CONFERENCE: Mediterranean Legal Hybridity

A symposium on ‘Mediterranean Legal Hybridity: Mixtures and Movements’ is to be held in Malta on Saturday, 12 June 2010. The event is hosted by the Department of Civil Law of the Faculty of Law and the Mediterranean Institute, both of the University of Malta. It is organised in conjunction with Juris Diversitas.

Studies of Mediterranean legal and normative diversity have been isolated, sporadic, and too often framed within narrow disciplinary constraints. The symposium addresses this lacuna by fostering an international and interdisciplinary network of experts—in law, history, and the social sciences—to investigate legal hybridity and diffusion in the region.

Those interested in making a presentation (twenty minutes long) should email Dr Seán Patrick Donlan (sean.donlan@ul.ie) by Monday, 29 March 2010 with a short (250 word) proposal. The conference fee is €100; transportation and accommodation are not included.

LAUNCH AND CALL FOR PAPERS: European Society for Comparative Legal History

For those interested in the legal mixtures and movements of the European past, the European Society for Comparative Legal History recently announced the creation of the Society, the launch of their blog, and an inaugural conference, 'Law and Historical Development from a Comparative Perspective', to be held at the University of Valencia (Spain) on 5-6 July 2010.

I confess that I'm biased, but check it out.

BOOK REVIEW: Cotterrell on legal pluralism

Check out Roger Cotterrell (Queen Mary University of London, School of Law)'s 'Does Legal Pluralism Need a Concept of Law?' available on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). The abstract reads:

This paper, reviewing Emmanuel Melissaris' Ubiquitous Law, argues that the book's project – that of seeking a 'thin' concept of law to underpin legal pluralist theory, together with a highly flexible and open approach to institutional characteristics of law – is problematic from a sociolegal viewpoint. Melissaris seeks to preserve legal philosophy's concern with the question 'What is law?' while recognising that this question can receive only vague and open answers if legal pluralism is to be taken seriously in legal theory. His discussion is sophisticated and thoughtful, but he is wrong to imply that sociology of law depends ultimately on legal philosophy's conceptual inquiries. Sociolegal studies need rich and provocative, but only provisional, flexible and endlessly revisable specifications of 'the legal' as a guide for research practice. Legal philosophy's conceptual inquiries may help to shape these specifications, but are not prerequisites for the task.

NOTICE: Indigenous Nations & Peoples Law Abstracts

The Center for Indigenous Law, Governance & Citizenship at Syracuse University College of Law has released its Indigenous Nations & Peoples Law Abstracts. These include:

• 'The Meaning and Liberal Justifications of Israel's Law of Return' (Dan Ernst, Ewha Womans University)
• 'Legal Pluralism, Customary Law and Environmental Management: The Role of International Law for the South Pacific' (Erika J. Techera, Macquarie University - Macquarie Law School)
• 'One Step Forward, Two Giant Steps Back: How the ‘Existing Indian Family’ Exception (Re)Imposes Anglo American Legal Values on American Indian Tribes to the Detriment of Cultural Autonomy' (Suzianne D. Painter-Thorne, Mercer University School of Law) 
• 'The New Status of the Lands of Native Populations in Brazilian Constitutional Law and International Law' (Othon Moreno de Medeiros Alves, Tribunal de Contas do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte [S.Court of Auditors of the State of Rio Grande do Norte], Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - Departamento de Direito Público [Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte - Department of Public Law])

These are each available through the Social Science Reserach Network (SSRN).

EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS NOW AVAILABLE

Juris Diversitas has now added an email subscription service. Assuming it's been properly installed, subscribers will receive new posts through their email accounts. Please notify us if you encounter difficulties.

CALL FOR PAPERS: CONGRESS OF THE WORLD SOCIETY OF MIXED JURISDICTION JURISTS

The World Society of Mixed Jurisdiction Jurists has issued a Call for Papers for its Third International Congress (20-23 June 2011, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel)). The theme of the Congress is Methodology and Innovation in Mixed Legal Systems.

Mixed legal systems, both the classical ‘mixed jurisdictions’ combining common law and civilian law and more exotic hybrids, are increasingly important touchstones for comparative law. The Third Congress of the World Society of Mixed Jurisdiction Jurists focuses on legal methodology and innovation in mixed systems in the twenty‐first century: investigating past experiences, exploring present practices, and predicting future possibilities.

Proposals for papers on any of a number of topics are welcome. They may be submitted by jurists from any jurisdiction, and by members and non-members of the Society alike. Proposals should be submitted to the Secretary-General of the Society, Prof. Celia Fassberg (mscelia@mscc.huji.ac.il), by 1 May 2010. They should not exceed 500 words and should be accompanied by a curriculum vitae of one page only. The Planning Committee will make its selection by 1 August 2010. The time allocated for delivery of papers will be no longer than 20 minutes. Papers delivered at the conference will be considered for publication in the conference proceedings. The Society regrets that it cannot guarantee publication of all papers delivered and cannot cover travel expenses of participants in the congress.

THE REGISTER

Juris Diversitas has created and will maintain a Register of individuals interested in our theme. We invite individuals to visit the Register and submit the relevant information to sean.donlan@ul.ie for inclusion.

Ordering hybridity

Over the past few months, I (belatedly) noted the publication of the following books on the Comparative Law Blog:

• G Dargo, Jefferson’s Louisiana: politics and the clash of legal traditions (2009)
• M Delmas-Marty, Ordering pluralism: a conceptual framework for understanding the transnational legal world (2009)
• M Forsyth, A bird that flies with two wings: kastom and state justice systems in Vanuatu (2009)
• A Halpin and V Roeben (eds), Theorising the global legal order (2009)
• TG Kirsch and B Turner (eds), Permutations of order: religion and law as contested sovereignties (2009)
• E Melissaris, Ubiquitous law: legal theory and the space for legal pluralism (2009)
• V Palmer and Elspeth Christie Reid (eds), Mixed jurisdictions compared: private law in Louisiana and Scotland (2009)
• R Schlesinger, U Mattei, T Ruskola, and A Gidi (eds), Rudolph Schlesinger's comparative law ((7th edn) 2009) 
• W Twining, General jurisprudence: understanding law from a global perspective (2009).
• F von Benda-Beckmann and K von Benda-Beckmann (eds), Spatializing law: an anthropological geography of law in society (2009)
• F von Benda-Beckmann, K von Benda-Beckmann, and J Eckert (eds), Rules of law and laws of ruling: on the govenance of law (2009)

All of these may be of interest to those following this blog.

Any thoughts? What'd I miss?

Conference in Dakar, Senegal - February 19 to February 20, 2010: The Impact of the OHADA on International Business Law and Practice in Africa

The purpose of the treaty creating the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (in French: “OHADA”), signed by 16 Sub-Saharan African States on October 17, 1993 and entered into force on September 18, 1995, is to promote economic development and integration as well as to ensure a secure legal and judicial environment in Africa.

The OHADA treaty provides its member States with a uniform business law, a regional arbitration institution for the settlement of contractual disputes as well as with the training and specialization of magistrates and staff of the judiciary that the members have agreed to contribute to.

The harmonization method, both on the substantive and procedural level, represents a very unique approach that is not to be found elsewhere in the world. It gives rise to a deep interest in America, China and also in Europe.

This event is dedicated to the impact of the uniform law on the practice and development of business with Africa; it will also allow the participants to compare the experiences and perspectives related to this new approach to uniform law

More information at: http://seminaires.uianet.org/en/the-impact-of-the-ohada-on-international-business-law-and-practice-in-africa/home143/

CALL FOR PAPERS: Mediterranean Legal Hybridity

A symposium on ‘Mediterranean Legal Hybridity: Mixtures and Movements’ is to be held in Malta on Saturday, 12 June 2010. The event is hosted by the Department of Civil Law of the Faculty of Law and the Mediterranean Institute, both of the University of Malta. It is organised in conjunction with Juris Diversitas.

Studies of Mediterranean legal and normative diversity have been isolated, sporadic, and too often framed within narrow disciplinary constraints. The symposium addresses this lacuna by fostering an international and interdisciplinary network of experts—in law, history, and the social sciences—to investigate legal hybridity and diffusion in the region.

Those interested in making a presentation (twenty minutes long) should email Dr Seán Patrick Donlan (sean.donlan@ul.ie) by Monday, 29 March 2010 with a short (250 word) proposal. The conference fee is €100; transportation and accommodation are not included.