10 January 2013

LECTURE: Grillo on "Other" Religions In the Courtroom

The Department of law of the University Centre of Albi is honoured to receive on January 22, 2013 Professor Ralph Grillo (University of Sussex) for a lecture entitled

'"Other"Religions In the Courtroom; A View From Britain.'

Across the globe many people are increasingly turning to religion to guide their conduct, and seek advice on how to comport themselves in societies which may be seen as secular, individualistic and immoral. This applies to a number of religious traditions, including Christianity, but in almost all Western countries, Islamic beliefs and practices (along with accusations that Muslims seek to lead ‘parallel lives', or ‘Islamize' Europe) seem especially problematic. In consequence, contemporary secular societies in Europe and elsewhere are characterized by acrimonious debate about religious difference. The lecture will look at this phenomenon in the British context, with an emphasis on the legal dimension. What has been the British perspective on ‘other' religious beliefs and practices when they enter into cases which come before the courts? What space is there for accommodation? What are its limits? And how are those limits determined?

The lecture will be hold at the CUFR Jean-François Champollion-Place de Verdun. 81012 Albi- FRANCE. Auditorium 2 (Maison Multimédia) at 2.00 PM.

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.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Regional Research on Women’s Access to Justice in Plural Legal Systems

'The following deadline has been extended to Jan. 18^th, 2013. Please note that organizations do NOT have to be registered UN organizations.'

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

National Component of a Regional Research on Women’s Access to Justice in Plural Legal Systems in one of the following countries:

Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Philippines, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam

The UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women) is calling for proposals to conduct national component of a regional research project on women’s access to justice in plural legal systems in Southeast Asia, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Philippines, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam.

In all societies in the region, laws and justice systems are not adequately working for women. Where justice systems reflect existing power imbalances that favor men’s privilege, women’s rights are less protected. Plural legal systems present challenges to women’s access to justice because they often include strands of law that are based on custom, religion and traditional rules and values that restrict women’s rights. When these traditional rules are incorporated into state and non‐state legal and justice systems (such as village courts) women’s rights in the private and domestic sphere, including their rights to live free from violence and make decisions about their sexuality, marriage, divorce and reproductive health, can be limited. The plural legal systems may also limit women’s economic rights including the right to decent work, inheritance and control of land and other productive resources. These legal systems are sometimes procedurally biased against women. The Progress of World Women Report of UN Women noted that the existence of legal plural system in itself can pose particular challenges to women seeking justice as it may create a complex web of overlapping systems in which women can lose their protection or access to rights. Also there are confusions over jurisdictional boundaries, and under-resourced justice systems present barriers to justice for women, especially for those from excluded groups. The challenges for reform of state-recognized and non state legal systems are enormous as they are linked to the complex problems, require state approval and also closely linked with the identity politics.

NOTICE: Legal Aid in the World

Happy New Year! The ABA International Legal Resource Center (ILRC) is seeking an expert to conduct research on the state of provision of legal aid in the world on a pro bono, telework basis. For the purpose of this request, UNDP is defining legal aid as encompassing criminal and civil justice issues and covers legal advice, assistance and representation by legal and paralegal groups (including both formal and traditional justice mechanisms).

There is no expected travel. Interested candidates should submit a CV and a short paragraph detailing relevant background. The deadline for expressions of interest is Tuesday, January 15, 2013!

The research should cover among others:

An overview of existing legal aid policies and legislative frameworks for the provision of legal aid and brief outline on state of implementation.
A mapping of existing studies undertaken on the state of legal aid at country, sub-regional, regional and global levels.
Analysis of existing gaps in knowledge/evidence base on state of legal aid.

A comprehensive bibliography including links and actual documents where available is required.

All questions can be directed to Jacqueline Gichinga at Jacqueline.Gichinga@americanbar.org.

BOOK: Cumper and Lewis on Religion, Rights and Secular Society

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Edward Elgar Publishing has just published Peter Cumper and Tom Lewis (eds), Religion, rights and secular society: European perspectives (2012)

This topical collection of chapters examines secular society and the legal protection of religion and belief across Europe, both in general and more nation-specific terms.

The expectations of many that religion in modern Europe would be swept away by the powerful current of secularization have not been realised, and today few topics generate more controversy than the complex relationship between religious and secular values. The ‘religious/secular’ relationship is examined in this book, which brings together scholars from different parts of Europe and beyond to provide insights into the methods by which religion and equivalent beliefs have been, and continue to be, protected in the legal systems and constitutions of European nations. The contributors’ chapters reveal that the oft-tumultuous legacy of Europe’s relationship with religion still resonates across a continent where legal, political and social contours have been powerfully shaped by faith and religious difference.

Covering recent controversies such as the Islamic headscarf, and the presence of the crucifix in school class-rooms, this book will appeal to academics and students in law, human rights and the social sciences, as well as law and policy makers and NGOs in the field of human rights.

PUBLICATION: Lo Giudice on Democracy without Foundations

Alessio Lo Giudice, a Juris Diversitas member, has recently published La democrazia infondata. Dal contratto sociale alla negoziazione degli interessi (Carocci, 2012):

The book considers present theories of institutions and political practices in light of the democratic principle and of the modern idea of a social contract. It underlines the risk that present democratic institutions are procedurally legitimate but theoretically unfounded because of the historical-conceptual path of modernity which has undermined the idea of a free and rational individual subject. It suggests that new forms of deliberative and participatory democracy or models of horizontal democratic governance could legitimate individual political acts, but are unlikely to manage the crisis of democracy as an institutional form.

JOURNAL: PoLAR - Symposium on Transparency

Current Issue

VOLUME 35, ISSUE 2

Editors’ Introduction
John Conley, Kathryn Henne, and Justin B. Richland

BOOK: Voigt et al on the Design of Constitutions

Elgar recently published Stefan Voigt (ed), Design of constitutions (2012):

Almost anywhere in the world, new constitutions are written and passed at almost any time. Over the last couple of years, an increasing number of economists have analysed constitutions based on an economic approach with an emphasis firstly on the (economic) effects of constitutions and followed by the factors determining their content. The contributions assembled in this volume go one step further: they ask how the knowledge gained over the last number of years can usefully be applied to constitutional design. This new branch could also be termed applied constitutional economics. Along with an original introduction, Professor Voigt has compiled a valuable research collection that will be of interest to scholars and practitioners in this growing field.

CALL FOR PAPERS - CONFERENCE: Mapping the Law of Irregular Migration

Call for Papers

Illegality Regimes:

Mapping the Law of Irregular Migration

A Conference at the VU University Amsterdam

30 May - 1 June 2013

www.illegality.org

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 has since then been 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:

Articles are being sought for publication in Comparative Legal History (CLH), an international and comparative review of law and history.

CLH is the official journal of the European Society for Comparative Legal History (ESCLH) and is published by Hart Publishing (UK).

The journal is published, both online and in print, twice a year, appearing in the spring and the autumn. The first issue will appear in Spring 2013:

Articles will explore both 'internal' legal history (doctrinal and disciplinary developments in the law) and 'external' legal history (legal ideas and institutions in wider contexts). Rooted in the complexity of the various Western legal traditions worldwide, the journal will also investigate other laws and customs from around the globe. Comparisons may be either temporal or geographical and both legal and other law-like normative traditions will be considered. Scholarship on comparative and trans-national historiography, including trans-disciplinary approaches, is particularly welcome.

The Editors welcome scholarly submissions in the English language:

To submit an article please contact Articles Editor Heikki Pihlajamäki (heikki.pihlajamaki@helsinki.fi). The optimal length for articles is between 7500 to 15000 words, including footnotes. All articles are submitted to double blind peer review.

To propose a review, please contact Reviews Editor Agustin Parise (agustin.parise@maastrichtuniversity.nl). Book reviews will generally range from 1500 to 2500 words. Review articles will also be considered.

The Hart website also has information on the Editors (both the Editorial Staff and International Editorial Board), an Email alert service of the 'Table of Contents', and subscription information.

Note that a special arrangement between the ESCLH and Hart has been made to ensure that ESCLH membership fees include a subscription to CLH.

Potential contributors should pay special attention to the ‘Notes for Contributors’ on the website. In particular, contributors whose first language is not English are strongly advised to have their papers edited by native Anglophone scholars in advance of their submission to ensure a clear presentation of their ideas and an accurate appraisal of their work.

Spread the word.