База данных “Россия в западноевропейской прессе XVIII века”

This paper presents the results of an educational and research project entitled “Russia in the Western European Press of the Eighteenth Century.” Between 2016 and 2020 students from The Higher School of Economics University in Moscow translated texts of eighteenth-century Western European periodicals related to Russia. In the first part, the authors describe how this work was organized and outline the manner in which the translations are presented on the project website. The second part provides a case study of some news sent by a correspondent in St. Petersburg to The London Gazette in 1714 and 1715. The authors argue that in this period the information received by The London Gazette from St. Petersburg was very close to the dispatches sent to the Secretary of State for the Northern Department by George Mackenzie, the official British resident in the new Russian capital. Although Mackenzie probably did not write to The London Gazette himself, he was apparently involved in the communications, since most of the Russian news was published during the time when the resident was in St. Petersburg. The same correlation between the publication of news received directly from Russia and the period when British diplomats were in residence in Moscow or St. Petersburg can be traced to at least the years between 1709 and 1728. The fact that the above-mentioned example from The London Gazette came to the authors’ attention when it was being edited for publication in “Russia in the Western European Press of the Eighteenth Century” gives hope that other news items included in the online project will become a starting point for more scholars of eighteenth-century Russia.

Secretary of State for Justice v A Local Authority and others: disability and access to sex workers

This is a commentary on Secretary of State for Justice v A Local Authority and others, where the decision of the Court of Protection has been overturned by the Court of Appeal. The judgment has implications for (i) the article 8 and article 14 rights of those who lack capacity to arrange lawful sexual services; (ii) the criminal liability of their carers who are enlisted to assist with such arrangements; and, potentially, (iii) the ban on payment for sexual services in Northern Ireland.

Prospects for Russian foreign policy in 2022

Significance Russian military deployments prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken on October 13 to reiterate the "ironclad" US commitment to Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin's main preoccupations now are Kyiv and Washington. In both foreign policy areas, Russia's comparative advantages have increased because of the energy crisis in Europe and rising US-China competition.

Interview with Janez Lenarčič

Janez Lenarčič is currently serving as Commissioner for Crisis Management in the European Commission, a mandate he took up in December 2019. In this capacity, he is responsible for EU civil protection as well as humanitarian aid. Mr Lenarčič served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the European Union (EU) in Brussels from 2016 to 2019. From 2014 to 2016, he held the Secretary of State position in the cabinet of the Slovenian Prime Minister. His previous experience also includes the position of Director of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, in Warsaw, from 2008 to 2014. He has also served as Secretary of State for European Affairs, including representing Slovenia during the Lisbon Treaty negotiations in 2007 and later representing the Slovenian EU Council Presidency to the European Parliament in 2008. In 2002 and 2003 he held the position of State Secretary in the cabinet of the Slovenian Prime Minister, after which he served as Slovenian Ambassador to the OSCE. In 2005, he was also Chairman of the Permanent Council of the OSCE in Vienna. In 2000 he served as Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the following year he became the Diplomatic Adviser to the then Slovenian Prime Minister. Between 1994 and 1999 he was posted to Slovenia's Permanent Representation to the United Nations (UN) in New York, where he also served as the alternate representative of Slovenia on the UN Security Council. Mr Lenarčič holds a degree in international law from Ljubljana University.

Was Niccolò Oddi a Jesuit?: Pamphlets, News, and His Disputed Deathbed Religious Profession

This essay explores the life and career of Niccolò Oddi (1715–67). Associated with Ludovico Maria Torrigiani, the pro-Jesuit secretary of state during the pontificate of Clement xiii, Oddi was not himself a member of the Society, but a man who would defend it in the years when the survival of the order was the principal issue that occupied the papal court, and when Europe was abuzz with polemical anti-Jesuit tracts. As papal nuncio in Switzerland, Oddi opposed the printing and circulation of anti-Jesuit publications; later, he became the archbishop of Ravenna and a cardinal. By some he is considered a Jesuit, for he seems to have joined the Society just before his death by making religious profession. Did this really happen? Or, was it part of propaganda employed by the Jesuits themselves? Or, was it a myth circulated by Society’s enemies? Oddi’s case may be considered informative for many reasons. His alleged religious profession before dying, which was discussed in the newspapers of the time, can be interpreted as an important episode in the political-religious struggle that accompanied the suppression of the Jesuits between real and fake news.

R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Brind [1991] UKHL 4, House of Lords

Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Brind [1991] UKHL 4, House of Lords. The case considered whether the Secretary of State could restrict the editorial decisions of broadcasters as regards the way in which messages from spokespersons for proscribed organizations were broadcast. The United Kingdom was a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) when the case was heard, but the case also predates the passage of the Human Rights Act 1998. There is discussion of the legal position of the ECHR under the common law in the United Kingdom, and the concept of proportionality in United Kingdom’s domestic jurisprudence. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Thomas Webb.

R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Simms [1999] UKHL 33, in the House of Lords

Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Simms [1999] UKHL 33, House of Lords. The case considered whether the Secretary of State, and prison governors, could restrict prisoners’ access to journalists investigating alleged miscarriages of justice. In addition to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) Article 10 issues this raises, Lord Hoffmann also in obiter dicta discussed the relationship between the Human Rights Act 1998, parliamentary sovereignty, and the concept of legality. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Thomas Webb.

R (on the application of Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2017] UKSC 5, Supreme Court

Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case note summarizes the facts and decision in R (on the application of Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2017] UKSC 5, Supreme Court. This case concerned whether the government could rely on the prerogative power to issue a notification of the United Kingdom’s intention to secede from the European Union under Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union, or whether parliamentary authorization was required. There is also a brief discussion of the Sewel Convention. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Thomas Webb.