SPEAKERS: Irish Society of Comparative Law Conference (5-6 June 2015)

The plenary speakers of the Irish Society of Comparative Law Conference, to be held at the University of Limerick (Ireland) immediately after the Juris Diversitas Conference, have been announced.

Comparative legal historians Kjell Å Modéer and Mia Korpiola will speak. Each is an important member of the European Society for Comparative Legal History.

You should consider staying for both conferences ...

More details on the conference will follow soon.

UPDATE (Keynote Speaker): Juris Diversitas Annual Conference

UPDATE: PLENARY SPEAKER
PROFESSOR BRIAN TAMANAHA

We're pleased to announce that one of our plenary speakers will be Professor Brian Tamanaha (Washington University, St Louis). As his faculty profile reads:

Professor Brian Z. Tamanaha is a renowned jurisprudence scholar and the author of eight books and numerous scholarly articles, including his groundbreaking book, Beyond the Formalist–Realist Divide: The Role of Politics in Judging. His articles have appeared in a variety of leading journals, and his publications have been translated into eight languages. Also an expert in law and society, he has delivered lectures in Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, France, the Netherlands, Colombia, Singapore, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He spent a year in residence as a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Professor Tamanaha is the recipient of several book prizes and awards, including Professor of the Year, and a frequent speaker and lecturer at legal conferences throughout the United States and abroad. His professional affiliations include serving as a past member of the Board of Trustees of the Law and Society Association. Before becoming a law professor, he clerked for the Hon. Walter E. Hoffman, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He also practiced law in Hawaii and Micronesia, where he served as legal counsel for the Micronesian Constitutional Convention, Assistant Attorney General for the Yap State, and Assistant Federal Public Defender for the District of Hawaii. He then earned a doctorate of juridical science at Harvard Law School.

And we're still accepting proposals ...

CALL FOR PAPERS DEADLINE: 28 February 2015

JURIS DIVERSITAS

ANNUAL CONFERENCE  

2-4 June 2015

School of Law, University of Limerick

Limerick, Ireland

THE STATE AND/OF COMPARATIVE LAW

[Note that the Irish Society of Comparative Law annual conferences will be held in Limerick immediately afterwards. Its theme is ‘Comparative Law: From Antiquity to Modernity’ and the same proposal may be submitted for both conferences. See here.]

While any proposal on comparative law (broadly conceived) will be considered, the conference’s primary theme is the relationship between social and legal norms and social and legal institutions. In memory of Roderick A Macdonald (1948-2014) and H Patrick Glenn (1940-2014), both former members of our Advisory Council, particular attention will be given to the diverse themes of their scholarship: for example, ‘common laws’, ‘constitutive polyjurality’, ‘critical legal pluralism’, ‘everyday law’, and ‘legal cosmopolitanism’.

As with our past conferences, proposals on a wide variety of topics will be accepted: comparative jurisprudence and legislation, legal philosophy, legal education, law reform, etc. Presentations may be theoretical analyses or case studies on the past or present, North or South, East or West ….

Panel proposals and interdisciplinary presentations are strongly encouraged, as is the participation of doctoral students and scholars from outside of the discipline of law. While parallel sessions of three twenty-minute presentations will be used, we welcome more original session structures.

Proposals should be in English or French. Proposals of c250 words (or 1000 words for panel proposals) should be submitted to Olivier Moréteau at moreteau@lsu.edu by 28 February 2015, with a short biography or resume (c250 words). Please send Word documents only, with minimal formatting.

Registration fees are €200 (€125 for Juris Diversitas members paid up for 2015). Membership and fee payment information is available on the Juris Diversitas Blog (http://jurisdiversitas.blogspot.ie/). Note that fees don’t cover travel, accommodation, or the conference dinner (€50).

CALLS FOR PAPERS - BACK-TO-BACK CONFERENCES: Juris Diversitas (2-4 June 2015) and Irish Society of Comparative Law (5-6 June 2015)

NOTE: CALLS FOR PAPERS

The Juris Diversitas and Irish Society of Comparative Law annual conferences will be hosted back-to-back at the School of Law of the University of Limerick in Limerick, Ireland.

The theme of the former is ‘The State and/of Comparative Law’; the theme of the latter is ‘Comparative Law: From Antiquity to Modernity’.

See the links here and here.

SPEECHES: The Keynote Speeches of the 5th Annual Conference of the Irish Society of Comparative Law

The Keynote Speeches of the 5th Annual Conference of the Irish Society of Comparative Law, held on 24-25 May 2013 at the National University of Ireland - Galway, are now available online. 

 These include: 

• Professor Susan Farran (University of Northumbria), 'The age of Empire. Again: critical thoughts on legal imperialism'
• Professor Brice Dickson (Queens University Belfast and Former President, Irish Society of Comparative Law), 'The Irish Supreme Court in Comparative Perspective: Preliminary thoughts', with a response by Judge Catherine McGuinness (Retired, Irish Supreme Court).

REPORT: 2013 Irish Society of Comparative Law Conference

Back home from the Irish Society of Comparative Law Conference in lovely, lively Galway. There were, as always, many fine presentations, but the plenaries were particularly good:

Sue Farran (Northumbria), 'The Age of Empire. Again: Critical Thoughts on Legal Imperialism'

Brice Dickson (Queen's, Belfast), 'The Irish Supreme Court in Comparative Perspective: Preliminary Thoughts'

Thanks again to Marie and the rest of the Conference Committee.

REGISTRATION: Irish Society of Comparative Law Conference

Registration for the fifth annual Irish Society of Comparative Law (ISCL) Conference is now open here.

The School of Law at NUI Galway, Ireland will host the conference on 24-25 May 2013.

For additional information, contact Charles O’Mahony (charles.omahony@nuigalway.ie).

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION: Irish Society of Comparative Law

Registration for the fifth annual Irish Society of Comparative Law (ISCL) Conference is now open here.

The School of Law at NUI Galway, Ireland will host the conference on 24-25 May 2013.

For additional information, contact Charles O’Mahony (charles.omahony@nuigalway.ie). 

LECTURE: Wolff on Data Protection and European Developments

Irish Society of Comparative Law 
public lecture on Data Protection Law, 20 March 2013
The Irish Society of Comparative Law in conjunction with Trinity College Law School and the IIIS is hosting a public lecture entitled:
“Data Protection and European Developments: a German View”
by Professor Heinrich Wolff, Professor for Public Law at the Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) and Visiting Fellow at the Institute for International Integration Studies in Trinity College Dublin and chaired by Mr Paul Lambert, of Merrion Legal Solicitors and NUIG, author of “Data Protection Law in Ireland”, at 7pm on Wednesday 20 March in the IIIS Seminar Room, 6th Floor Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin.

This event is free and all are very welcome to attend.

REMINDER: Call for Papers - Irish Society of Comparative Law Annual Conference

The School of Law at NUI Galway, Ireland will host the Irish Society of Comparative Law (ISCL) 5th Annual Conference on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th of May 2013 in Galway. The theme for the ISCL Conference is ‘Comparative Public Law’. Papers placing Irish public law in comparative perspective are especially encouraged, but any topic in comparative or legal systems may be proposed including private law topics. Proposals for thematic panels of papers are also welcomed.

The primary objective of the ISCL is to encourage the comparative study of law and legal systems. Students fully registered for a masters in law, or law-related area (LL.M, MA) are encouraged to submit papers, and the 2nd ISCL Young Researcher Prize will be awarded to the best paper delivered by a student in this category.

Proposals for papers for the 2013 conference should be short (250 words max) and sent to Charles O’Mahony at charles.omahony@nuigalway.ie. The deadline for receipt of proposals is Friday 15 February 2013. Applicants will be notified by Thursday 28th February 2013 if their paper proposal is successful. There will be an opportunity for poster presentations (Posters A1 size) to be displayed in the foyer of the conference venue, Aras Moyola. Poster presenters are expected to attend the conference in the normal way and to be available to discuss their work. You do not have to be a member of the ISCL to propose a paper or be selected to present a poster. Registration forms and additional information will be available early in 2013.

ARTICLES: Comparative Articles (Thanks to the Irish Society of Comparative Law)

Our friend in Ireland has returned, posting two comparative articles from SSRN on the Irish Society of Comparative Law Blog. The first is by a member of Juris Diversitas, the second someone I hope will become one someday:

Shawn Marie Boyne, Translating Civil Law 'Objectivity' with an Adversarial Brain: An Ethnographic Perspective (January 9, 2013)

The act of translation encompasses more than the transfer of linguistic meaning. It also involves the transfer of larger cultural and epistemological meanings (Wolf, 2011). When legal texts are the object of translation, the process includes the “mechanism of the law” (Šarčević 2000:1). The role of a linguist and translation theory in this process is contested (Harvey 2002) as some scholars have argued that legal texts possess a unique communicative function often overlooked by linguists (Šarčević 2012:189). While legal scholars have questioned linguists’ claims to participate the law related interpretation process, this chapter sidesteps that debate (Poirier 1995: 1034). Instead I address the problems of subjectivity and interpretation that legal scholars themselves face as they attempt to analyze the role that law plays on unfamiliar turf. I identify and detail two challenges embedded in comparative legal jurisprudence. One stems the pitfalls that legal scholars encounter when they rely on legal texts as a source of understanding rather than investigating how the law actually functions on the ground. The second stems from the comparative legal scholar’s subjectivity.

In the field of comparative law, these "translation" errors as well as problems of subjectivity colored English-language scholarship regarding the objectivity of German prosecutors for several decades. I show how scholars' use of German codes as a proxy for German practice led scholars to claim that the German criminal justice system effectively controlled prosecutorial discretion. While new scholarship on German plea bargaining practices attempts to destroy the myth of limited discretion, it misses the role that organizational culture and training play in shaping decision-making processes. Drawing from my fieldwork in Germany, I use examples from my own experience to show the dangers of researcher subjectivity. The paper concludes with a call for further comparative research that goes beyond am examination of foreign texts and explores foreign legal practices.

Jaye Ellis, General Principles and Comparative Law (2011). European Journal of International Law, Vol. 22, No. 4, 2011.

This article explores the source ‘general principles of international law’ from the point of view of comparative law scholarship. The currently accepted definition of general principles and methodology for identifying such principles are critiqued. The criterion of the representativeness of the major families of legal systems, to which courts and tribunals tend to pay lip service rather than applying rigorously, is meant to anchor general principles in state consent, but is not a sound technique either for identifying principles of relevance to international law or for preventing judges from referring only to the legal systems they know best. Furthermore, the emphasis on extracting the essence of rules results in leaving behind most of what is interesting and useful in what judges may have learned by studying municipal legal systems. Comparative scholarship is an obvious, rich, and strangely neglected source of guidance for international judges who wish to draw insights from legal systems outside international law.