As hoped for in the editorial of the latest issue of the Sorbonne Student Law Review, in the past few months, teaching and research activities have resumed within the university’s walls. This includes the Review’s activities, as our conference on “Law and Francophone songs” actually took place on-campus last September. We have been delighted by the richness and diversity of the talks delivered by Professor Jean-Christophe Barbato (Defence of Francophone songs and EU Law), Simon Lhermite (The role of the “SACEM” - Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music - in the evolution of the Francophone music industry in the digital age) and Marion Chaube (Rappers’ freedom of expression).
However, in this issue, you won’t find this conference, but the one that was held a few months earlier, at a time when, in France, videoconferences were the only way to meet (at least lawfully) after 6 p.m. We are pleased to bring together two very different perspectives on the theme of this conference, which focused on the rather unknown notion of crypto-nationalism. From the point of view of French administrative law, Matthieu Febvre-Issaly (doctoral student in public law at the Institut de recherche de recherche juridique de la Sorbonne) studies the writings of René Chapus (one of the leading authors of administrative law in France in the second half of the twentieth century) on Europe, which show another side of the work of this author and where the two aspects noted by Ruth Sefton-Green in the doctrine of European private law – "crypto" and "nationalism" – can be particularly found. Benjamin Saunier (doctoral student in private international law at the Institut de recherche de recherche juridique de la Sorbonne) shows how private international law is an interesting field when it comes to crypto-nationalist trends, by focusing on two examples: applying an individual’s “national” law and displacing the applicable law because of public policy reasons (“ordre public”).
Also in this issue, the article written by Louise Maillet (doctoral student in International and European law at the Institut de recherche en droit international et européen de la Sorbonne) and Agathe Dighiero--Brecht (student at Paris Bar School and holder of a Master degree in International law from Université of Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne) echoes the current situation. They question the intensity of the control carried out by the European Court of Human Rights when it evaluates the derogatory measures introduced by the Member States (under Article 15 of the Convention, on derogation in time of emergency).
For the first time, the Sorbonne Student Law Review publishes an issue which is entirely written in French by students or alumni from Université Paris I – Panthéon-Sorbonne. You will also notice that this issue has fewer articles than the previous ones. It shows, first of all, that our reviewers have high standards. I would like to thank them for their rigour and commitment, which guarantee the quality of the content published by our Review. This decline in the number of articles published is also linked, however, to a decline in the number of submissions received. Although this encourages us to increase our efforts to improve the Review’s visibility within the academic community, we cannot help but see this decline as a sign of an overall fatigue (or “pandemic fatigue”), which is perfectly understandable in the context of a global sanitary crisis which sometimes seems endless.
How can we take these circumstances into account, as academic publishers? This question has recently been at the heart of an editorial[1] published by the European Journal of International Law (EJIL). The editorial focuses on academics with caring responsibilities, whose working conditions have been more severely affected by successive confinements[2]. However, the entire academic community could benefit from the proposals made in this editorial. Among these: encouraging the publication of shorter articles (in comparison with the “proverbial daunting academic article”). In particular, it is suggested that potential contributors be given the opportunity to submit articles in the form of responses to articles previously published by the same journal, which could appear in a “Debates” section (like the “EJIL: Debate!” section). This suggestion could be implemented by the Sorbonne Student Law Review, so if you have been disturbed or upset by an article published in this Review, do not hesitate to tell us why!
These questions, related to the evolution of a young academic journal (it is only our fourth volume), will be addressed by a new editorial team. After the departure of Vincent Bassani and the recent arrival of Lisa Forrer, Nolwenn Ribreau and Victor-Ulysse Sultra, whose contributions have been particularly valuable, will leave the Editorial Committee. Being able to count on such a team – of which Anne-Charlotte Cervello is also a member – has allowed me to perform serenely and confidently (at least, as much as possible!) duties which have been particularly rewarding, and which I myself will also very soon leave.
I therefore take advantage of these last lines to send my best wishes for success and encouragement to my successor (who will be appointed at the beginning of next month), and wish a long life to this publication!
Charlotte Collard
Editor-in-Chief – Doctoral student at the Sorbonne Law School
[1] S. Nouwen, J. Weiler and I•CON (International Journal of Constitutional Law) Editorial Team, « The Unequal Impact of the Pandemic on Scholars with Care Responsibilities: What Can Journals (and Others) Do? », European Journal of International Law, 2021, vol. 32, issue 2, pp. 389-393. Available online: https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-unequal-impact-of-the-pandemic-on-scholars-with-care-responsibilities-what-can-journals-and-others-do/ [retrieved on January 18th, 2022]
[2] C. Flaherty, « Women Are Falling Behind », Inside Higher Ed, October 20th, 2020. Available online: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/10/20/large-scale-study-backs-other-research-showing-relative-declines-womens-research [retrieved on January 18th, 2022]