Kramer on European Civil Procedure http://t.co/hnlJRj7RVN
— Lawrence Solum (@lsolum) December 31, 2013
31 December 2013
LECTURE: Kramer on European Civil Procedure
EVENT: Call for Judges for Oxford's 2014 Jessup Team
This year's problem question relates to the law of the sea and criminal jurisdiction, however input from those with a general knowledge of PIL would also be most helpful.
Little or no preparation is required. Practice judges would be given a summary of facts in advance (with further pleadings, if requested) and asked to attend a session at Keble College on an evening of their choice from 5-7pm. Practice judges who are willing to attend more than one session are very much encouraged to do so.
If interested, please sign up online here, taking note of the room where the session will take place.
The Jessup team would like to express its gratitude in advance to those who volunteer.
Please direct all questions to Bríd Ní Ghráinne at brid.nighrainne@sant.ox.ac.uk
CALL FOR PAPERS: Transnational Perspectives for Equality Law
Transnational Perspectives for Equality Law—Washington, DC: Organizers invite proposals and papers for the 201... http://t.co/EJ3fu0jjFZ
— LegalScholarshipBlog (@LegalScholBlog) December 30, 2013
30 December 2013
MAP: World Map Distorted by Population
World map distorted by population
Source: http://t.co/1seJyRRAqr
- pic.twitter.com/DYJYVcFbBz
— Amazing Maps (@Amazing_Maps) December 30, 2013
LAW AND RELIGION: The Top Five New Law and Religion Papers on SSRN
The Top Five New Law & Religion Papers on SSRN http://t.co/dEzZ3LxZnK
— Ctr Law & Religion (@CtrLawReligion) December 30, 2013
BOOK: Bajada on Abuse of Rights in Maltese Jurisprudence
Diana
Bajada's Abuse of
Rights in Maltese Jurisprudence: A Civil Law Concept within a
Mixed Jurisdiction is now available:
This book provides an inquiry
into the concept of abuse of rights as understood under civil law, common law
and mixed jurisdictions, giving a comparative view which yields identifiable
sources and general elements which make up the notion. Relevant legislative
texts dealing with the notion bring forth the accepted standards. An analysis
of court judgments, nonetheless, exposes also other trends. A study of Maltese
jurisprudence, keeping also in mind the comparative perspective, determines
whether elements identified as emanating from the notion are mere
characteristics, or whether they are requisites without which the defendant
cannot be held liable for tort. The French system appears to remain the central
model by which jurisdictions continue to be inspired. This study brings out
whether Maltese judges have, notwithstanding the influx of a common law
mentality, remained true to the original source. A comparative analysis exposes
how Malta tends towards offering the most flexible and all-encompassing approach,
this by employing its rationale of a mixed jurisdiction, typified by its
customary blending of the civil and the common law.
LEGAL PHILOSOPHY: The Attitudinal Model and the New Institutionalism
Legal Theory Lexicon: The Attitudinal Model & the New Institutionalism http://t.co/ioS6l91yOt
— Lawrence Solum (@lsolum) December 30, 2013
29 December 2013
ARTICLE: Whitman on the Transition to Modernity in Criminal Law
Whitman on the Transition to Modernity in Criminal Law: James Q. Whitman, Yale Law School, has posted The Tran... http://t.co/hX4hVbLl9T
— Legal History Blog (@legalhistory) December 29, 2013
CALL FOR PAPERS: Journal Informatica e diritto
Call for Papers: Journal Informatica e diritto: A call for papers has been issued for a special issue on the t... http://t.co/6rWhOzDt8B
— LegalScholarshipBlog (@LegalScholBlog) December 29, 2013
ARTICLE: Indian Family Sees Its History in a Shirt
Native American property, cultural legacy, family, and law in today's @nytimes: http://t.co/PikpXnLL9T
— Race, Law & History (@Racelawhistory) December 29, 2013
CALL FOR PAPERS: Legal Education and Training and the Professions (28.02)
New: CFP: Legal Education and Training and the Professions (28.02) http://t.co/w69cjRnOAM
— Judicial Philosophy (@JudicialPhil) December 29, 2013
CONFERENCE: Indian Law
Indian Law Conference – Santa Fe, NM: The Federal Bar Association hosts the 39th Annual Indian Law Conference ... http://t.co/ATTd3N8sz6
— LegalScholarshipBlog (@LegalScholBlog) December 29, 2013
28 December 2013
OPPORTUNITY: Deputy Director, British and Irish Legal Information Institute
Reminder: Job: Deputy Director, British and Irish Legal Information Institute (DL: 19.01.2014) http://t.co/s0rSnPtjmt #Opportunities
— Judicial Philosophy (@JudicialPhil) December 28, 2013
27 December 2013
INDIGENOUS LAW: American Federal Recognition Process (Indian Law)
Federal Recognition Process (Indian Law)—Tempe, AZ: The Indian Legal Program at Sandra Day O’Connor College of... http://t.co/gahEmzwiMn
— LegalScholarshipBlog (@LegalScholBlog) December 27, 2013
LAW & RELIGION: Law and Religion Stories Around the Web this Week
Law and religion stories around the web this week: http://t.co/X7Xj0ZXyCW via @CLRForum #lawandreligion
— Ctr Law & Religion (@CtrLawReligion) December 27, 2013
MAP: Upside Down World Map
Upside down world map
Source: http://t.co/dFNMVMz8xj pic.twitter.com/Plip14pes7
— Amazing Maps (@Amazing_Maps) December 27, 2013
CONFERENCE: 11th Annual BIICL Merger Conference
This year's speakers are:
- Giulio Federico, European Commission
- Clara Ingen-Housz, Linklaters Hong Kong
- Nelson Jung, Office of Fair Trading
- Edyth Kyegombe, Shell
- Andrea Lofaro, RBB Economics
- Johannes Luebking, European Commission
- Adrian Majumdar, RBB Economics
- Philip Marsden, British Institute of International and Comparative Law
- Simon Pritchard, Linklaters
- Emily Roche, Rio Tinto
- Gregory Werden, US Department of Justice (Antitrust Division)
This conference will include the following
Panels:
-
Panel 1: Screens and Inferences in Mergers
- Panel 2: Efficiencies and Pro-competitive Remedies
- Panel 3: Hot Topics (Minority Stakes, Procedural Simplification, the Rise of MOFCOM)
Location: Fondation Universitaire, rue d'Egmont 11, 1000 Bruxelles, Tuesday 21 January 2014 09:00 to 16:00.
Click here to download the Draft Programme and here to register.
ARTICLE: Law & Literature (As an Approach to Criminal Law)
Simon Stern’s ‘Law & Literature (As an
Approach to Criminal Law)’ is forthcoming in The Oxford Handbook of Criminal Law, Markus Dubber & Tatjana
Hörnle, eds. (Oxford UP 2014).
Abstract
'This book chapter discusses the use of literary
material as a means of studying criminal law. The chapter provides an overview
on various methods of combining legal and literary materials (law in
literature, literature in law, law as literature, legal aesthetics) and offers
two case studies (Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers" and Robert
Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) to show how
literature can open up questions both about substantive criminal law doctrines
and also about the grounds on which those doctrines are applied. Along the way,
the discussion shows how various scholars of criminal law, such as Nicola Lacey
and Anne Coughlin, have raised questions that have also provoked the interest
of literary scholars such as Dorrit Cohn and Blakey Vermeule.
The chapter also serves as a bibliography for
scholars seeking further resources that examine criminal law through the lens
of literature. These resources include bibliographies of primary texts (such as
crime-based fiction, "dying confessions" circulated at executions,
and movies), secondary texts (discussing law and criminal behavior in relation
to fiction, drama, and poetry), and web-based resources (such as the Old Bailey
Sessions Papers Online). In that spirit, the chapter also discusses some
research that is often overlooked in discussions of criminal law and literature
– such as Todd Herzog’s research on Weimar-era true-crime narratives that were
created from actual case files; Jonathan Eburne’s research on crime in the work
of the French surrealists; Lorna Hutson’s research on civic plots of detection
in renaissance drama and their relation to the development of evidence law; and
Lisa Rodensky’s work on narrative modes in Victorian fiction and their relation
to the treatment of mens rea in contemporaneous legal thought.
The chapter closes with some brief reflections
on the potential for current work in cognitive literary studies to change the
way we think about literature's relation to law, and, in particular, the way we
impose narrative templates on the events we experience.'
Full text of the article is available here.
ARTICLE: Berman on Legal Pluralism
11 International Journal of Constitutional Law 801-808 (2013) has published Paul Schiff Berman’s, ‘How Legal Pluralism Is and Is Not Distinct from Liberalism: A Response to Dennis Patterson and Alexis Galán’.
Abstract
Alexis Galan and Dennis Patterson largely
accept the descriptive account of plural authority described in my book, Global
Legal Pluralism: A Jurisprudence of Law Beyond Borders. However, they are
concerned that my normative argument for procedural mechanisms, institutional
designs, and discursive practices for managing pluralism is simply liberalism
in another guise and not pluralist enough. Given that pluralists are usually
criticized from the opposite side for an approach that results in too much
fragmentation and destabilization, I am in some sense happy to welcome this new
critique. After all, a position cannot easily be simultaneously too radical and
not radical enough. Nevertheless, while there is clearly a liberal bias at its
core, I don't think it's true that the pluralist vision I espouse is solely
liberalism in disguise. Accordingly, in this brief response, I sketch out ways
in which the proceduralist pluralism I advocate, while it is not necessarily
incompatible with liberalism, at least shifts the emphasis to a set of values
that are not always fully captured in the design of liberal procedures and
institutions.
The article is available here.
26 December 2013
MAP: Areas of the World that Were Once Part of the British Empire
Areas of the world that were once part of the British Empire- almost 25% of the Earth's total land area (Wikipedia) pic.twitter.com/qrQGAUix9n
— Amazing Maps (@Amazing_Maps) December 26, 2013
LAW & RELIGION: Constructing Muslims in France
Fredette, "Constructing Muslims in France: Discourse, Public Identity, and the Politics of Citizenship" http://t.co/TEtHJ1j9qg
— Ctr Law & Religion (@CtrLawReligion) December 26, 2013
25 December 2013
MAP: The 22 Countries Britain Hasn't Invaded
A map of the 22 countries Britain hasn't invaded pic.twitter.com/bliArT6tkS
— Amazing Maps (@Amazing_Maps) December 23, 2013
24 December 2013
JOURNAL: 'Global Jurist' On-Line
A new issue of 'Global Jurist' Volume 13, Issue 1 (Jan 2013) is
now available online from De Gruyter Online with a new article 'Incorporating Cultural
Dynamism into International Human Rights Law: A Solution from Anthropology' by Sean Goggin.
Abstract
Culture remains one of international human rights law’s most vexing subjects. While the right of minority groups to protect culture has existed for nearly four decades, fundamental questions still prevail in the jurisprudence in the area. To add to the unresolved debate, the essay argues for the incorporation of a new dynamic approach to culture, borrowed from the cultural insights of anthropology.
BOOK: International Criminal Procedure
Edward Elgar Publishing has published a new
book 'International Criminal Procedure. The Interface of Civil Law and Common
Law Legal Systems'.
Edited by Linda Carter, Professor of Law and Co-Director,
Global Center for Business and Development, University of the Pacific, McGeorge
School of Law, Sacramento, California, US and Fausto Pocar, Professor Emeritus
of International Law, University of Milan, Italy, Appeals Judge and past
President ICTY, The Hague, The Netherlands.
‘International Criminal Procedure, edited by two insiders to international criminal proceedings, Professor Linda Carter and Professor Fausto Pocar, a judge at the ICTY and a former President of this Tribunal, is a coherently organized, well-researched, very informative and not the least elegantly-written contribution to a young and rapidly developing legal sub-discipline. The book provides its reader with a highly accessible and up-to date introduction into key elements of international criminal procedure as well as with critical commentary and rich inspiration for improvements of current practices.’
– Claus Kreß LL.M.
(Cantab.), University of Cologne, Germany and Institute for International Peace
and Security Law.
‘This book addresses compelling issues that have come before international criminal tribunals. They include the self-representation of accused persons, plea bargaining and victim participation. It usefully approaches all of the issues and problems from a comparative law perspective. This excellent and accessible work is essential reading for practitioners, faculty and students of international criminal law.’
– Richard Goldstone,
Retired Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and former Chief
Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia
and for Rwanda
The emergence of international
criminal courts, beginning with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia and including the International Criminal Court, has also brought an
evolving international criminal procedure. In this book, the authors examine
selected issues that reflect a blending of, or choice between, civil law and
common law models of procedure. The topics include background on civil law and
common law legal systems; plea bargaining; witness proofing; written and oral
evidence; self-representation and the use of assigned, standby, and amicus
counsel; the role of victims; and the right to appeal.
International Criminal Procedure
will appeal to academics, students, researchers, lawyers and judges
working in the field of
international criminal law.
2013 272pp. Hardback 978 0 85793
9579 Regular price £ 80 Web price £ 72 ebook 978 0
85793 958 6
23 December 2013
20 December 2013
JURIS DIVERSITAS: PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE 2013
All,
I hope this finds each of you well.
I write on behalf of the Juris
Diversitas Committee with an update on our
activities, including next year’s annual conference, and links to additional
information.
It’s been another busy year.
Membership has expanded and we’ve made it reasonably easy to pay fees.
A new Committee was also elected for
2014-2017. We’ve already asked Professor Christa Rautenbach (North-West University
(South Africa)) to join the Committee as Outreach Officer, ie to help us expand
still further and to create formal links to associated individuals, groups,
institutes, etc. The new Committee will also be reviewing and updating the
membership of our Advisory Board.
In addition to our Blog
and Facebook
page, we now have a Twitter
account to help spread our message. For those who haven’t already done so, I
urge you to sign up for our notices at one of these sites. And while we’re
grateful to have three new bloggers (Paola Aurucci, Erin Branigan, and Irina
Moutaye), we’re still looking for volunteers. A satellite blog—I just made that up—is also being
developed with our Maltese members to focus on Mediterranean laws and norms.
We held a workshop in Turin last January (on ‘Visions of the Economy in the Islamic and Western Legal Traditions’),
as well as our first international, interdisciplinary Annual Conference (on the ‘diffusion’
of laws and norms) with our good friends at the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law. We hope to have two or three events in 2014. This includes our annual
conference, to be held at Aix-Marseille University (France) in July 2014. Events on microjurisdictions and on ‘Mediterranean
hybridities’ (with comparatists and anthropologists) are also being planned.
Finally, we’ve a half-dozen or so books (on the
concept of law, indigenous law, mixed systems, and ‘stateless law’) being
prepared for our Book Series with Ashgate
Publishing. Several should be published in 2014, including our Concepts of law collection which will be
given free to members paid in 2013. A separate volume will be provided free for
members in 2014.
To continue this work, it’s very important
that we receive your support, both through your membership fees and your help
in spreading the word about our activities. And, as always, we welcome
your thoughts. There’s so much more to be done.
We hope to see many of you soon. Best wishes to all
for the holidays and the new year.
Seán
JOURNAL: Rechtsgeschichte - Legal History (the journal of the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History)
As you may know, Rechtsgeschichte - Legal History, the journal of the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History (MPI-ELH), is available now both in print and online. This is part of a wholesale revision of the journal with the last issue.
In the latest issue, Thomas Duve, Director of the MPI-ELH, also contributes an Editorial and a short article introducing a discussion of Harold Berman's Law and Revolution.
Highly recommended.
JOURNAL - NEW!: European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance
Through an unusual arrangement with the World Society of Mixed Jurisdiction Jurists (WSMJJ), the new European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance has brought together some two dozen articles generated by the WSMJJ Congress in the summer of 2011.As I write in my introduction to this collection, the Congress
reflected a thriving Society consolidating its core scholarship on classical mixed jurisdictions (Israel, Louisiana, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Quebec, Scotland, and South Africa) while reaching to new horizons (including Cyprus, Hong Kong and Macau, Malta, Nepal, etc). The collection reflects the complexity of contemporary scholarship on mixed and plural legal systems.
The articles are available here. They were originally published in several law journals across Europe, the United States, and Africa. Another five articles will be made available soon.
In future, the journal will publish print versions of its volumes. The journal
publishes top-level academic contributions in English that explore the phenomena of law and governance from a comparative perspective. It includes comparative studies from different fields of law and regulation as well as multi-disciplinary studies on societal governance issues. Comparative studies involving non-European countries are welcome when they deal with topics relevant also for European science and society. All contributions will be subject to double-blind peer review.
Have a look.
-SPD
19 December 2013
SYMPOSIUM: The Unbounded Level of the Mind: Rod Macdonald's Legal Imagination
Save the date! The Unbounded Level of the Mind: Rod Macdonald's Legal Imagination Symposium, February 7-8, 2014
The Faculty of Law of McGill University invites you to a Symposium entitled "The Unbounded Level of the Mind: Rod Macdonald's Legal Imagination," held in honour of Professor Roderick A. Macdonald, OC, F.R. Scott Chair of Constitutional and Public Law.
The event, which will take place at the Faculty of Law on Friday, February 7, and Saturday, February 8, 2014, will allow us to delve into Professor Rod Macdonald's rich scholarship and its implications for future research.
The Symposium is organized around six themes: Kaleidoscopic Federalism, Producing Fairness, Pluralizing the Subject, The Priority of Distributive Justice, Contextualizing Governance, and Producing Virtue. Among invited speakers are Harry Arthurs, Nathalie Desrosiers, Alison Harvison Young, Nicholas Kasirer, Yves-Marie Morissette, and John Whyte.
Andrée Lajoie's forthcoming book, Un trajet engagé et engageant: La vie intellectuelle de Rod Macdonald (Éditions Thémis), will also be launched during the Symposium.
A website will be launched shortly where it will be possible to register and contribute short reflections on our six themes for posting.
For further information, please contact Olivier Jarda, the conference coordinator, a tolivier.jarda@mail.mcgill.ca.
HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!!! - SPD
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: LL.M in Comparative Law at Louisiana State University!!
LL.M. in Comparative law at Louisiana State University
The LSU Law Center is now accepting applications for the Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Comparative Law program for the 2014-2015 academic year. The LSU Law Center’s distinctive curriculum, with fully-developed civil and common law programs, provides an exceptional and intense legal education. In addition to a full coverage of United States laws and legal methodology, the LL.M. at LSU Law features unique advantages, such as the opportunity to study the civil law in English, access to one of the best comparative law libraries in the world, and competitive tuition rates combined with an affordable cost-of-living. For over 70 years, LSU Law has provided an LL.M. education of the highest caliber, while maintaining affordability; alumni of the LL.M. Program have gone on to positions at some of the top universities and law firms in the world.
LSU is located in historic Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana, along the banks of the Mississippi River. It is the second largest city in Louisiana, one hour and a half away from New Orleans. The Baton Rouge Metro Airport is just two flights away from most major cities in the world.
Contact and Information:
More information is available on the LL.M. webpage, or contactus by email at llmadmission@law.lsu.edu or by telephone at 225-578-7831 for more information about this unique opportunity.
JOURNAL: Comparative Legal History (the official journal of the European Society for Comparative Legal History)
The latest issue of Comparative Legal History (CLH), the official publication of the European Society for Comparative Legal History (ESCLH), has been published.- Mediating Foreign Norms and Local Imperatives: Intellectual Property 'Law' between the East and the West, from Imperial China to 'Modern' Times - Hinchliffe, Sarah A
- Producing 'Lack as Tradition': A Feminist Critique of Legal Orientalism in Colonial Taiwan - Chen, Chao-ju
- The Kandyan Convention 1815: Consolidating the British Empire in Colonial Ceylon - Godden, Lee; Casinader, Niranjan
- 'Not a Question of Theology'? Religions, Religious Institutions, and the Courts in India - Heehs, Peter
Members of the ESCLH receive a free subscription to CLH! Spread the word!!
- Seán Patrick Donlan, Editor
18 December 2013
FILM: Christmas Movies and the Law
FILM: Christmas Movies and Law' from @LawLibCongress at http://t.co/YyCR8t6hjb pic.twitter.com/dieqJpSCzS
— ComparativeLaw (@JurisDiversitas) December 18, 2013
17 December 2013
JOURNAL: Legal Scholarship Network: Legal Studies Research Paper Series
The latest issue of Legal Scholarship Network: Legal Studies Research Paper Series. University of Australia Faculty of Law, Vol. 2, No. 5: Dec 13, 2013, is available on SSRN.
Contents include:
Articles
Paper delivered to Australian Association of Constitutional Law, WA branch, at the Constitution Centre, West Perth, 4 September 2013.
PETER JOHNSTON, University of Western Australia - Faculty of Law
Email: peter.johnston@uwa.edu.au
One of the enduring constitutional legacies of the Glorious Revolution in 1688 whereby the English Parliamentary forces under William of Orange defeated largely French royalist troops under James II, thereby ending the Stuart monarchies’ use of arbitrary prerogative power, was the Bill of Rights 1689 (UK). Article 7 guaranteed the freedom of speech and immunity from court proceedings in relation to matters connected with "Parliamentary proceedings". In 2011, the United Kingdom Supreme Court was asked to rule on whether article 7 or the exclusive inherent jurisdiction of the UK Houses of Parliament prevented prosecution of Members for offences relating to misuse of parliamentary allowances. The Supreme Court concluded that while the allowances were ostensibly provided to allow members to carry out their electoral duties that was not a sufficient basis for denying the jurisdiction of the courts in relation to ordinary criminal offences. The prosecutions were therefore able to proceed.
The paper argues that the Supreme Court's decision resolved the possible clash of jurisdictions sensibly and pragmatically, but the Court’s reasoning is far from logically compelling or persuasive. It then notes that currently, similar prosecutions of Members of Parliament have been instituted in Australia. This prompts the question whether Chaytor is relevant in the Australian parliamentary context. Is the privilege and contempt "jurisdiction" of the Houses of Australian Parliaments necessarily exclusive in such matters? The paper concludes that no easy answer can be given as to whether Chaytor, or, at least, its reasoning, would be followed by Australian courts. Certainly, where an Australian House of Parliament declines to deal with a Member who has misused electoral funds privilege ought not to preclude a criminal prosecution. However, if the House were to institute its own contempt proceedings in relation to the Member, the situation may be far from certain.
Paper delivered at the Australian Institute of Administrative Law annual conference, Canberra, 19 July 2013
PETER JOHNSTON, University of Western Australia - Faculty of Law
Email: peter.johnston@uwa.edu.au
This paper in Part I explores the extent to which the Extradition Act 1988 (Cth) incorporates international human rights standards such as the fair trial standards under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 (ICCPR). It argues that that modification of the Act to accommodate conditions in bilateral treaties between Australia and other countries authorising the Attorney General to refuse to surrender a requested person where it would be 'unjust, oppressive or incompatible with humanitarian standards' imports into extradition decisions the fair trial standards in Article 14 of the ICCPR. Further, satisfaction of those fair trial standards arguably amount to a relevant consideration in determining the issue.
Part II by way of qualification questions the capacity of Australian courts to effectively exercise judicial review in respect of an extradition decision even if the foreign trial is likely to be inconsistent with Australian and international standards of fairness. The article concludes that due to limitations on and practical difficulties with the reviewability of the decision to surrender, regard for 'fair trial' standards may be rendered irrelevant due to a lack of any statutory or constitutional requirement for the Attorney to explain and justify a surrender decision. In the absence of any obligation to reveal the basis of the decision a person who faces extradition to a country that is unlikely to afford a fair trial will find it practically impossible to advance any objection founded on that possibility.
(2013) 2(3) International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 55
HILDE TUBEX, University of Western Australia - Faculty of Law
Email: hilde.tubex@uwa.edu.au
In this article, I first examine the viability of comparative criminological research in a globalised world. Further, I test the validity of some global explanatory models against the local situation in countries that appear to resist the dominant trend, such as the Netherlands and Canada. I then zoom in even further to the intra‐national differences in some federal nations, such as Canada and Australia, where this situation is often linked to the overrepresentation of Indigenous people and the consequences of colonialism. Finally, I discuss the future of comparative criminological research.
BOOK: Mak on Judicial Decision-Making in a Globalised World
A Comparative Analysis of the Changing Practices of Western Highest Courts" is the new book by Elaine Mak.
Abstract:
Why do judges study legal sources that originated outside their own national legal system, and how do they use arguments from these sources in deciding domestic cases? Based on interviews with judges, this book presents the inside story of how judges engage with international and comparative law in the highest courts of the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, France and the Netherlands. A comparative analysis of the views and experiences of the judges clarifies how the decision-making of these Western courts has developed in light of the internationalisation of law and the increased opportunities for transnational judicial communication. While the qualitative analysis reveals the motives that judges claim for using foreign law and the influence of 'globalist' and 'localist' approaches to judging, the author also finds suggestions of a convergence of practices between the courts that are the subject of this study. This empirical analysis is complemented by a constitutional-theoretical inquiry into the procedural and substantive factors of legal evolution, which enable or constrain the development and possible convergence of highest courts' practices. The two strands of the analysis are connected in a final contextual reflection on the future development of the role of Western highest courts.
Author:
Elaine Mak is an Associate Professor of Jurisprudence at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.