WEBSITE (New!): The International Academy of Comparative Law

 The International Academy of Comparative Law has a new, engaging website. 

Have a look at http://iuscomparatum.info/!!

JURIS DIVERSITAS BOOK SERIES: Update and Call for Proposals

Juris Diversitas is proud to have a book series with Ashgate Publishing (we're also a Publishing Partner): 

Rooted in comparative law, the Juris Diversitas Series focuses on the interdisciplinary study of legal and normative mixtures and movements. Our interest is in comparison broadly conceived, extending beyond law narrowly understood to related fields. Titles might be geographical or temporal comparisons. They could focus on theory and methodology, substantive law, or legal cultures. They could investigate official or unofficial ‘legalities’, past and present and around the world. And, to effectively cross spatial, temporal, and normative boundaries, inter- and multi-disciplinary research is particularly welcome. 

Since October 2014, the following titles have been published:

1. Seán Patrick Donlan and Lukas Heckerdon-Ursheler (eds), Concepts of Law: Comparative, Jurisprudential, and Social Science Perspectives 
2. Sue Farran, Esin Örücü, and Seán Patrick Donlan (eds), A Study of Mixed Legal Systems: Endangered, Entrenched, or Blend
3. Vernon Palmer, Mohamed Y Mattar, and Anna Koppel (eds), Mixed Legal Systems, East and West
4. Daniela Berti, Anthony Good, and Gilles Tarabout (eds), Of Doubt and Proof: Ritual and Legal Practices of Judgment

Among other titles, the following are due in 2015:

• Shauna van Praagh and Helge Deldek (eds), Stateless Law: Evolving Boundaries of a Discipline
• Sue Farran, James Gallen, Jennifer Hendry, and Christa Rautenbach (eds), The Diffusion of Law: The Movement of Laws and Norms around the World

While we anticipate publishing future collections (original, conference-based, Festschriften, etc), we're also very interested in publishing monographs and student texts. 

Note that selected volumes are also provided free with membership.

In addition, Ashgate Publishing is delighted to offer members of Juris Diversitas a special discount of 20% on all Ashgate’s titles. 

How to claim your Ashgate discount. 

JOURNAL ANNOUNCEMENT: European Law Journal new issue

The Whig history of European integration has tended to assume both that the EU is a ‘club’ of democratic states and that being a member of the EU necessarily results in the strengthening of national democracy. But even a summary reading of the post-war history of the states that formed the little Europe of six will throw serious doubts on the extent to which the Whig narrative can be taken without a pinch of salt. Think about the many violations of fundamental rights during the Algerian war, the obscure episodes of collusion of state apparatuses with terrorist groups during the anni di piombo, not unrelated to aborted coups d'état, the shamefully ugly face of colonialism and post-colonialism, not to speak of the dark legacies of fascist legal theory. The rise of ‘plébéiens de droit’ (à la Häider, Berlusconi, Orban or Le Pen) is the last episode of a story that did not start yesterday and in which threats invariably come from non-democratic forces, whether they claim to be right wing or left wing. This makes exceedingly topical and interesting the question that Mueller poses in the opening article of this issue, namely, Can there be a dictatorship within the EU? Mueller's institutional and substantive proposals are bound to be highly polemical, as well as his (perhaps not fully un-Whig) assumption that there is more of a threat coming from ‘illiberal’ democracy (à la Orban) than from authoritarian liberalism (à la austerity). But the central question and the key issues raised in Müller's article are bound to remain with us in the foreseeable future.

While the interest in Euratom has constantly declined, Álvarez Verdugo's article is a good reminder that much can be contributed to the general debate on Union law from what are widely (and wrongly) regarded as esoteric issues at the margins of the European legal order. The story of the other stress tests, i.e. the tests of European nuclear plants undertaken after the Fukushima nuclear accident, and the ensuing attempts at changing European nuclear safety rules prove that sometimes more light can be thrown from the margins than from the core of EU law. Three contributions to this issue revolve around the potential of non-discrimination as a tool for the realisation and protection of fundamental rights and liberties. Travis' analysis of the European legal regime of intersexuality combines careful attention to legal detail and context with a powerful case for the constructive role of non-discrimination. Costa Arcarazo finds that through non-discrimination, the Long Term Residence Directive and the case-law of the European Court of Justice have resulted in the crystallisation of a truly post-national status for permanent residents in the EU. Pearson revisits one of the most passionately debated issues regarding free movement of workers, the system of transfer of football players, and finds that the present arrangements are likely to fall foul of Union law.

Van der Aa invites us to dig deeper into European criminal law from the standpoint of the rights of victims after the sentence is rendered, that is, in the post-trial stage. The author finds that European law is still open to the criticism of neglecting the rights of victims, something for which lack of competence is no valid excuse. Last but not least, Marxsen revisits ‘stakeholders’ consultations, one of the jewels in the crown of participatory democracy. The author documents that business and industry organisations dominate the consultative process, while the participation of citizens and not-for-profit organisations is generally weak. It seems, after all, that the days of representative democracy are not only not over, but should not be over.

As this issue goes to the presses, we are giving the final touches to the May issue, which will contain a special section around the English translation of Hermann Heller's piece on authoritarian liberalism. Leaving aside two short encyclopedia entries written in English just before his untimely death in 1933, and a long extract of his posthumous Theory of the State (masterfully translated by David Dyzenhaus), Heller's writings remain untranslated into English. That is sad, odd and unacceptable. Heller's analysis of the decline and fall of the Democratic Rechtsstaat in Europe, as well as the transformation of his thinking as the crises unfolded in Europe, are as topical today as they were in the early 1930s. Given that Heller practised law in context avant la lettre, it is only natural that the ELJ takes the lead in sparking interest and in prompting debate around the fundamental contributions of Heller to European constitutional legal theory.

Click here for further information on the current issue.

CALL FOR PAPERS: 4th Law and Boundaries conference

The Law and Boundaries group just launched the call for papers for the 4th Law and Boundaries conference, which will be held in Paris on June 17/18 and will host, among tens of young scholars, a debate between Etienne Balibar and Duncan Kennedy on Marx and Foucault. The deadline for proposal is April 17th. 

This is the link for the Call for Abstracts: https://lawandboundaries.wordpress.com/call-for-abstracts-appel-a-propositions/

CONFERENCE: Methodological Frameworks of Postgraduate Research in Law (27-28 April 2015)

Desperately seeking a method: the methodological frameworks of postgraduate research in law

27-28 April 2015

A two-day event co-organised by Åbo Akademi and the University of Helsinki.  

The focus of the event is methodological, and its approach is practical. What methods are available for legal research (doctrinal, socio-legal, historical, comparative, etc.)? What method does the research question of your thesis imply? What options do you have? What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of the options you have?

The event is tailored for 15-20 postgraduate research students, and it includes plenary sessions addressing general questions, targeted working groups with leading experts representing different approaches, collaborative work in student groups, as well as pop-up clinics allowing for short face-to-face consultations with senior colleagues. The event will conclude with instructions for a written assignment, to be submitted online at a later date, that is intended to serve you as a draft for the methodological section of your thesis. Participation in the two-day event, including completion of the written assignment, will give you 4 ECTS credits that you can use against the research training requirements at your home institution (e.g. module code 20600 at the University of Helsinki). Please consult the appropriate staff members at your institution for details.

REVIEW (Juris Diversitas Series): A Study of Mixed Legal Systems: Endangered, Entrenched or Blended

This review just appeared in the Journal of Legal Pluralism: 'This book's collection of interesting case studies of hybrid legal systems not only provides us useful insights regarding the ongoing process of mixing in general, but also in reference to the particular cases presented. It, therefore, is an important addition to the literature on mixed legal systems and comparative law in general, and will undoubtedly prove a boon to further research.' See the review or information on the book and the series.

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT: LEGAL PLURALISM IN EUROPE AND THE ORDRE PUBLIC EXCEPTION: NORMATIVE AND JUDICIAL PERSPECTIVES

Trento, Faculty of Law, 16 and 17 April, 2015 

The International Workshop draws its inspiration from the circumstance of several countries in Europe experiencing a growing number of cases in which individuals (mainly immigrants) claim to have a series of family and personal matters regulated by the law of their country of origin, under international private law.

In so far as this foreign law corresponds to – or is largely influenced by – Islamic law (or other religious law), domestic legal systems in Europe face the problem of reviewing the compatibility of such religiously inspired foreign law with domestic (and European) fundamental rights standards, mainly by applying the public policy (ordre public) exception which prevents the administrative application or the judicial enforcement of foreign law or foreign judicial or administrative decisions that are qualified as incompatible.

The International Workshop aims at considering the current attitude shown  by  the judiciary in legal systems strongly influenced by Islamic law as well as in some European states, while ultimately focusing  on whether a shared European ordre public exception in the field of family law is emerging in case law.

The program of this event is available from this link.

BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT: Fundamental Rights in the EU

A Matter for Two Courts

Edited by Sonia Morano-Foadi and Lucy Vickers

This collection joins the new and expanding scholarship on the protection of fundamental rights in Europe and reflects on the relationship between the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The book questions whether the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty align the CJEU to the ECtHR’s interpretation and methods, triggering different processes of institutionalisation within a coherent European system. These issues are explored through a contextual analysis of areas of law such as equality rights in employment law, citizenship and migration, internet law and access to justice. This volume includes perspectives from the scholarly community as well as practitioners, judges and European policy makers. It also examines the state of accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and considers the legal implications of the interactions of the two courts for the protection of the fundamental rights of EU citizens and individuals legally residing in Europe.

The volume is essential reading for practitioners, judges, European policy makers and members of the scholarly community working in this area of law.

Sonia Morano-Foadi is a Reader in Law and Lucy Vickers is a Professor in Law, both at Oxford Brookes University.

Click here for further information on this title.

BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT: Europe’s Justice Deficit?

Edited by Dimitry Kochenov, Gráinne de Búrca and Andrew Williams

ENDORSEMENTS

"The question of the EU’s justice deficit could not be of greater relevance. Both scholars and politicians have often argued that the economic and other benefits of the EU compensate for any democratic failings. Yet, as the eurocrisis renders these benefits less apparent, it becomes more appropriate than ever to ask whether it distributes them and any accompanying costs in a just way. The  responses of the contributors to this volume prove as disturbing  as they are informative."

Professor Richard Bellamy, Director of the Max Weber Programme, European University Institute, Florence

"This is a remarkable volume which addresses a long-neglected question about the EU: situated between integration through market freedoms and an emerging constitutional project, how does the EU contribute to the achievement of justice? A set of lively, engaged and scholarly contributions which extend the boundaries of the debate. A must-read for all interested in European Studies."

Professor Seyla Benhabib, Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Yale University 

"The list of authors reads like a veritable “Who's Who of European studies”...The outcome is fascinating, enormously rich and diverse (with the authors occasionally disagreeing with each other) – just as Europe is. Once you have read it, you realize what an important void it has filled. It opens up a new, fresh perspective within the European studies, and I can safely predict that it will become a canon, by reference to which we will be discussing “justice in/of Europe” in the years to come."

Wojciech Sadurski, Challis Professor of Jurisprudence, The University of Sydney Faculty of Law

"By arranging a multi-disciplinary discussion about justice in the EU “as a flow of ideas” this most engaging book offers a gripping account of justice as the proverbial contested concept…The editors have succeeded in bringing together a group of feisty scholars keen to present their rather diverse, and at times even exclusive, take on the meaning of justice...A must read for all interested in justice, nothwithstanding their own disciplinary home."

Prof Antje Wiener, Chair in Political Science, especially Global Governance, University of Hamburg

The gradual legal and political evolution of the European Union has not, thus far, been accompanied by the articulation or embrace of any substantive ideal of justice going beyond the founders’ intent or the economic objectives of the market integration project. This absence arguably compromises the foundations of the EU legal and political system since the relationship between law and justice—a crucial question within any constitutional system—remains largely unaddressed. This edited volume brings together a number of concise contributions by leading academics and young scholars whose work addresses both legal and philosophical aspects of justice in the European context. The aim of the volume is to appraise the existence and nature of this deficit, its implications for Europe’s future, and to begin a critical discussion about how it might be addressed. There have been many accounts of the EU as a story of constitutional evolution and a system of transnational governance, but few which pay sustained attention to the implications for justice.

The EU today has moved beyond its initial and primary emphasis on the establishment of an Internal Market, as the growing importance of EU citizenship and social rights suggests. Yet, most legal analyses of the EU treaties and of EU case-law remain premised broadly on the assumption that EU law still largely serves the purpose of perfecting what is fundamentally a system of economic integration. The place to be occupied by the underlying substantive ideal of justice remains significantly underspecified or even vacant, creating a tension between the market-oriented foundation of the Union and the contemporary essence of its constitutional system. The relationship of law to justice is a core dimension of constitutional systems around the world, and the EU is arguably no different in this respect.

The critical assessment of justice in the EU provided by the contributions to this book will help to create a fuller picture of the justice deficit in the EU, and at the same time open up an important new avenue of legal research of immediate importance.

Click here for further information

BOOK: Non-State Justice Institutions and the Law: Decision-Making at the Interface of Tradition, Religion and the State

Palgrave Macmillan has just published Non-State Justice Institutions and the Law: Decision-Making at the Interface of Tradition, Religion and the State, edited by Matthias Kötter, Tilmann J. Röder, Gunnar Folke Schuppert, and Rüdiger Wolfrum.

The book blurb reads:

Traditional forms of dispute resolution have become an important aspect in the political and academic debates on law and development and in numerous cases of constitution-making and judicial reform. This book focuses on decision-making by non-state justice institutions at the interface of traditional, religious, and state laws. The authors discuss the implications of non-state justice for the rule of law, presenting case studies on traditional councils and courts in Pakistan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Bolivia and South Africa. Looking at the legitimacy of non-state justice from various angles, this collection explores the ways in which non-state legal systems and governmental structures are embedded in official state justice institutions and how this affects the protection of human rights.

The book includes a chapter by our own Christa Rautenbach (North-West University (South Africa)) and Brian Z Tamanaha (Washington University (USA)), plenary speaker at our upcoming conference.