Stefano Osella and Graziella Romeo on Something’s Wrong with Traditionalism: LGBTQI+ Rights in Comparative Perspective (AsJCL)

"Something’s Wrong with Traditionalism: LGBTQI+ Rights in Comparative Perspective"
Stefano Osella and Graziella Romeo
Asian Journal of Comparative Law
Published online: January 2026

Abstract: This article problematises traditionalist thinking in constitutional adjudication in relation to the rights of same-sex couples, especially those rights that are connected to family life. It identifies two approaches, represented respectively by the case law of the Italian Constitutional Court (ItCC) and the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) of the Hong Kong SAR of the People’s Republic of China. The ItCC has expressly stated that preserving traditional family forms is a reasonable objective per se for the legislature to pursue. The CFA, on the other hand, has challenged this approach to traditionalist thinking in relation to same-sex unions. Despite some contradictory signals within its case law, the CFA has stated that justifying differential treatment based on sexual orientation with reference to tradition is circular reasoning. Drawing on historical, anthropological, and philosophical sources, this article argues that invoking the preservation of tradition, despite its rhetorical force, is empirically and conceptually criticisable and, ultimately, unpersuasive.

Alec Stone Sweet & Giacinto della Cananea in Conversation with Sabino Cassese, Justice of the Italian Constitutional Court (2005-2014) (German LJ)

"A Conversation with Sabino Cassese (born in 1935, Justice of the Italian Constitutional Court (2005-2014))"
Alec Stone Sweet and Giacinto della Cananea
German Law Journal (2021), 22, pp. 1526–1540

'A. Training and Academia

S. Cassese: I knew the hard sciences were not for me. I preferred history or philosophy. But a degree in these fields would not open the road to a job. I chose law, then brought my interest in history and philosophy to my legal studies.

                                                        ...

E. Challenges, Past and Future

S. Cassese: ... I share the view that we had an important period in which great progress was made, and now we are experiencing a certain regression. On the other side, one sees the development of a global public sphere, of the kind that Habermas theorized. If an African-American is killed by policemen in an American city, people see it on TV all over the world and the reaction is global. There now exists an ongoing process of “education,” so to speak, in favor of human rights. People are also much more mobile. The world now has more than seven and a half billion people, and they travel, live, and work abroad, migrate. The politics of rights protection can’t be kept strictly national and it never truly was.'  Click here to read the full conversation.

Gabriele Spina Alì on Parody and Italian IP Law (EIPR)

"A Bay of Pigs Crisis in Southern Europe? Fan-dubbing and Parody in the Italian Peninsula"
Gabriele Spina Alì (PhD Candidate)
European Intellectual Property Review
2015, Vol 37, Issue 12, pp 756-764

Abstract: In the YouTube era overdubbing parodies, produced by juxtaposing new ironical auditory plot lines and screenplays on famous video motions, represent a noteworthy creative reality. In Italy, the lack of a legislative regulation of parodies causes ambiguities over the infringing status of overdubbing creations in respect to the copyright in the parodied work. This article shows how overdubbing practices exasperated the fragile construction on which Italian courts have upheld a general "freedom of parodying", while also urging Italian legislative bodies to take prompt action so that "freedom to operate" is guaranteed to parodists, whose contributions play a key-role in enriching our societies through the amusing, but in the meantime cathartically reflexive, instrument of laughter.