Ran Hirschl

Professor of Political Science and Law, Canada Research Chair in Constitutionalism, Democracy and Development

Sidney Smith Hall
Room 3125
100 St. George Street
Toronto, Ontario

Tel.: 416-978-5304
Email: ran.hirschl@utoronto.ca

Research interests
Canadian Constitutional Law
Comparative Constitutional Law
Judicial Decision-Making
Law and Globalization
Law and Religion

Publications

All Publications
See also Professor Hirschl's SSRN page.

Ran Hirschl (PhD, Yale) is Professor of Political Science and Law, and holds a Canada Research Chair in Constitutionalism, Democracy and Development at the University of Toronto. In 2012, he received a Killam Research Fellowship—one of Canada’s most prestigious research awards, granted by the Canada Council for the Arts. His research interests focus on comparative public law, and in particular comparative constitutional law and judicial politics. He is the author of three books: Towards Juristocracy: The Origins and Consequences of the New Constitutionalism (Harvard University Press, 2004 & 2007), Constitutional Theocracy (Harvard University Press, 2010)—winner of the 2011 Mahoney Prize in Legal Theory, and Comparative Matters (Harvard University Press, forthcoming in 2014), as well as over seventy (70) articles and book chapters on comparative constitutionalism, the judicialization of politics worldwide, constitutional law and religion, and the intellectual history of public law.

Hirschl has been a Fellow at the Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Maimonides Fellow at the Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law and Justice (NYU), a Fulbright Scholar at Yale, and a Fellow at Princeton University’s Program in Law and Public Affairs. He served as the Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and as Global Visiting Professor of Law at NYU. In 2010, he received a University of Toronto Outstanding Teaching Award, and delivered the Annual Lecture in Law and Society at Oxford University. In 2012, he delivered the Annual Julius Stone Address at the University of Sydney. He is an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Law & Courts, and the International Journal of Constitutional Law (I-CON), and the co-editor of a book series on comparative constitutional law and policy published by Cambridge University Press.

Education
Ph.D. (With Distinction) - Yale University (1999)
M.Phil (High Honors) - Yale University (1996)
M.A. (Summa Cum Laude) - Tel-Aviv University (1993)
LL.B. - Tel-Aviv University (1992)
B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) - Tel-Aviv University (1989)
Academic appointments
* Maimonides Fellow, Straus Institute for Advanced Study of Law & Justice, NYU (2011-2012)
* Global Visiting Faculty, NYU School of Law (2010-present)
* Jeremiah Smith Jr. Visiting Professor of Law, Harvard Law School (2007-2008)
* Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford (2006-2007)
* Canada Research Chair (Tier I) (2006-present)
* Professor of Political Science & Law (2006-present)
* Associate Chair & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Political Science (2004-2006)
* Associate Professor of Political Science & Law (2003-2006)
* Fellow, Program in Law & Public Affairs, Princeton University (2002-2003)
* Assistant Professor of Political Science (1999-2003)
Awards and distinctions
* Killam Research Fellowship, Canada Council for the Arts (2012-2014)
* Canada Research Chair (Tier I) (2006-present)
* Julius Stone Address, University of Sydney (2012)
* Mahoney Prize in Legal Theory (2011)
* Outstanding Teaching Award, University of Toronto (2010)
* Annual Lecture in Law & Society, Oxford University (2010)
* SSHRC Standard Research Grant (ranked 1st in country) 2002-2006
* Connaught Fellowship (2002)
* Fulbright Scholarship, Yale University (1994-1996)
Other service
* Member, Canada Research Chairs College of Reviewers
* Co-Editor, Comparative Constitutional Law & Policy, Book Series, Cambridge University Press
* Executive Committee Member, International Society of Comparative Public Law
* Editorial Board Member, I-CON International Journal of Constitutional Law
* Editorial Board Member, Journal of Law & Courts
* Executive Board Member, Toronto Initiative for Economic and Social Rights
* Section Convener, International Association of Constitutional Law World Congress 2010
Other info

Keynote addresses, invited talks and research presentations

American Association of Comparative Law (2012 plenary panel); American Political Science Association Annual Meeting (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 plenary panel, 2007, 2009, 2011 plenary panel, 2012); Association of Israel Studies Annual Meeting (1998; 2010 Law & Constitution Section Chair); Baylor University (Miller Annual Lecture 2012); Boston University (School of Law 2008); Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting (2005, 2010 plenary panel); Columbia University (School of Law 2013); Collège de France, Paris (2013); European University Institute, Florence (2011 keynote address); Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2013); Fordham University (School of Law 2006); Georgetown University (Law Center 2010); George Washington University (Law School 2010, 2011, 2012); Harvard University (Harvard Law School 2008; Islamic Legal Studies Program 2008); Hong Kong University (2011); Indiana University, Bloomington (School of Law 2003, 2011, 2012); Institute for Advanced Study (Wissenschaftskolleg), Berlin (2010); International Political Science Association World Congress (2000, 2006); International Association of Constitutional Law World Congress (2010 Workshop Convener); Johns Hopkins University (Department of Political Science, 2005); Law & Society Association Annual Meeting (2002, 2004, 2010, 2013 plenary panel); Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, Germany (2012); Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, Germany (2013); New England Political Science Association Annual Meeting (2005); New School for Social Research, New York (2011); Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting (2004, 2007, 2011, 2012); New York University (School of Law 2004, 2011; Straus Institute for Advanced Study of Law & Justice 2011, 2012, 2013); Oxford University (2010 Annual Lecture in Law & Society); Princeton University (Center for Human Values 2008; Program in Law and Public Affairs 2003); Stanford University (Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences 2006; Law School 2007); Suffolk University (Law School, 2008); Turkish Bar Association, Ankara (2004); Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM, Mexico City (2010); University of British Columbia (2006); University of California, Berkeley (Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program 2008, 2009); University of Chicago (Law School 2010); University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (College of Law 2003); University of London (King's College, Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, 2009); University of Maryland (Department of Government 2000, 2002; School of Law at 2006, 2009); University of Southern California (Distinguished Visitor, Gould School of Law 2008); University of Sydney (2012 Annual Julius Stone Address); University of Texas at Austin (Department of Political Science 2007, 2012; School of Law 2004, 2009); University of Turku, Finland (2009 keynote address); University of Western Ontario (2010); University of Washington (Comparative Law & Society Studies Center 2012); William and Mary (School of Law 2006, 2007); Yale University (Center for Area and International Studies 2006; Yale Law School 2012); Yeshiva University (Cardozo Law School 2009, 2012); York University (2008, 2010, 2011).

Selected Publications

Ran Hirschl, "From Comparative Constitutional Law to Comparative Constitutional Studies," I-CON International Journal of Constitutional Law 11 (2013): 1-12 

Ran Hirschl, Constitutional Theocracy (Harvard University Press, 2010)

Ran Hirschl, Towards Juristocracy (Harvard University Press, 2004 & 2007)

Ran Hirschl and Ayelet Shachar, "The New Wall of Separation: Permitting Diversity, Restricting Competition," Cardozo Law Review 30 (2009): 2535-2560 

Ran Hirschl, "The Judicialization of Mega-Politics and the Rise of Political Courts," Annual Review of Political Science 11 (2008): 93-118                                                                                                

Ran Hirschl, “The Question of Case Selection in Comparative Constitutional Law,” American Journal of Comparative Law 53 (2005): 125-155