NOTICE: New Archive dedicated to the Life and Works of Professor Sir Neil MacCormick

Exciting News from Queen Mary University of London:

QMUL publishes archive dedicated to life and works of Professor Sir Neil MacCormick

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have published a digital archive dedicated to the life and works of Professor Sir Neil MacCormick (1941-2009), one of the twentieth century’s most important jurists.

The archive is funded by a Leverhulme research fellowship, and includes very rare audio recordings and video footage of MacCormick’s lectures and interviews. The project is authored and led by Dr Maksymilian Del Mar, Senior Lecturer in Law and Philosophy at Queen Mary University of London.

SLS NEWS 23/10/2014

As follows some news from the Society of legal scholars:

1) Trinity College Dublin
Public lecture by Professor Andrew Burrows at 5:30pm on Wednesday 29 October. "Remoteness in Contract: The Rights and Wrongs of The Achilleas". Mr Justice Bryan McMahon will chair the event. All are very welcome to attend. Please register at www.eventbrite.ie. Full detailshttps://gallery.mailchimp.com/47624183ad52dd8428c97d3f6/files/Professor_Burrows_Public_Lecture_in_Dublin_29_October_2014.pdf
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2)  Lancaster University: one-day symposium on the Rule of Law
31 October 2014.  

The Centre for Law and Society at Lancaster University will host a one-day symposium on the Rule of Law .  The event will centre upon Professor Christopher May’s recent publication, The Rule of Law in Global Politics. Speakers will include prominent figures specialising in public law and political science.  Lunch and refreshments will be provided and attendance is free of charge.  Three PhD travel bursaries (domestic travel only) are available to doctoral students working in this or related fields.  For further details of the symposium, or simply to notify us of your intention to attend, please contact John Murphy at the School of Law, Lancaster University atj.murphy2@lancaster.ac.uk.
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3)  University of Nottingham
Wednesday 5 November 2014
Human Rights and Conscientious Objections – Theory and Practice,

The conference will cover a range of current issues including the moral or philosophical basis for conscientious objections, religiously based conscientious objections, whether conscientious objections are protected as part of freedom of religion, the relationship between conscientious objection and civil disobedience, conscientious objections to military service, conscientious objections in a healthcare context, whether conscientious objections should be recognised by  legal systems and, if so, how. The presentations will cover national, European and international perspectives.
Full details can be found at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/law/events/events.aspx
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4) St Mary’s University Twickenham, London
    6 November 2014

The Centre for Law and Culture at St Mary’s University, Twickenham is holding a free lecture as part of its 2014-15 Public Lecture Series

 ‘Graphic Reporting: Human Rights Violations through the Lens of Graphic Novels’ and will be delivered by guest speakers Dr Jérémie Gilbert (University of East London) and Dr David Keane (Middlesex University). It is derived from their contribution to a collection on law and comics, edited by Centre for Law and Culture Co-Director Dr Thomas Giddens (in press at Routledge).

The lecture will discuss the potential for graphic novels to influence human rights practice. At present, a handful of pioneering authors are producing graphic accounts of rights violations initially largely involving armed conflict but extending into other situations.

Full details at:-
http://www.smuc.ac.uk/news/news/school-of-management-and-social-sciences/2014/10/st-marys-centre-law-culture-public-lecture-graphic-reporting/
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5)  International Conference on the Impact of the WWI on Palestine
hosted by Al-Jazeera Centre for Studies (AJCS) and the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC)
 Sat 8 & Sun 9 November 2014

venue: Bryanston Street London W1H 7EH
The conference will examine the impact of the WWI on Palestine with special interests on the role of the Ottoman Empire and the Zionist Movement. It will examine the political position of the Palestinians and the Arabs in general following the Sykes-Picot Agreement. It will also discuss in-depth the British Mandate and the San Remo Conference

http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/international-conference-the-impact-of-world-war-one-on-palestine-tickets-12138948923?aff=eorg

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6) 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law (ACET)
    9 until 11 April, 2015
    Vienna

The conference will provide both practitioners and academics with the opportunity to learn of the most significant developments in tort law within Europe in 2014.

Full details and programme are at:
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/47624183ad52dd8428c97d3f6/files/Announcement_ACET_2015_eng_.doc

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7) Swansea University
Minds, Brains and Law: A Conference on Law and Neuroscience,

11^th and 12^th December 2014

Speakers:  Michael S Moore, Dennis Patterson, Joanna Glynn QC, Huw Williams, Zachary Hoskins, Marion Godman, Michael Pardo,
John Danaher, Pim Haselager, Burkhard Schafer, Aidan Byrne, Bebhinn Donnelly-Lazarov, Jennifer Chandler, Elizabeth Shaw

This timely conference brings together influential researchers from the rapidly emerging and increasingly important field of law and neuroscience. Developments in neuroscience, and in particular the ability of neuroscientific technologies to probe the depths of mind and brain, are potentially of great significance for law. To what degree, for example, should neuroscientific evidence be admissible in courts? For what purposes? If our actions are the result not of conscious choice but rather the work of synapses and neuronal events, can we really say that anyone is responsible for their actions? The two-day event convened by Swansea University College of Law and its Centre for Global Legal Priorities will explore these and other conundrums in a professionally and academically integrated setting. In addition it will mark the recent publication of Minds Brains and Law, by Professor Dennis Patterson (Swansea) and Professor Michael Pardo (University of Alabama): a book considered likely to ‘profoundly affect the current perception of the relation between law and neuroscience’ (Peter Hacker, St John's College, Oxford). For the programme and registration form, please apply tob.donnelly@swansea.ac.uk
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8) QMUL - Centre for Law and Society in a Global Context

Annual Seminar Series -  The international and EU legal aspects of Monetary Policy

12 November 2014, 12.00 to 14.00

• Chair: Professor Takis Tridimas, King’s College London
• Speakers
  • Professor Rosa Maria Lastra, CCLS, Queen Mary
  • Dr Angelos Dimopoulos, Queen Mary

http://www.law.qmul.ac.uk/events/items/135273.html
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9) CORRECTION:

)  Bournemouth University - The Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management

(CIPPM) at Bournemouth University invites you to attend a one-day event titled 3D Printing: A Selection of Stakeholder Perspectives
To understand the various implications relating to 3D printing, this event, will bring together industry experts, social scientists, policy makers, lawyers, economists and manufacturers of 3D printing. The event will also provide the platform for a discussion and peer-review of the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) Commissioned Report on the Intellectual Property Implications of 3D Printing carried out by researchers at Bournemouth and Econolyst<http://www.econolyst.co.uk>.

Date: 7 November 2014
Venue: Executive Business Centre, Bournemouth University
Time: Registration: 9.30 am;  Conference: 10:00 – 17.30

For programme andregistration please see http://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/cippm/2014/11/07/3d-printing-a-selection-of-stakeholder-perspectives/
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10)  Reading University
    Workshop: Writing a Proposal for PhD Applications and Funding 
Friday, 21st November, 1-4pm

This is small group workshop and places are limited. Up to six places will be available to candidates from across the UK.  Attendees may be provided with a Workshop Award to cover or subsidise travel costs.
To apply for a place and a Workshop Award, please send a draft research proposal (400–600 words), a CV, and a short statement outlining your PhD and career plans to the Law School’s PGR Director, Dr Charlotte Smith:c.l.smith@reading.ac.uk.  Closing date: 14^th November 2014.

Applicants with interests in the following areas are especially welcome: Constitutional and Administrative Law; Commercial Law, Criminal Justice & Criminology; European Law; Family Law; Human Rights; Legal History; Medical Law; Terrorism & Security; Gender & Sexuality;  Race, Religion and Law.

For inquiries, contact Dr Charlotte Smith
0118 378 5410
c.l.smith@reading.ac.uk

ARTICLE ANNOUNCEMENT: Comparative Law Teaching Through Video Conferencing

A new interesting article from (2014) 5 IUCN Academy of Environmental Law e-Journal 1
BRADFORD W. MORSE, University of Waikato
Email: bmorse@waikato.ac.nz
The Editors: "Professor Bradford Morse reflects upon comparative teaching through videoconferencing. His insightful paper highlights a number of key concerns both with co-teaching a course and with the use of technology in teaching. It begins with a review of the developments in technology that first made distance learning a possibility, then leads us to the point where co-teaching across continents is possible. Thereafter Morse considers the challenges and benefits of teaching law through videoconferencing, highlighting as he does some of the benefits and challenges of this form of teaching." (click here to download the full article)

NEW ISSUE ANNOUNCEMENT: ISLAMIC LAW & LAW OF THE MUSLIM WORLD eJOURNAL

A new issue of ,ISLAMIC LAW & LAW OF THE MUSLIM WORLD eJOURNAL, vol. 7, no. 26, has just been released, following the table of content of this issue:


Re-Emerging Equality: Traditions of Justice in the Cultural Roots of the Egyptian Revolution
by Giancarlo Anello, University of Parma and Khaled Qatam, Independent

The Islamic Influence in (Pre-)Colonial and Early America: A Historico-Legal Snapshot
by Nadia B. Ahmad, Pace University School of Law

Islamic Law as a Comparable Model in Comparative Legal Research: Devising a Method
by Hamid Harasani, King's College London – The Dickson Poon School of Law

Pluralism in Legal Education at the American University of Afghanistan
by Nafay Choudhury, American University of Afghanistan

ARTICLES ANNOUNCEMENT: Philosophy of Law eJournal

We suggest two interesting articles from Philosophy of law eJournal. Click here to view the full table of content of the current issue.

"Law Is Made of Stories: Erasing the False Dichotomy between Stories and Legal Rules" 
Legal Communication & Rhetoric: JALWD, Vol. 11, 2014

STEPHEN PASKEY, State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, SUNY Buffalo Law School
Email: sjpaskey@buffalo.edu

When lawyers think of legal analysis, they think chiefly of logic and reason. Stories are secondary. As Michael Smith explains, our legal system “is not founded on narrative reasoning” but on “a commitment to the rule of law.” The article suggests that this dichotomy between “rule-based reasoning” and “narrative reasoning” is false, and that narrative and stories are central to legal reasoning, including rule-based reasoning. In doing so, the article uses literary narrative theory to show that every governing legal rule has the structure of a “stock story”: the elements of the rule correspond to elements of a story. It follows that lawyers do not rely on stories simply because they are persuasive. They do so because a story is literally embedded in the structure of governing rules, and those rules can be satisfied only by telling a story. Thus, many analytical moves we label “rule-based reasoning” can be understood as a type of narrative reasoning, in which a client’s story is compared to and contrasted with the stock story embedded in the rule.

"The East African Court of Justice: Towards Effective Protection of Human Rights in the East African Community" 
Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law, Volume 17, 2013, p.173-195

ALLY POSSI, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
Email: allypossi@gmail.com

Human rights in Africa are under the microscope of regional and sub-regional mechanisms. The regional mechanism is under the auspices of the African Union (AU), in which human rights come under the scrutiny of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Sub-regional organizations, established as Regional Economic Communities (RECs), have recently developed their own jurisprudence in promoting and protecting human rights through their institutions. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have emerged as front runners in realizing human rights in African sub-regional organizations. The EAC is an intergovernmental organization which aims at improving the living standards of its citizens through cooperation in economic, social and political aspects among its Partner States. The principles governing the operations of the EAC in meeting its objectives include the promotion and protection of human rights. The EAC has established the East African Court of Justice (EACJ), tasked with interpreting and ensuring the application of the EAC Treaty. This article pinpoints key challenges that the EACJ is currently encountering and tries to find possible solutions which can improve the functioning of the EACJ to effectively protect human rights in the Community.

CALL FOR PAPERS: 'Law in Transition' - Association of Young Legal Historians Annual Forum

The XXIst Annual Forum of Young Legal Historians, and 6th Berg Institute International Conference, with the theme "Law in Transition", will take place at Tel Aviv University March 1-3, 2015.

[The deadline for proposals is 1 November 2014. Apologies for the late posting. SPD]

The upcoming XXIst Annual Forum of the Association of Young Legal Historians aims at a comprehensive discussion of law in transition. A wide variety of transitions of historical significance can be explored: political, economic, social, cultural, and more. “Law”—legal symbols, discourses, players, institutions, theories, and texts—has played a significant role in historical transitions, and legal historians have been crucial in exploring its multiple and contradictory effects. The stakes are not just historical, but current: these studies encourage transitions in the way law itself is conceived, theorised, and researched.

We invite young legal historians to present papers dealing with any aspect of law in transition. (Proposals on other topics will also be considered.) Papers can explore specific events or periods in a particular region or state, or provide a comparative analysis of different periods or multiple locations. Papers can focus on local questions or deal with transnational legal justice. We welcome papers combining legal transitions with political, economic, social, and cultural ones. Methodological reflections are also welcome:  Have legal transitions been “top-down” or “bottom-up”? What have been the legal sources of transition? What are the relationships between legal and non-legal histories of transition? What conceptions of law, its forms of operation, its effects, and its significance inform the analysis of transition?