Ester Herlin-Karnell

Professor

Department of Law

Telephone

+46 31-786 15 18

Mail

ester.herlin-karnell@law.gu.se

Visiting address

Vasagatan 1

41124 Göteborg

Room number

C517

Postal address

Box 650

40530 Göteborg

About Ester Herlin-Karnell

I am a Professor of EU law. My main research interests lie in the area of EU constitutional law, EU security regulation, EU criminal law & market regulation, constitutional law theory, and political theory. I was previously a Professor of EU Constitutional Law and Justice and a University Research Chair at VU University Amsterdam where I was the co-director and founder of the Centre for European Legal Studies (2009-2019). I hold a DPhil in law from Somerville, College Oxford, an LLM from King’s College London, and a Jur Kand (LLM) from Stockholm University.

I have been a visiting fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Uppsala University School of Law, New York University (Emile Noël Fellow), Michigan University Law School, European University Institute, WZB Berlin Centre for Global Constitutionalism, the Global Trust Centre at Tel Aviv University, Haifa University Minerva Centre for the Rule of Law under Extreme Conditions and at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. I have also been a visiting professor at the Global Law program at Haifa University.

My publications include The Constitutional Structure of Europe’s Area of “Freedom, Security and Justice ” and the Right to Justification, (Hart publishing 2019), Market manipulation and insider trading: regulatory challenges in the United States of America, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Hart publishing 2019 with N Ryder) and The Constitutional Dimension of European Criminal Law, (Hart Publishing 2012) and numerous articles and book chapters. I am also the co-author (with G Conway & A Ganesh) of European Union Law in Context, a textbook published in 2021. I have also co-edited several edited volumes and special journal issues. Recent edited volumes include: 'From constitutionalism to war: the public uses of coercion and force', Oxford University Press (co-edited with E Rossi) and Constitutionalism Justified: Rainer Forst in Discourse (co-edited M Klatt and assistant editor H Morales Zúniga, Oxford University Press 2019).

I am currently a work package leader (WP3) of an EU Horizon funded project HRJust on human rights justifications and a co-convenor of a research cluster on European Constitutional Law & Comparative Constitutional Law at GU.

Moreover, I am an Associate Editor of Jus Cogens (Springer) and a member of the editorial boards of EUcrim and the Journal of Economic Criminology. I am also on the editorial advisory boards of the Nordic Journal of European Law and of Brill publishing EU criminal law book series respectively.

Current PhD supervision at GU: Dmitrii Kuznetsov “Separation of powers and the role of the judiciary in implementation of states’ environmental obligations” (main supervisor), Johanna Gipperth, "EU External Relations and Climate Change" ( HRJust project- main supervisor), Hugo Lundberg "understanding sanctions in international law from a theoretical lens" - (second supervisor).

For a publication list, please see my CV. For an interview in connection with my professorship here (see this link in Swedish).

On other web sites

Research areas

EU criminal law, AFSJ law, market regulation, data protection
EU constitutional law
Constitutional theory & political theory, especially republican theory and Kantian theory

Teaching areas

Current and recent teaching areas:

EU law
Area of Freedom, Security and Justice & Comparative Constitutional Law
Legal theory
EU Criminal Law
Criminal law

Some recent and selected publications

with M Arvidsson (eds), Animals Rights The Role of the EU Charter (Verfassungsbooks 2025).

“Privatisation and Climate Change: a Question of Duties?” Jus Cogens (2024), pp 89-108

"The Constitutional Concepts of Sustainability and Dignity", Jus Cogens (2023), pp 125-148.

"The Constitutional Concept of Solidarity in EU Law: Some Reflections on the Interrelationship Between Solidarity, Constituent Power, and Non-Domination" (2023) Nordic Journal of European Law, pp 131-142

"Republican theory and the EU: Emergency Laws and Constitutional Challenges", Jus Cogens (2021), pp 209-228.

(with E Rossi) From Constitutionalism to War: The Public uses of Coercion and Force (Oxford University Press 2021) edited volume with comments and reply by Arthur Ripstein

(with M Klatt) Constitutionalism Justified - Rainer Forst in Discourse (Oxford University Press 2019), edited volume with comments and reply by Rainer Forst.

The Constitutional Structure of Europe’s Area of “Freedom, Security and Justice ” and the Right to Justification, Hart publishing 2019

(with C Gómez-Jara Díez ), "Prosecuting EU Financial Crimes: The European Public Prosecutor’s Office in Comparison to the US Federal Regime" (2018) vol 19 German Law Journal 1191-1220

The domination of security and the promise of justice: on justification and proportionality in Europe’s ‘Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, (2017) Transnational Legal Theory, pp 79-102

The Constitutional Dimension of European Criminal Law, (Hart Publishing 2012)