A presentation by Tarunabh Khaitan (University of Oxford). This event is part of the Fundamental Rights Research Colloquium hosted by the Centre for Fundamental Rights.
The last few decades have seen a proliferation of institutions in many states that do not neatly fit within any of three traditional ‘departments’, or (as they are more commonly known) branches. These fourth branch institutions include constitutional courts, electoral commissions, human rights commissions, central banks, probity bodies such as anti-corruption watchdogs, knowledge institutions such as statistics bureaus and census boards, anti-corruption watchdogs, information commissioners, auditors general, attorneys general and so on. As is often the case even as constitutional practice in regard to these institutions has proliferated, constitutional theory has lagged behind, failing to conceptualise this branch or to identify its fundamental functions. The purpose of this paper is to fill in this lacuna and outline a normative theory that can justify the point and purpose of this fourth—guarantor—branch.
This presentation is part of a Fundamental Rights Research Colloquium's cluster on 'Authoritarianism, Populism and Fundamental Rights'.
Tarunabh Khaitan is the Professor of Public Law and Legal Theory at Wadham College (Oxford) and a Vice Dean at the Faculty of Law (Oxford). He is also a Professor & Future Fellow at Melbourne Law School, working on a project on the resilience of democratic constitutions, with a focus on South Asia. He specialises in legal theory, constitutional law and discrimination law. He is the founding General Editor of the Indian Law Review, founder and Chief Advisor of the Junior Faculty Forum for Indian Law Teachers, and an Affiliate of the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and an Associate of the Oxford Human Rights Hub. He completed his undergraduate studies (BA LLB Hons) at the National Law School (Bangalore) in 2004 as the 'Best All Round Graduating Student'. He then came to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and completed his postgraduate studies (BCL with distinction, MPhil with distinction, DPhil) at Exeter College. Before joining Wadham, he was the Penningtons Student (Fellow) in Law at Christ Church. He has also been a Global Visiting Professor of Law at NYU Law School.
Prior registration is required. Registered attendees will receive the dial-in details as well as a draft paper, on which the presentation is based, via e-mail prior to the event.
