Dr Eric C. Ip
Department of Law
CENTRE FOR MEDICAL ETHICS AND LAW
Associate Professor
Deputy Director, Centre for Medical Ethics and Law
Director of the BSocSc (Govt&Laws) & LLB Programme
DPhil (Oxford), MSt (Oxford), MBEth (Sydney), LLM (KCL), LLB (New England), BSocSc (Govt&Laws) (HKU)
FRSPH (UK)
Biography
Eric C. Ip (DPhil, University of Oxford) is an Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Centre for Medical Ethics and Law at The University of Hong Kong (HKU).
Ip is an expert in comparative public law, with applications to public health. His research on comparative administrative and constitutional law has been published in peer-reviewed periodicals such as The American Journal of Comparative Law, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, International & Comparative Law Quarterly, and International Journal of Constitutional Law. He is the sole author of Hybrid Constitutionalism (Cambridge University Press, 2019) and Judging Regulators (Edward Elgar, 2020), and a co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Administrative Law (Oxford University Press, 2021).
Ip’s work on the law and ethics of public health has appeared in The Lancet Public Health, The Lancet Planetary Health, American Journal of Public Health, Medical Law Review, Journal of Law and the Biosciences, Health Economics, Policy and Law, and Public Health Ethics. He is pioneering a new paradigm of planetary health law, which helps to develop a more coherent legal regime that addresses, among other things, the implications of the climate crisis on health and human rights. He teaches global health law for the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine at HKU. He holds an advanced degree from the Faculty of Medicine and Health at The University of Sydney, specialising in bioethics.
Prior to joining HKU, Ip taught at University College London (UCL) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where he served as Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Law. He has received the Young Researcher Award (2014) and Research Excellence Award (2015) from CUHK, and the Faculty Research Output Prize (2017), Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award (2018), University Research Output Prize (2020), Faculty Research Output Prize (2021), and University Outstanding Young Researcher Award (2021) from HKU, in recognition of his achievements in research or teaching.
Research Area
- Comparative Administrative Law
- Comparative Constitutional Law
- Public Health Law and Ethics
- Planetary Health Law and Ethics
more details
Research
Awards
Service
Editorship and Professional Affiliation
Select Research Grants
Books (Author)
Ip, EC (2023) Public Health and the Law: Comparative Lessons from Hong Kong under Chinese Sovereignty. Routledge, New York. Forthcoming.
Villalta Puig, G, Ip, EC (2023) The Freest Market in the World: The Constitutional Logic of Economic Liberty in Hong Kong. Routledge, New York, Forthcoming.
Ip, EC (2022) Behavioral Public Choice Economics and the Law. Springer, Singapore.
Ip, EC (2022) Law and Justice in Hong Kong: Principles of the Legal System, 4th edn. Sweet & Maxwell, Hong Kong.
Ip, EC (2020) Judging Regulators: The Political Economy of Anglo-American Administrative Law. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.
Ip, EC (2019) Hybrid Constitutionalism: The Politics of Constitutional Review in the Chinese Special Administrative Regions. Cambridge University Press, New York.
Book (Editor)
Cane, P, Hofmann, HCH, Ip, EC, Lindseth, P (eds) (2021) The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Administrative Law. Oxford University Press, New York.
Select Book Chapters
Ip, EC (2022) Administrative justice in authoritarian states. In: Tomlinson, T, Thomas, R, Hertogh M, Kirkham R (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Administrative Justice. Oxford University Press, New York.
Thomson, S, Ip, EC (2021) Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China: Legal response to Covid-19. In: King, J, Ferraz, O (eds) The Oxford Compendium of National Legal Responses to Covid-19. Oxford University Press, New York. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/law-occ19/e8.013.8
Ip, EC (2021) Comparative constitutional politics in the Chinese special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. In: Hirsch Ballin, EMH, van der Schyff, G, de Visser, M, Stremler M (eds) European Yearbook of Constitutional Law 2020. Springer and TMC Asser Press, The Hague. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-431-0_6
Ip, EC (2021) Parliamentary regimes. In: Cane, P, Hofmann, HCH, Ip, EC, Lindseth, P (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Administrative Law. Oxford University Press, New York.
Ip, EC (2016) Legal profession and representation. In: Chui WH, Lo, TW (ed), Understanding Criminal Justice in Hong Kong, 2nd edn. Routledge, New York.
Select Journal Publications
Ip, EC, Cheung D (2022) Mapping the legal foundations of planetary mental health. Global Mental Health. Forthcoming.
Thomson, S, Ip, EC, & Lee, S (2022). International comparisons of COVID-19 case and mortality data and the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions: A plea for reconsideration. Journal of Biosocial Science. 1-7. DOI: 10.1017/S0021932021000547 Forthcoming.
Ip, EC (2022) Enforcing global health law in domestic legal systems: a case study of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Tsinghua China Law Review. 14(1). Forthcoming.
Ip, EC (2022) The natural law ethics of public health lockdowns. Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy. 36(1):101-124.
Ip, EC, Lee SF (2021) The constitutional determinants of planetary health. The Lancet Planetary Health. 5(6):E331-E332. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00078-4
Ip, EC (2021) Law, virtue, and public health powers. Public Health Ethics. 14(2):148-160 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/phe/phab014
Ip, EC (2021) The constitutional economics of the World Health Organization. Health Economics, Policy and Law. 16(3):325-339. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744133120000249
Ip, EC (2021) The political determinants of China’s new health constitution. Medical Law Review. 29(1):3-23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwaa030
Thomson, S, Ip, EC (2020) COVID-19 emergency measures and the impending authoritarian pandemic. Journal of Law and the Biosciences 7(1):lsaa064. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jlb/lsaa064
Cheung, D, Ip, EC (2020) COVID-19 lockdowns: a public mental health ethics perspective. Asian Bioethics Review 12:503-510. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41649-020-00144-0
Thomson, S, Ip, EC (2020) COVID-19 emergency measures are hurting democracy globally. American Journal of Public Health 110(9):1356-1357. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305816
Ip, EC, Cheung, D (2020) Global mental health security—time for action. JAMA Health Forum 1(6): e200622-e200622. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2020.0622
Ip, EC (2020) Hong Kong—The unprecedented promulgation of public health emergency regulations amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Public Law 2020(2): 580-582.
Lee, SF, Ip, EC (2020) Preparing for the coming transnational cancer crisis amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Cancer Causes & Control 31: 703-704. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-020-01310-3
Ip, EC (2020) China’s new public health constitution: a cause for hope? The Lancet Public Health 5(4): e190-e191. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30050-5
Lee, E, Ip, EC (2020) Judicial diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific: theory and evidence from the Singapore-initiated transnational judicial insolvency network. Journal of Corporate Law Studies 20(2): 389-420. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14735970.2019.1701174
Ip, EC (2020) Hong Kong—constitutional limits on emergency powers amid the 2019 crisis. Public Law 2020(1): 182-185.
Ip, EC (2019) Hong Kong—Mainland Chinese enclave in highspeed railway station held constitutional, Leung Chung Hang Sixtus v President of the Legislative Council [2019] 1 HKLRD 292. Public Law 2019(4): 792-795.
Ip, EC (2019) The virtuous epidemiologist. Journal of Public Health 41(4): 864-869. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdy198
Ip, EC (2019) Anorexia nervosa, advance directives, and the law: a British perspective. Bioethics 33(8): 931-936. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12593
Ip, EC, Yap PJ (2019) Substantive review of administrative discretion in Hong Kong: divergence between judicial rhetoric and practice. The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law 7(1): 190-211. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cjcl/cxz006
Ip, EC (2019) Constitutional finance: the role of the Hong Kong Basic Law during the global financial crisis. Hong Kong Law Journal 49(1): 295-314.
Ip, EC, Kwok, KHF (2017) Judicial control of local protectionism in China: antitrust enforcement against administrative monopoly on the Supreme People’s Court. Journal of Competition Law & Economics 13(3): 549-575. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/joclec/nhx018
Ip, EC (2017) Debiasing regulators: the behavioral economics of US administrative law. Common Law World Review 46(3): 171-197. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1473779517725507
Ip, EC (2017) Interpreting interpretations: a methodology for the judicial enforcement of legislative interpretations of the Hong Kong Basic Law. Public Law 2017(4): 552-562.
Ip, EC (2016) Comparative subnational foreign relations law in the Chinese Special Administrative Regions. International & Comparative Law Quarterly 65(4): 953-968. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020589316000427
Ip, EC (2016) The politics of constitutional common law in Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty. Washington International Law Journal 25(3): 565-595.
Partlett, WE, Ip, EC (2016) Is socialist law really dead? New York University Journal of International Law and Politics 48: 463-511.
Ip, EC (2016) Constitutional conflict in Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty. Hague Journal on the Rule of Law 8(1): 75-99. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40803-016-0025-y
Ip, EC (2015) Prototype constitutional supervision in China: the lessons of the Hong Kong Basic Law Committee. Asian Journal of Comparative Law 10(2): 323-342. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/asjcl.2016.2
Ip, EC (2015) The constitution of economic liberty in Hong Kong. Constitutional Political Economy 26(3): 307-327. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-015-9187-1
Ip, EC (2015) Mapping parliamentary law and practice in Hong Kong. The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law 3(1): 97-118. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cjcl/cxu005
Ip, EC (2014) Doctrinal antithesis in Anglo-American administrative law. Supreme Court Economic Review 22(1): 147-180. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/682017
Ip, EC (2014) Constitutional competition between the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal and the Chinese National People’s Congress Standing Committee: a game theory perspective. Law & Social Inquiry 39(4): 824-848. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/lsi.12036
Ip, EC (2014) Taking a “hard look” at “irrationality”: substantive review of administrative discretion in the US and UK Supreme Courts. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 34(3): 481-510. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ojls/gqu005
Ip, EC (2014) The democratic foundations of judicial review under authoritarianism: theory and evidence from Hong Kong. International Journal of Constitutional Law 12(2): 330-353. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/mou026
Ip, EC (2014) The high court of the people: popular constitutionalism in Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty. Law & Policy 36(3): 314-338. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/lapo.12023
Ip, EC (2014) Kong Yunming manifest unreasonableness: the doctrinal future of constitutional review of welfare policy in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Law Journal 44(1): 55-66.
Ip, EC (2014) The judicial review of legislation in the United Kingdom: a public choice analysis. European Journal of Law and Economics 37(2): 221-247. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-011-9281-4
Ip, EC (2013) The evolution of constitutional adjudication in the Chinese Special Administrative Regions: theory and evidence. The American Journal of Comparative Law 61(4): 799-830. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5131/AJCL.2013.0008
Jordan SR, Ip EC (2013) Demystifying the hermit kingdom: the constitution and public administration in North Korea. International Review of Administrative Sciences 79(3): 544-562. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852313490576
Ip, EC (2013) The institutional foundations of Supreme Court power in Britain’s representative democracy. Representation: The Journal of Representative Democracy 49(3): 281-293. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2013.830481
Ip, EC (2013) The economic structure of Hong Kong administrative law: efficiency and legality of government decision-making since China’s resumption of sovereignty. Washington University Global Studies Law Review 12(2): 227-261.
Ip, EC (2012) Judicial review in China: a positive political economy analysis. Review of Law and Economics 8(2): 331-366. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/1555-5879.1598
Ip, EC, Law MKH (2011) Decentralization, agency costs, and the new economic constitution of China. Constitutional Political Economy 22(4): 355-372. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-011-9110-3
Ip, EC (2011) A positive theory of constitutional judicial review: evidence from Singapore and Taiwan. Asian Journal of Law and Economics 2(4): 1-43. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/2154-4611.1050
Ip, EC (2011) The Supreme People’s Court and the political economy of judicial empowerment in contemporary China. Columbia Journal of Asian Law 24(2): 367-335.
Ip, EC (2010) Globalization and the future of the law of the sovereign state. International Journal of Constitutional Law 8(3): 636-655. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moq033
Ip, EC (2010) The Supreme Court and the making of public policy in contemporary China. The Michigan Journal of Public Affairs 7: 1-15.
Ip, EC (2009) The idea of law in classical Chinese legalist jurisprudence. Global Jurist 9(4): Article 2. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2202/1934-2640.1311
Other Academic Writings
Ip, EC, Wan, TTW (2022) The right to pursue happiness on a healthy planet is a fundamental right. BMJ Journal of Medical Ethics Blog, June 17, 2022. https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-ethics/2022/06/17/the-right-to-pursue-happiness-on-a-healthy-planet-is-a-fundamental-right/
Ip, EC (2021) Book essay: Judging Regulators: The Political Economy of Anglo-American Administrative Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2020). British Association of Comparative Law Blog, November 5, 2021. https://british-association-comparative-law.org/2021/11/05/judging-regulators-the-political-economy-of-anglo-american-administrative-law-edward-elgar-publishing-2020-by-eric-c-ip/
Ip, EC (2021) Courts, proportionality and COVID-19 lockdowns. International Association of Constitutional Law IACL-AIDC Blog, September 23, 2021. https://blog-iacl-aidc.org/covid19-future-constitutionalism/2021/9/23/courts-proportionality-and-covid-19-lockdowns
Ip, EC, Thomson S (2021) COVID-19 exceptionalism and the “new normal” of authoritarian governance. Administrative Law in the Common Law World, March 10, 2021. https://adminlawblog.org/2021/03/10/eric-c-ip-and-stephen-thomson-covid-19-exceptionalism-and-the-new-normal-of-authoritarian-governance/
Cheung, D, Ip, EC (2020) What are the obligations of the state? A public mental health ethics perspective on the Covid-19 lockdowns. BMJ Journal of Medical Ethics Blog, May 6, 2020.
https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-ethics/2020/05/06/what-are-the-obligations-of-the-state-a-public-mental-health-ethics-perspective-on-the-covid-19-lockdowns/
Ip, EC (2017) The morality of administrative law. Administrative Law Blog, May 22, 2017. https://adminlawblog.org/2017/05/22/eric-c-ip-the-morality-of-administrative-law/
Ip, EC (2016) Judicial scrutiny of administrative statutory interpretation: a comparative perspective. American Bar Association: Administrative & Regulatory Law News 41(4): 10.
University Outstanding Young Researcher Award, The University of Hong Kong (2020-2021)
Faculty Research Output Prize, The University of Hong Kong (2021)
University Research Output Prize, The University of Hong Kong (2020)
Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award, The University of Hong Kong (2018)
Faculty Research Output Prize, The University of Hong Kong (2017)
Research Excellence Award, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2015)
Young Researcher Award, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2014)
Founding Convenor and Co-convenor (Constitutional Law), Overseas Lawyers Qualification Examination (2014-2015)
Member, Constitutional and Human Rights Committee, Law Society of Hong Kong (2012-2016)
Member and Panel Chairman, Selection Board, Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowships/Scholarships, Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund Council (2012-2014)
Fellow, Royal Society of Public Health (UK) (2020-)
Editor, Hong Kong Law Journal (2022-)
Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Law and Social Inquiry (2016-2018)
Associate Editor, Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal (2010-2011)
Ip, Eric C. (Principal Investigator), RGC General Research Fund 2017, “The Constitutional Foundations of Free Markets: Economic Provisions of the Hong Kong Basic Law in Comparative Perspective,” Amount: HKD 892,484.
Ip, Eric C. (Principal Investigator), RGC Early Career Scheme 2013, “Mitigating Cross-Border Constitutional Tensions: An Economic Analysis of the Design and Performance of the Committee for the Basic Law of Hong Kong,” Amount: HKD 233,000.