The first-ever international journal on military law – Forces Law Review – has an Indian connection, as three Indian lawyers and a former High Court judge form part of FLR’s editorial team.
The first-of-its-kind journal was recently launched as a joint initiative of the National Institute of Military Justice (NIMJ) in Washington DC, USA, and the Centre for Constitution and Public Policy (CCPP), University Institute of Legal Studies, Panjab University in Chandigarh.
It would cover a wide array of legal matters concerning defense services and other uniformed forces, including the Police, Paramilitary, and the Armed Police Forces.
Advocate Navdeep Singh has been chosen as one of three Chief Editors to review the content of the journal, which would mainly publish the text and case briefs of important judgments from all over the world, especially verdicts from constitutional or appellate courts having precedential value.
FLR would also carry a separate section on briefs of recent important developments on the subject and another section for contributed opinion pieces approved by the editors.
Apart from the Chief Editors, the journal has an Editorial Advisory Board (Honorary), which boasts three Indian names. These are Justice Rajiv Narain Raina, former judge of Punjab & Haryana High Court; Additional Solicitor General of India Aishwarya Bhati; and Senior Advocate Sanjeev Sharma.
Advocate Navdeep Singh practices mainly before the Punjab & Haryana High Court and is a member of the Commonwealth Military Justice Advisory Committee. He was also a part of the drafting committee for the Stellenbosch Draft Commonwealth Military Justice Principles as well as the Yale Draft Military Justice principles at Yale Law School.
The other Chief Editors (Honorary) nominated by NIJM and CCPP include
Professor Franklin Rosenblatt of the Mississippi College School of Law, USA, and Director of CCPP, Professor Shruti Bedi.
Professor Rosenblatt serves as the current President of NIMJ; Judge of the National Guard Court of Appeals and is also a former Judge Advocate General (JAG) officer of the US Army.
Professor Bedi also serves as the current Director of the University Institute of Legal Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh.
Members of the Editorial Advisory Board (Honorary) include Justice Raina, ASG Bhati, Senior Advocate Sharma, Justice Maria Elizabeth Rocha (Brazil), Judge Alan Large (UK), Professor Daniel Maurer (USA), Professor Brenner Fissell (USA), Professor Gwenaël GUYON (France), Professor Rachel VanLandingham (USA), Professor Eugene Fidell (USA) who is the former Head of the Office of Civil and Criminal Justice Reform, Commonwealth Secretariat, Francisca Pretorious (South Africa), Dr Song Tianying (Italy), Ms. Shivani Dasmahapatra (India) and Dr. Ronald Naluwairo (Uganda).
Further, six Student Editors would be selected each year from law schools worldwide to edit the headnotes for the judgments meant to be published.
All editorial positions would be honorary and unpaid.
The journal would be published by The Browser, Chandigarh, and distributed by Simon & Schuster.
The first volume of FLR is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2025.