Pakistan and Ireland: Exploring Comparative Constitutional Perspectives on Decolonisation, Dominion Status, and Beyond

In this seminar Dr Malagodi and Dr McDonagh examine the Dominion Constitutions of Pakistan and Ireland from a comparative perspective. While the two countries could be described as being dramatically different from one another in some ways - e.g. in terms of geography, size of economy, population size - in fact as countries that gained independence in the 20th century from the British Empire via Dominion status they share some important and under-explored political and constitutional similarities, including: (i) in political terms, the legacy of the British 'Westminster' model of government and its emphasis on executive authority; (ii) in legal terms, the impact on the legal system of the subversion of the terms of the Dominion constitutions in each state, particularly with regard to the role of the judiciary and the status of constituent assemblies; and (iii) in relation to questions of religion and nationalism, the dramatic legacy of partition. By exploring these areas from a comparative perspective Dr Malagodi and Dr McDonagh shine a light on the legal and political challenges of the post-colonial experience in two key states that emerged from the British Empire.

Mara Malagodi is a Lecturer in Law at City University London. Mara joined the City Law School in September 2015. Mara is a comparative constitutional lawyer with a linguistically informed specialism in South Asian law and politics, human rights law, and legal history. She is the author of the monograph Constitutional Nationalism and Legal Exclusion in Nepal (OUP, 2013) and of several articles and book chapters on South Asian constitutional law and legal history. Before joining The City Law School, Mara was a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Law at LSE (2012-2015) and a Senior Teaching Fellow at SOAS (2008-2012). She is a scholar of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, which awarded her the Blackstone Entrance Exhibition and the Quatercentenary Scholarship. She was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2016. Mara has also worked as an external consultant for various UN agencies. Mara holds her Doctorate, MA in South Asia Area Studies, and BA (Hons) in Nepali & Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London); Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) from The City Law School; Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) from the then College of Law; and BA in International Relations and Diplomacy from the University of Trieste.

Luke McDonagh is a Lecturer in the Law School at The City Law School. He undertakes research primarily in the area of Intellectual Property Law and Constitutional Law. Luke holds a PhD from Queen Mary, University of London (2011), an LL.M from the London School of Economics (LSE) (2006-07) and a B.C.L. degree from NUI, Galway (2002-05). Prior to taking up his position at City in September 2015 he was a Lecturer in the Law School at Cardiff University from 2013-2015 and before that he was LSE Fellow in the Law Department at the London School of Economics (LSE) for 2011-2013. During 2014-15 Luke was a Visiting Scholar at Waseda University Law School, Tokyo, Japan. Luke has published widely in journals including The Modern Law Review, Civil Justice Quarterly and the Journal of Law and Society – and his work has had considerable impact, including being cited in 2014 in a UK House of Commons debate on patent litigation, a UK Law Commission report on patent law, and in an amicus curiae submission to the US Supreme Court in the patent case of Highmark v Allcare (2014).