a substantive perspective, the contributions included in the collection address the challenges arising from current developments in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the case law of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic and certain other foreign constitutional courts regarding the relationship between national legal systems and European Union law. 

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Lucia Bakošová (ed.)
The proceedings Human Rights and Freedoms under Pressure from Algorithms: International and National AI Challenges constitute a peer-reviewed outcome of an international scientific conference devoted to the legal challenges arising from the development of artificial intelligence. The volume focuses on the impact of algorithmic systems on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the international, European and national levels. The individual contributions examine issues such as transparency, accountability, the right to a fair trial, privacy protection, non-discrimination, children’s rights, labour relations, digital constitutionalism, autonomous weapons, and the use of AI in public administration and armed conflicts. Particular attention is paid to the risks of algorithmic decision-making, legal hallucinations, profiling, surveillance, and the influence of digital technologies on democratic processes.

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Adam Giertl (ed.)

Proceedings of the Student Symposium on International Law and European Law held on April 28, 2017, at the Faculty of Law of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice

The Student Symposium is regularly organized by the Institute of International Law and European Law, and in 2017, it marked the jubilee tenth edition of the symposium, which over time expanded its focus to include European law.

The tradition of holding student symposia is also associated with the good practice of preparing proceedings from each event. Understandably, the tenth edition is no exception, and thus, the tenth edition of the symposium proceedings is now available to readers. In previous years, the symposium has always focused on specific areas of international and European law. Thus, the subjects of study for symposium participants have included migration issues (2016), the protection of cultural values (2015), and the challenges of cyberspace (2013).

This year, given that it is the jubilee tenth edition, the symposium organizers have chosen to approach the symposium's focus thematically and recall some significant milestones in the development of international law that occurred in years ending with the number seven.

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Kristián Csach - Ľubica Širicová

Private international law has undergone dramatic changes in recent periods. The fully operational process of communitarization of this legal field has not yet – and perhaps could not have been – effectively reflected by domestic legislators. Under the current legal status, it is not uncommon for legal issues to intertwine regulations of community origin and domestic legislation (embodied primarily by Act No. 97/1963 Coll. on Private International Law and Procedure).

Questions about the obsolescence of some provisions of this, until recently, universal codified regulation of private international law arise mainly (but not exclusively) from the conflict rules contained in the so-called "Rome I" Regulation on the law applicable to contractual obligations, the "Rome II" Regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations, and most recently in Council Regulation (EC) No. 4/2009 of 18 December 2008 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition, and enforcement of decisions and cooperation in matters relating to maintenance obligations.

Respecting the principle of the primacy of generally binding acts of the Community over domestic law, the correct application of normative texts cannot be achieved without the ability to quickly navigate through the norms and subsequently compare them.

Students and anyone else are therefore confronted with a multitude of legal regulations of substantial scope and detailed regulation. Currently, apart from systematically arranged references on the websites of the Ministry of Justice, we do not find a comprehensive material that would offer an overview of legal regulations in the field of private international law and procedure.

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Alexander Bröstl - Marta Breichová Lapčáková - Martin Štrkolec (eds.)

Collection of scientific papers by doctoral students.

Thematically, the contributions are diverse: they feature fundamental principles in public law (basic principles of criminal proceedings, the principle of contradiction, basic principles of constitutional court proceedings, basic principles in private law and procedural law (superficies solo cedit), the principle of civil court proceedings in deciding labor disputes, equality of participants and the duty to instruct, objection of bias in light of the right to an impartial court, the principle of speed and the principle of economy in the decision-making activities of general courts, basic principles in legal theory and international law (general legal principles recognized by civilized nations), coexistence of the principle of equality and the principle of non-discrimination in the legal order of the European Union, argumentation through the principle of rule of law in the decision-making activities of courts, the impact of fundamental principles on the interpretation of legal norms.

It is important that the authors, i.e., doctoral students from law faculties in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, almost unanimously examine these principles in the process of application (interpretation) of law, from the perspective of how legal (primarily judicial) practice deals with them. This should be fundamentally welcomed and appreciated.

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Adam Giertl (ed.)

Proceedings from the VII. annual student symposium on international law held on April 11-12, 2014 at the UPJŠ training facility in Danišovce

Despite this, flying and space travel are now a common part of human civilization. What is the role of law in this process? This is the question posed by the organizers of the VII. annual student symposium on international law, aiming to evaluate the contribution of international law in the field of aviation and space flights, especially in light of current developments.

The individual topics were tackled by second, third, and higher-year students of the Faculty of Law at UPJŠ in Košice. The result of their work on the assigned topics, which the authors could consult with members of the Institute of European Law and the Department of International Law, is the presented work.

The proceedings are thematically divided into two parts. The first part acquaints the reader with selected topics related to aviation law, and the second part is dedicated to international space law.

With its focus, the proceedings also have a broader impact, as in some aspects it fits into the broader context of research conducted at the Institute of European Law and the Department of International Law, which focuses on examining the influence of regionalism on general international law and vice versa. This issue is also reflected in the topics of the individual contributions.

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Ján Klučka(ed.)

Collection of Papers from the International Scientific Conference Held on May 29–30, 2014 at the Faculty of Law, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice.

In the first half of this year, a scientific conference entitled “10 Years in the EU: Relations, Questions, Issues” was held in Košice, and the contributions from this event constitute the content of the present collection bearing the same name.

The aim of the organizers—namely, the Slovak Association of European Law, the Representation of the European Commission in the Slovak Republic, and the Institute of European Law together with the Department of International Law of the Faculty of Law at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University—was not only (even if loosely) to follow up on the previous 2009 conference “Community Law in Slovakia – Five Years ‘After’”, but, after another five years, to continue its main objective: to provide participants from both the academic and non-academic community with a space for further analysis and exchange of views on legal issues related to the membership of the Slovak Republic in the European Union and various current issues of the Union’s legal order.

From this perspective, a shift in the overall focus of the conference contributions in 2009 and 2014 can be observed. While the contributions from the first conference focused primarily on various aspects of the application of Union law in the Slovak legal system and related application problems, especially before courts and other authorities, the basic orientation of the contributions from the second conference is already different. The present collection also confirms that the contributions focus primarily on current issues of the European legal order and on certain aspects of the Union’s external policy, while the relationship of Union law to the Slovak legal system is no longer given primary attention.

Several contributions focus on areas characterized by a certain overlap or “cohabitation” of Union law with public international law, private international law, or, more broadly, international relations.

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Adam Giertl (ed.)

Collection of Papers from the 9th Annual Student Symposium on International and European Law held on April 22, 2016 at the Faculty of Law, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice

As indicated by the very title of the 9th Annual Student Symposium on International and European Law, “Current Issues of Migration from the Perspective of International Law with Special Regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,” the participants focused on the highly topical subject of European migration, which they examined from various aspects of both international and Union law (a total of 9 contributions).

In assessing the role of individual actors primarily involved in addressing the problems arising from migration to Europe, particular emphasis was placed on the role of international specialized organizations, which often provide direct assistance to migrants “in the field” through humanitarian or medical aid. However, this is not the only response of the international community, as it is complemented by the activities of the concerned states as well as various non-governmental organizations and volunteers. Regarding the evaluation of the European Union’s activities, the symposium participants agreed that the mass migration wave caught the EU relatively unprepared—institutionally, legislatively, and technically—accompanied by a lack of clarity in adopting a fundamental approach to this reality.

It was also emphasized that these shortcomings occurred despite the fact that developments in the preceding period clearly signaled the possibility of gradual migration to the European Union escalating into a mass phenomenon. According to the participants, additional ex post and sometimes delayed measures adopted in response to the ongoing migration process contributed to an overall increase in political tension within the EU and divided its member states into opposing camps.

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Alena Krunková (ed.)

Proceedings of the Scientific Conference Held on June 28, 2016 at the Faculty of Law of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice in connection with the implementation of the project “The European Union and Its Impact on the Organization and Functioning of Public Administration in the Slovak Republic” – approved under number MVZP – SK PRES/2016/134

The Slovak Republic, as a member state of the European Union, is undertaking a historic role associated with the Presidency of the Council of the European Union within the presidency trio. At the beginning of 2016, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic announced a call for applications for grants for 2016 in the field of international relations and foreign policy, specifically focused on the Slovak Republic’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The Faculty of Law of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice responded to this call and obtained a project aimed at carrying out research activities through a series of events focused on regional self-government in the Slovak Republic in the context of its role within the European Union. The Faculty has long been engaged with issues of European Union law both in its teaching and in the scientific research activities of its individual faculty members. The project aims to enrich this portfolio with special activities targeting not only professionals, but also students and the general public.

The first activity of the project was a conference entitled “The European Union and Its Impact on the Organization and Functioning of Public Administration in the Slovak Republic – Development So Far, Current State, and Perspectives.” The conference was attended by invited public officials, representatives of academia, and representatives of local government, as one of the main goals of the project is to connect the academic community with the practical sphere and thus involve practitioners in the planned activities within the project.

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