ARTICLE: Methodological pluralism and legal comparison

A new interesting article From social and political philosophy eJournal.

Methodological Pluralism and Legal Comparison

Roberto Scarciglia 

University of Trieste
May 1, 2014

in R. Scarciglia and W. Menski (eds.)m Islamic Symbols in European Courts, Cedam-Kluwer, 2014, pp.21-34. 
Abstract:      

The aim of this paper is to show how the methodological tools used in much more comparative analyses are not suitable to study complex phenomena as the diversity and legal implications of religious factors on the decision of the courts.

Click here for more details.

ARTICLES: Philosophy of Law

SSRN's Philosophy of Law eJournal, vol. 7 No. 52, has just been published.

Table of contents:

Facts, Reasons and Joint Action: Thoughts on the Social Ontology of Law

Richard Ekins, University of Oxford - Faculty of Law

Law's Evolution and Law as Custom

William A. Edmundson, Georgia State University College of Law

Split Definitive: How Party Polarization Turned the Supreme Court into a Partisan Court

Neal Devins, William & Mary Law School

Lawrence Baum, Ohio State University (OSU) - Department of Political Science

Litigation Investment and Legal Ethics: What Are the Real Issues?

Anthony J. Sebok, Yeshiva University - Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Imaginary Contradictions: A Reply to Professor Oleske

Douglas Laycock, University of Virginia School of Law

Massachusetts Statutes of Limitations: A User's Guide

Joseph W. Glannon, Suffolk University Law School

ARTICLE: Zumbansen on Transnational Legal Discourse

The following article is now available on SSRN:

"Transnational Legal Discourse: Reflections on My Time with the German Law Journal"
German Law Journal, Vol. 14, No. 12, 2013 Osgoode CLPE Research Paper No. 60/2013
By:  PEER ZUMBANSEN,

This paper looks back at the first decade and a half of the German Law Journal, an online law review launched in 2000 and co-founded/co-edited by the author from 2000 until 2013. The refereed Journal, published monthly in English, began with case notes and essays on German, European and International high court decisions, and over time grew into a lively transnational forum for critical legal commentary. With a worldwide readership and authors ranging from law students to Supreme Court Justices, the Journal has long been both a launching pad for emerging scholars‘ writing careers and a vehicle for critical intervention from established scholars and seasoned practitioners. The GLJ provides a unique space for intellectual collaboration and thought exchange, for thematic symposia and timely engagement with newest legal-political developments. Tracing the evolution and publication record of the Journal since its start, the short essay highlights some of the GLJ’s main contributions to transnational legal discourse, scholarship, and legal education, and emphasizes, the significance of border-crossing scholarly collaboration, critical engagement and student mentoring.

ARTICLES: Kadens on Custom

Two from Kadens on Custom: Emily Kadens, Northwestern University School of Law (and a former Guest Blogger), h... http://t.co/Z0oX7Qxu1l
— Legal History Blog (@legalhistory) January 31, 2014

ARTICLES: Arthurs on Legal Education and Smith on Peter Birks and Comparative Law

Two new articles from Canada on SSRN might be of interest: Harry Arthurs’ ‘The future of legal education: three visions and a prediction’ and Lionel Smith’s ‘Peter Birks and Comparative Law’.


The abstract for Arthurs’ paper reads:

I’m going to present three quite different views of what law schools ought to be and ought to do. The first holds that their primary, if not their sole, function should be to produce "practice-ready lawyers" for today’s profession. The second is that they should produce "tomorrow’s lawyers", lawyers with the capacity to adapt to the rapidly and radically changing circumstances of legal practice. And the third is that law schools should play a leading role in the creation and transformation of legal knowledge, legal practice, and the legal system — a role that requires them to provide their students with a large and liberal understanding of law that will prepare them for a variety of legal and non-legal careers. I’ll end by making a prediction about which model represents the future of law school. Or perhaps you’ve guessed already.

The abstract for Smith’s paper, forthcoming in the (2014) Revue de droit de l’Université de Sherbrooke, reads:

This paper was presented to the 50th Anniversary Conference of the Quebec Association of Comparative Law at the Faculté de droit, Université de Sherbrooke, in October 2011, within the conference theme “The jurists who have shaped comparative law: their dreams, works, successes and failures.” It studies aspects of the thought of Peter Birks in relation to comparative law, Roman law, legal scholarship and legal education. Birks valued comparative law, and thought that it could be more thoroughly integrated into research and teaching in law. About Roman law, however, he was passionate. He viewed it as a fascinating object of study and reflection, and as an essential part of undergraduate legal education. He deprecated the decline of Roman law as part of the law school curriculum. In this paper, I suggest that one reaction to the decline of Roman law in legal education could be a more comprehensive embrace of comparative law. If comparative law were integrated carefully into the curriculum, it could bring to students all of the benefits that Birks found in the study of Roman law.

JURIS DIVERSITAS: Rautenbach on Legal Pluralism, Cultural Diversity, etc, etc

Christa Rautenbach, friend and Juris Diversitas colleague, has just posted a very large number of papers on academia.edu. 

She notes that her:

principal area of interest is the relationship between the state and unofficial legal orders. My research topics include matters of legal pluralism and cultural diversity, as well as the use of foreign precedent by constitutional court judges (empirical results accessible at http://www4-win2.p.nwu.ac.za/dbtw-wpd/textbases/ccj.htm).

You can find the papers here.