CONFERENCE: Sociology of Law and Political Action

Sciences-Po Toulouse, under Philippe RAIMBAULT’s direction, is organizing, in collaboration with the Research Committee on Sociology of Law of the International Sociological Association (ISA/RCSL), with the support of the European Network on Law and Society (RED and S), and in cooperation with the French Association of Political Science (AFSP), the French Association of Sociology (AFS) and the Thematic Network 13 "Sociology of Law and Justice", a Congress which will take place in Toulouse, from September 3 to 6, 2013.

The Congress will be held on the theme: Sociology of Law and Political Action

English, French and Spanish will be used, although without simultaneous translation.

Plenary sessions will take place each morning; workshop sessions will be scheduled in the afternoon.

The coordination of the scientific organization of the Congress is ensured by Wanda CAPELLER.
Information will be updated each month on the same site.

Further information may be available on the Secretariat of the Congress: Véronique LEROUX

JOURNAL: Transnational Legal Theory

TRANSNATIONAL LEGAL THEORY

Volume 3, Issue 2 has been published.

SPECIAL ISSUE

Symposium: Brian Simpson’s Reflections on ‘The Concept of Law’

Guest Editors: Dino Kritsiotis (University of Nottingham) and Christopher McCrudden (Queen’s University, Belfast)

Brian Simpson’s Reflections on ‘The Concept of Law’: An Introduction to the Symposium

Christopher McCrudden

Free to view - Please click here to view

Brian Simpson’s Approach to Legal Scholarship and the Significance of Reflections on ‘The Concept of Law’

David Sugarman

Brian Simpson’s Empiricism

Joshua Getzler

History, Law and Language; or, What Can Foxes Teach Hedgehogs?

Michael Lobban

LECTURE: Civic Education during Martial Law in the Philippines and Beyond

RIGHTS TALK
Civic Education during Martial Law in the Philippines and  Beyond
Professor Jose Manuel Diokno
Dean, De La Salle University College of Law


Wednesday, 30 January 2013, 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Academic Conference Room, 11/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower
The University of Hong Kong



In this talk, Dean Diokno will discuss "Civic Education During Martial Law in the Philippines and Beyond".  He will analyse the extent to which civic education was used as a tool to legitimise Marcos' dictatorship during the martial law period.  He will consider the functions which civic education has served in the Philippines since the restoration of democratic government under President Cory Aquino.  Finally, he will offer some personal reflections on the appropriate role of civic education in today's society.  Dean Diokno will revisit the theme of civic education later in the day when he participates in a seminar together with the 2013 Hochelaga Lecturer Professor K. Anthony Appiah and other panelists on the topic“Does National Education Have a Role to Play in Hong Kong?”  

Professor Jose Manuel Diokno ("Chel") was born in the Philippines in 1961.  His father was Senator Jose Wright Diokno, a noted lawyer and human rights activist, who was imprisoned as a dissident by President Marcos during martial law in the Philippines.  Professor Diokno regularly visited his father in jail at that time and witnessed at first hand the repressive side of martial law during his adolescence. Diokno holds a bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the University of the Philippines and a JD from Northern Illinois University.  Having passed the bar exam in the Philippines, Professor Diokno started his career as a human rights lawyer. Notably, he promoted the work of FLAG (Free Legal Assistance Group), an organisation founded by his father. He has sat in various Human Rights Committees set up by previous Philippine presidents and was himself involved as counsel in the proceedings to impeach President Joseph Estrada. Professor Diokno started the Diokno Law Center in 2006.  An important objective of the Center is to provide legal education and backup to persons working in government agencies.  In 2009 he became the first Dean of the then newly established College of Law at De La Salle University in Manila.  Dean Diokno's publications include Diokno on Trial: The Techniques and Ideals of the Filipino Lawyer (2007) which discusses his father's work and thinking as a trial lawyer

SEMINAR: United Nations Office at Geneva International Law Seminar

International Law Seminar

The United Nations Office at Geneva will host an International Law Seminar this summer:

The Seminar takes place on an annual basis and aims to enable postgraduate students or young university teachers specialized in international law, as well as young lawyers working in the international law field, to widen their knowledge of both the work of the International Law Commission and of the codification and progressive development of international law. It also provides an opportunity for lawyers coming from different legal systems and cultures to exchange views regarding items on the agenda of the Commission.

The International Law Seminar is not intended to be an introduction to international law. Applicants must prove a sound knowledge of international law, on the basis of either their postgraduate studies or significant professional experience in the field.

A maximum of 24 participants from various Member States of the United Nations participate in ILS. As well as attending the meetings of ILC, participants are expected to take an active part in the discussions which follow lectures given by members of the Commission, officials of the United Nations or specialized agencies in Geneva and other speakers invited for the occasion.

The 2013 session of the Seminar will be held in Geneva from 8 to 26 July 2013 and will be directed by Mr. Markus Schmidt, Senior Legal Adviser at UNOG.

Additional information is available here.

LANGIAPPE: Crash Course On Socializing At A Scientific Conference Dinner

LAGNIAPPE:

Crash Course On Socializing At A Scientific Conference Dinner

A blog entry on The Thesis Whisper on conference attendance--circulated by Jan Smits--might be of interest:

You  meet anybody new at the last scientific conference.

You paid high registration fees, travelled to the other side of the world, listened to boring talks, nobody came to your poster.

At least you met interesting people at the conference dinner, didn’t you?

Well, it’s kind of hard when you are hanging out all the time with the people of your own group.

Attending a scientific conference is a great opportunity to meet new people and do some networking.  A large network will come in handy to land new projects, collaborations or jobs to progress in your scientific career.

You cannot change anything from past conferences. Luckily, there’s a new one in a few months and you are going to get your stuff together and make the most of it.

But do you know how? Do you know how to network at a conference?

If you follow these tips you will be a master of socializing at scientific conference dinners.

See the full post here.

ARTICLE: Hamoudi on Religious Minorities and Shari’a in Iraqi Courts

Haider Ala Hamoudi’s ‘Religious Minorities and Shari’a in Iraqi Courts’, is on SSRN.  Hamoudi has a blog on Islamic Law in Our Times. The article is forthcoming in the 2013 Boston University International Law Journal. Its abstract reads:








There is a rising interest in our academy in the study of constitutional states, particularly in the Islamic world, whose legal and constitutional structure is at least as a formal matter both founded on and subject to religious doctrine. For those of us interested in the Arab spring, and indeed in constitutionalism in much of the Islamic world, this work is not only valuable, but positively vital. Without it, we are unable to discuss most emerging Arab democracies in constitutional terms. In Iraq, and in Egypt after it, two of the premier Arab states which have recently seen constitutions approved through popular referendum, Islam is described as state religion, as source of legislation and as constraint upon law as well. Nobody reasonably aware of the region imagines that Libya and Syria (were the latter to develop into a democratic state) would reach a different conclusion respecting the role of Islam in the public order. While the details may well differ from one state to another, the principle of “constitutional theocracy” holds fast throughout much of the Arab world. The effect of this on religious minorities that are not Muslim is the subject of this essay, with particular reference to the one Arab state with which I am most familiar, that of Iraq.  

In assessing how rising constitutional theocracies like Iraq happen to balance the priorities they afford Islam in foundational text with religious freedom, a value also invariably enshrined in the constitutions of emerging democracies in the Middle East, it is important to note that the going opinion is very much in favor of some form of protection for and tolerance of non-Muslim minorities. It is also important to note that in assessing any conflicts with shari’a, there is a great deal of nuance, indeed near incoherence, in understanding not only the precise impact which that body of rules is supposed to have as a legal matter in the modern constitutional theocratic state, but also what the rules of the shari’a are and how much reinterpretation of the historic content of the shari’a will be tolerated.

CALL: International Symposium on Comparative Sciences

International Symposium on Comparative Sciences

First Call for abstracts, full papers, and roundtables

Dear Colleague,

It is my pleasure to inform you that an International Symposium on Comparative Sciences will be organized by the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society and held in Sofia, Bulgaria, 8 - 11 October 2013. This will be a forum where different comparative sciences can meet and discuss problems of common interest.

Scholars from the following sciences are invited: Comparative Education, Comparative Psychology, Comparative Sociology, Comparative Religion, Comparative Linguistics, Comparative Literature, Comparative Civilization Studies, Comparative Mythology, Comparative Anthropology, Comparative Law, Comparative History, Comparative Labour Studies.

The aims of the Symposium are to:

- achieve and foster common understanding in methodologies across comparative sciences;

- develop linkages with comparative educationists, sociologists, psychologists, historians, linguists and representatives of other comparative sciences;

- encourage the use of comparative approaches in academic teaching and research.

ARTICLE: Carolan on Diffusing Bad Ideas

I recently found out about Eoin Carolan's Diffusing Bad Ideas: What the Migration of the Separation of Powers Means for Comparative Constitutionalism and Constitutional Transplants.

This neglected article is worth a read: 

 This piece considers the implications of diffusion studies for comparative law.

It argues that the diffusion research suggests that ineffective or detrimental innovations may be as likely to diffuse as successful or beneficial measures. Indeed, the research indicates that the ‘best’ constitutional innovations will not necessarily be the same as those that migrate or transplant successfully.

Basic analytical or cognitive limitations mean that we may be unable, in the first instance, to distinguish between the objectively or rationally advantageous theory and the one which we are more inclined, for various reasons, to perceive as advantageous. Even if experts are able to engage in such an objective assessment of competing constitutional theories, the research still suggests that the ideas that are more likely to diffuse are those that are easier to understand, and those that appear to approximate most closely to existing concepts.

This suggests that it is necessary to approach comparative research with greater scepticism or rigour and focus on the development of methodologies that limit the weakenesses identified in the diffusion research.

BOOK: Miller and The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany

Washington and Lee Law Professor Russell Miller has published a major revision of a landmark treatise on German constitutional law. The new edition of the book, entitled The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany (Duke University Press 2012), has been called “a masterful text” by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

First published in 1989, the book has become an invaluable resource for scholars and practitioners of comparative, international, and constitutional law, as well as of German and European politics.  The new edition includes entirely new chapters addressing the relationship between German law and European and international law; social and economic rights, including the property and occupational rights cases that emerged from Germany’s unification; jurisprudence related to issues of equality, particularly gender equality; and the tension between Germany's counterterrorism efforts and its constitutional guarantees of liberty.  Miller, and co-author Donald Kommers, have also updated existing chapters—accounting for the most recent decisions of the German Constitutional Court—that address human dignity, family and marital freedom, free speech, freedom of religion, federalism, and separation of powers.

ARTICLE: Sandberg et al on Britain’s Religious Tribunals: ‘Joint Governance’ in Practice

Russell Sandberg, Gillian Douglas, Norman Doe, Sophie Gilliat-Ray and Asma Khan, Britain’s Religious Tribunals: ‘Joint Governance’ in Practice has appeared in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. 

The abstract reads:

In recent years, there have been a number of moral panics in Western societies about the existence of religious courts and tribunals in general and Shariah law in particular. In England and Wales, these concerns came to the fore following the 2008 lecture by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, on ‘Civil Law and Religious Law in England’. In that lecture, Williams drew upon the work of the Canadian scholar Ayelet Shachar endorsing her concept of ‘transformative accommodation’. In this article, we return to the work of Shachar in the light of our recent empirical study which examined the divorce jurisdiction of three religious tribunals in detail: a Jewish Beth Din; a matrimonial tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church; and a Muslim Shariah Council. We suggest that the focus upon Shachar’s concept of ‘transformative accommodation’ by Williams and subsequent commentators is unfortunate given that Shachar actually proposes ‘transformative accommodation’ as just one variant of what she refers to as ‘joint governance’ (albeit her preferred variant). We propose that the umbrella concept of ‘joint governance’ and its other variants can be developed in a way that could prove to be more useful than ‘transformative accommodation’. 

The journal is described as:

CONFERENCE: Constitutional Reform and the Commonwealth Caribbean

Constitutional Reform and the Commonwealth Caribbean: 

Democratic Legitimacy and Constituent Power.

19 of April 2013- The Court Room, Senate House, London WC1E 7HU

Speakers confirmed:

Professor Simeon McIntosh, formerly Dean of Law Faculty at the University of the West Indies. Professor McIntosh has written extensively on the topic of constitutional reform in the Commonwealth Caribbean - Caribbean Constitutional Reform: Rethinking the West Indian Polity,  ‪(Caribbean Law Publishing Company, 2002) - and is currently responsible for redrafting the Constitution of Grenada. As part of this process Professor McIntosh has consulted extensively with civil society organisations in Grenada and with members of the Grenadian diaspora in the United States. His paper is entitled ‘Constitution Founding in the Commonwealth Caribbean: Re-drafting the Grenada Constitution.’

 Dr Joel Colon-Rios, Victoria University of Wellington Law School (by videolink). Dr Joel Colon-Rios is the author of Weak Constitutionalism: Democratic Legitimacy and the Question of Constituent Power (Routledge: 2012) in which he engages with Anglo-American constitutional theory as well as examining the theory and practise of constituent power in different constitutional regimes (including Latin American countries) where constituent power has become an important part of the left’s legal and political discourse. His paper is entitled ‘Constituent Power and Constitutional Reform: A Latin American Perspective’.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Corporations, Human Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility in Africa

Call for Papers  

Special Issue of the Journal of Law and Management

on

Corporations, Human Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility in Africa:

Between Neglect and Inadequate Policy Direction

The International Bill of Human Rights; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on Economic and Social Rights  in addition to many other international, regional and national human rights instruments provides for civil, economic, social and group rights. The various instruments assert the right to life, right to dignity and fair treatment, as well as freedom of association, and freedom from slavery and forced labour, among others. The flagrant violations of these rights have gone on in Africa (and elsewhere) to date.  Apart from national governments, there has been recognition that corporations are implicated in substantive violations of these rights.

Following on the expanding reach of corporations, the global debate on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has intensified in recent times. There is a current focus on how the colossal financial capabilities and resources of corporations affect human rights particularly in the developing countries. The international system has witnessed a sustained engagement with corporations which is fast developing into a movement on business and human rights.  A significant aspect of this was the appointment of a UN Special Representative for Human Rights and Business, and the development of a framework that clarifies the roles of governments as well as companies in respect of business and human rights. The framework focuses on how to protect and realise human rights in the face of corporate activities that may negatively impact on rights. Increasingly too, Non-Governmental Organisations are assuming an important role in giving visibility to the multifaceted dimensions of the impact of corporate activities around the globe and in the ‘third world’ especially. In short, there is a slow but definitive move away from the dominant culture of ‘business as usual’ towards a rights-sensitive culture of sustainable corporations.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Mapping the Law of Irregular Migration

Illegality Regimes: Mapping the Law of Irregular Migration
VU University Amsterdam, 30 May - 1 June 2013

http://www.illegality.org
OVERVIEW: Recent years have seen the development of increasingly sophisticated legal and policy approaches to address the phenomenon of irregular immigration. Many states have moved beyond traditional means of law enforcement, such as criminalization, without necessarily abandoning them. In addition, they have begun to employ other areas of law (such as administrative law and labor law) in pursuit of controlling irregular immigration.

For example, the verification of legal residence status, by means of ID-controls, has become increasingly necessary in the day to day life of all people: citizens and non-citizens alike. Private citizens, and not government agents, are evolving into the primary enforcers of these policies, as they have been made legally responsible for the control of legal residence status, for example in the case of employment.

These legal and policy instruments have sometimes been justified with reference to economic theories, such as 'attrition through enforcement', the broken window theory, and most recently 'self-deportation', a term that ironically originated in a stand-up sketch performed by two Hispanic comedians in the mid '90s, and was briefly promoted to a major policy proposal in the Romney campaign for the US presidential elections.

Among economic scholars, a debate about the (lack of) effectiveness of these policies has been growing the last couple of years. What is still absent, however, is a more rigorous analysis by legal and other social science scholars. This conference aims to explore the more systemic dimensions of these responses to irregular migration. For this purpose, scholars from all disciplines are invited to consider (any of) the following questions, or to respond with additional insights and approaches: What are the various legal and policy tools that have been developed to move beyond, or away from the criminalization of irregular migrants? In other words, how have the various innovations sought to counter the inflow of irregular migrants? Have these policies had a significant impact within their legal or policy field?

FURTHER INFORMATION: More information at: http://www.illegality.org

PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Abstracts of no more than 500 words should be emailed (preferably attached in .pdf format) to submissions@illegality.org by 7 February 2013. Please also include a short bio in the same document as the abstract. The closing date for submissions of (full) papers will be 30 April 2013. For more information, write to info@illegality.org

APPOINTMENT: Career Development Fellowship in Comparative Law

Oxford University Faculty of Law
Institute of European and Comparative Law
Career Development Fellowship in Comparative Law 
in association with Brasenose College

Grade 7: British Pound 29,541 - 36,298 per annum

The University, in association with Brasenose College, proposes to appoint a full-time Career Development Fellow in Comparative Law for three years, to commence not later than 1 October 2013. The successful candidate will be elected to a non-stipendiary Supernumerary Fellowship in Law at Brasenose College.

DESCRIPTION: The Career Development Fellow will undertake internationally leading research in Comparative Law; teach comparative and EU Law for the Faculty and/or for Brasenose College; and participate in the research and other activities of the Institute of European and Comparative Law under the direction and supervision of the Director of the Institute.

QUALIFICATIONS: To be eligible for a Career Development Fellowship, applicants must be at an early stage of an academic career, at post-doctoral level or with an equivalent research record and an appropriate research output; or be aspiring to an academic career and have career development needs which could reasonably be met by the scheme. Applicants for this post must have an excellent knowledge and understanding of comparative law; a doctorate or equivalent, show outstanding promise in their field; show the ability or potential to assist with teaching, to develop research, and to publish internationally leading work; be a proficient writer of English, able to produce first-class editorial work; and show a commitment to their own professional development.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE: Applications for this vacancy are to be made online. To apply for this role and for further details, including the full job description and selection criteria, please click on the link: https://www.recruit.ox.ac.uk/pls/hrisliverecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=105836

Applications and references must reach the Law Faculty not later than 12 noon GMT on Wednesday 13th February 2013. Interviews will be held in Oxford on Tuesday 26 February 2013.

BOOK: Du Plessis on Law and Society in the Roman World

Edinburgh University Press has published Paul J du Plessis (ed),  New frontiers: law and society in the Roman World (2013). 

The book is the successor to Beyond dogmatics: law and society in the Roman World (2007), an attempt to further the debate concerning ‘law and society’ in the Roman world. The contributions focus on three emerging themes, namely ‘Roman legal thought’, ‘legal theory and legal practice’ and ‘law and economics’:

An interdisciplinary, edited collection on social science methodologies for approaching Roman legal sources. Roman law as a field of study is rapidly evolving to reflect new perspectives and approaches in research. Scholars who work on the subject are increasingly being asked to conduct research in an interdisciplinary manner whereby Roman law is not merely seen as a set of abstract concepts devoid of any background, but as a body of law which operated in a specific social, economic and cultural context. This “context-based” approach to the study of Roman law is an exciting new field which legal historians must address. Since the mid-1960s, a new academic movement has advocated a “law and society” approach to the study of Roman law instead of the prevailing dogmatic methodology employed in many Faculties of law.

Key Features: *This book aims to further the current debate on the interface between legal history and ancient history. *It brings together a distinguished group of scholars who will provide different perspectives on this debate. *It addresses particular themes within this debate such as law and legal practice, law and gender as well as law and economics.

PANEL: Gardner - Law as a Leap of Faith

The Oxford Jurisprudence Discussion Group Presents:

'Law as a Leap of Faith'

A panel discussion of the new book by John Gardner with discussants: Anthony Hatzistavrou (Hull), Kristen Rundle (LSE), Kimberlee Brownlee (Warwick) with a reply from John Gardner (Oxford)

see website for details: http://www.oxford-jdg.net/p/week-6_3.html 

BOOK: Carolan on the Constitution of Ireland

I'm very pleased to note the publication of Eoin Carolan (ed), The Constitution of Ireland:Perspectives and Prospects (2012). It

brings together a range of Irish and international commentators to examine some of the most significant current issues in Irish constitutional law.

Based on a selection of the papers originally presented at a conference to mark the 75th anniversary of the enactment of the current Constitution of Ireland, the collection touches on many of the challenges facing Ireland today. These include: the possibilities for political and constitutional reform; the state of Ireland’s democratic structures; national sovereignty in an era of international organisations; the role and conduct of referenda; questions of national identity and values; the meaning of modern Irish republicanism; and the place of religion in Irish society and government. The contributors describe how the Constitution has influenced developments in Ireland since 1937 and consider how it might continue to do so in the future. At a time when Ireland’s political and constitutional structures are under review, The Constitution of Ireland: Perspectives and Prospects provides expert insight into these important questions.

The contents include:

Introduction: The Hon Mrs Justice Susan Denham, Chief Justice - Some thoughts on the Constitution of Ireland at 75;

Part I Constitutional Values:

• Philip Pettit - The Republican Constitution;
• Mark Tushnet - National Identity as a Constitutional Issue: The Case of the Preamble to the Irish Constitution of 1937;
• Ronan McCrea - Rhetoric, Choices and the Constitution;
• Amihai Radzyner - The Irish Influence on the Israeli Constitution Proposal, 1948;
• Eoin Daly - Public Philosophy and Constitutional Interpretation after Natural Law: Republican Horizons;
• Declan O’Keeffe - God, the Natural Law and the 1937 Constitution;
• Maria Cahill - Judicial Conceptions of Sovereignty;

Part II Democracy, Politics and the Constitution:

• Conor O’Mahony - Constitutional Amendment and Judicial Restraint: How Restrained Should an Irish Court Be?;
• Paul Gallagher - The Limits of Constitutionalism;
• David Kenny - The Separation of Powers and Remedies: The Legislative Power and Remedies for Unconstitutional Legislation in Comparative Perspective;
• Jim O’Callaghan - Seanad Éireann – An Opportunity for Real Political Reform;
• Bláthna Ruane - The Doherty Case and Issues Regarding the Provision of Information and Funding for Constitutional Referenda;
• Gaetano Marzulli - Direct Democracy by Judges? The Irish Constitution and the Approach of the Courts to the Referendum as a Model in Comparative Perspective;
• Marie-Luce Paris - Popular Sovereignty and the Use of the Referendum – Comparative Perspectives with Reference to France;

POLL REMINDER: So what do you want?

Members and readers are reminded to provide feedback to us by taking the POLL on our main Blog page. 

It reads: 

In addition to the legal information (broadly understood) that JD posts here and on Facebook, I'd also like to be able to

	See Guest Bloggers on the JD Blog.
	Ask professional questions of other readers here and on Facebook (like a LISTSERV).
	Chat socially with members on Facebook.

If you'd like to help me (even in small ways) with the Blog Posts or Facebook Posts, want to volunteer to act as a Guest Blogger, or have additional suggestions, please email me directly.

And if you like what we're doing, sign up and spread the word to colleagues and friends. 

I hope to see many of you in Lausanne.

ARTICLE: Berger on Metaphor in Law

Linda Berger, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, School of Law, is publishing Metaphor in Law as Poetic and Propositional Language in The European Legacy: Towards New Paradigms, Journal of the International Society for the study of European Ideas (ISSEI). Here is the abstract.

My argument in this essay is that although lawyers routinely use and abuse metaphor as propositional language, they mostly neglect the use of metaphor as poetic language. Poetic metaphor openly invites you to view a topic or a target from a new angle by setting it against or alongside a light source; in this way, it prompts second looks and encourages insights. Propositional metaphor, by comparison, appears designed to persuade you to view the target or the topic under discussion as something you already know about because of your experience with the source. As a result, you are better able to understand or to “handle” the topic, but you discover little that is new. The essay was presented as part of a panel discussion on Law and Language at the 2012 conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link. 

LECTURE: Stigall at the Center of Civil Law Studies

The Center of Civil Law Studies (CCLS) of the Paul M Hebert Law Center will host a lecture by Dan Stigall--a friend and member--on 28 January:

Dan Stigall, JD LSU and LLM George Washington University, presently working with the Department of Justice, will give a talk on Monday January 28 from 12:40 to 1:40 in room 106.

Dan Stigall has an amazing international experience, as a military lawyer in Europe and the Middle East and now as a Trial Attorney, Office of International Affairs at U.S. Department of Justice:

http://comparativelawblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/guest-blogger-dan-e-stigall.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Comparativelawblog+%28ComparativeLawBlog%29 andhttp://www.linkedin.com/pub/dan-stigall/5/bb0/294

He speaks French, is well published (including in the Louisiana Law Review where he authored a rich article on Iraqi law) and is a member of Juris Diversitas, a Comparative Law international network (http://jurisdiversitas.blogspot.com). His enthusiasm for the civil law, comparative law, foreign and international experience is contagious and he is a great communicator.

CONFERENCE REMINDER: Crossroads East and West: Visions of the Economy in the Islamic and Western Legal Traditions

Crossroads East and West: 

Visions of the Economy in the Islamic 
and Western LegalTraditions

International Workshop

(co-organised with Juris Diversitas)

 Turin, International University College

4-5 February 2013

As the world enters a post-global phase featuring a growing multipolarity of economic and political systems (e.g. with the BRICS countries, as well as economic, demographic and financial powers such as Turkey, Persian Gulf countries, Indonesia and others emerging as significant regional and international players), this multipolarity is, in the 21st century, redefining the global model that emerged at the end of the 20th, one which was clearly dominated by the economic and legal models of Western origin.

Muslim countries, and countries with significant Muslim populations, will, in all their diversity and complexity, be major actors in this polycentric environment, interacting with the West as well as with the geo-political realities of the East, producing new legal developments both regionally and on a global scale.

The international workshop will therefore be devoted to the emerging trends and dynamics in the economies and economic relations and legal interplay within and between Muslim legal systems, traditions and developments, on the one side; and the West, with its legal traditions and the Western-influenced global legal order, on the other.

Divergences and convergences should emerge from the workshop, permitting a better assessment of current developments and of some future legal features of economies and economic relationships in a possible multi-polar world.

The macro-theme of the event will therefore be the economy in its largest sense, with a view to developing legal comparative analyses of economic phenomena in the Islamic and Muslim traditions; perspectives should include both common law and civil law, for the West, and both Shi'a and Sunni approaches, for the East.