LECTURE: Kramer on European Civil Procedure

Kramer on European Civil Procedure http://t.co/hnlJRj7RVN
— Lawrence Solum (@lsolum) December 31, 2013

MAP: Twelve Maps that Changed the World

Post by JURIS Diversitas.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Global Legal Skills Conference (Verona, Italy: 21-23 May 2014)

Post by JURIS Diversitas.

EVENT: Call for Judges for Oxford's 2014 Jessup Team

The Oxford University Jessup team are currently preparing for the UK national rounds. They are looking for students, academics, and practitioners with experience in mooting (Jessup, in particular) and/or an interest in Public International Law who would be willing to act as judges during their practice rounds in January/February 2014.

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

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

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

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

JURISPRUDENCE: The Russian Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights

Post by Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law.

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

The British Institute of International and Comparative Law has announced 11th Annual 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.

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

NEWSLETTER: European Law Institute Newsletter

Post by JURIS Diversitas.

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

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.

Full text is avaliable here.

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

Click here for full text download of this title for subscribing institutions only

For full contents - www.e-elgar.com

SPD: Best Wishes

Best wishes from me (and my

traditions) to you and yours!

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.

Best wishes.

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

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.

In addition to book reviews, the issue includes the following articles:

• 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

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

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

"The 'Glorious Revolution' Down Under: Parliamentary Privilege and the Bill of Rights 1689 (UK) -- Its Application in Criminal Proceedings Against Members of Parliament: England and Australia Compared" 

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.

"The Incorporation of Human Rights Standards into Australian Extradition Law" 

Paper delivered at the Australian Institute of Administrative Law annual conference, Canberra, 19 July 2013

UWA Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2013-30

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.

"The Revival of Comparative Criminology in a Globalised World: Local Variances and Indigenous Over‐Representation" 

(2013) 2(3) International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 55

UWA Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2013-31

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

"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.