Ran Hirschl

Professor
Canada Research Chair in Constitutionalism, Democracy, and Development
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada

Biography

His primary areas of interest are Canadian and comparative legal institutions, constitutional law, and judicial politics. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC). From 2006 to 2016 he held the Canada Research Chair in Constitutionalism, Democracy & Development. Professor Hirschl is the author of several major books, including 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; Comparative Matters: The Renaissance of Comparative Constitutional Law (Oxford University Press, 2014) – winner of the 2015 APSA C. Herman Pritchett award for the best book on law and courts; and City, State: Comparative Constitutionalism and the Mega-City (Oxford University Press, 2020), as well as over 120 articles and book chapters on constitutional law and its intersection with comparative politics and society published in major social science journals (e.g. Comparative Politics, Political Theory, Journal of Political Philosophy, Law & Social Inquiry, Constellations, Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Revue Française de Science Politique, Annual Review of Political Science), public law journals (e.g. International Journal of Constitutional Law, American Journal of Comparative Law, Human Rights Quarterly, Chicago Law Review, Harvard International Law Journal), and agenda-setting edited collections (e.g. Cambridge Companion to Comparative Constitutional Law, Oxford Handbook of Law & Politics). Professor Hirschl is the recipient of prestigious research fellowships and scholarly awards in five different countries: Canada, Israel, the United States, Australia and Germany, including, a Killam Research Fellowship by the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Alexander von Humboldt International Research Award by the Germany’s Humboldt Foundation. He has held distinguished visiting professorship positions at NYU, Harvard, and NUS. He is editor of a book series on comparative constitutional law and policy published by Cambridge University Press, and the former co-president of the International Society of Public Law. His work on the intersection of social science and public law has been translated into various languages, discussed in numerous scholarly fora, cited in high court decisions (most recently in 2020 by the Supreme Court of Canada), and addressed in media venues worldwide.

Research Interests

• Canadian and Comparative Legal Institutions
• Constitutional Law
• Judicial Politics

Recent News

• ‘Field-defining’ book by Professor Ran Hirschl wins the 2021 Stein Rokkan Prize
• APSA Law & Courts Lasting Contribution Award
• Professor Ran Hirschl’s work quoted extensively by the Supreme Court of Canada
• Best Book on Law and Courts
• The Royal Society of Canada Names Four New Fellows from the Department
• Professor Ran Hirschl Releases New Book on Comparative Constitutional Studies
• Professor Ran Hirschl Is Awarded Prestigious 2012 Killam Research Fellowship for Comparative Constitutional Scholarship
• Professor Ran Hirschl is recipient of the 2011 Dennis Leslie Mahoney Prize in Legal Theory and will deliver the Julius Stone Address in 2012
• Laying down the law on teaching: Ran Hirschl

Recent Publications

• City, State: Constitutionalism and the Megacity
• Comparative Matters: The Renaissance of Comparative Constitutional Law
• Constitutional Theocracy