REMINDER: Mediterranean Hybridity Project (Catania - 25 October 2010)

An interdisciplinary roundtable on the legal and normative hybridity of the Mediterranean region will be held in Catania on Monday, 25 October 2010. Organised with Juris Diversitas and hosted at the University of Catania, the event is part of the Mediterranean Hybridity Project launched in Malta in June 2010.

The Project is creating a collaborative interdisciplinary network of experts to study both (i) the state laws that are the domain of lawyers and (ii) the wider normative orders typically studied by social scientists. It marries conceptual and empirical models from the legal and social sciences, especially earlier analyses of ‘mixed legal systems’ and legal/normative pluralism.

Our intention is to create multidisciplinary jurisdictional reports, resulting in a published collection, and a database on the laws and non-state norms of the region. The roundtable will allow the project leaders to select the participants involved over the course of the project, to finalise the questions to be posed, and to consider our options for collaboration and funding.

Note, too, that while the language of the coming roundtable will be English, our intention is to allow the use of either English or French for the final reports. 

For those attending the roundtable, it’ll take place in the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Catania (via Vittorio Emanuele II, 49). Our simplified and flexible schedule is as follows:

1000 Coffee

1030 Project Overview

11-1230 Discussion

1230-1 Working Break

1-130 Discussion

130-3 Lunch

3-4 Discussion and conclusion

4 Possible walking tour of Catania

8 Dinner

Note that the Hotel Novecento is very near the meeting site and has offered a conference rate at:

€80 Double room (single use) with buffet breakfast

€90 Double room with buffet breakfast

€110 Triple room with buffet breakfast

The hotel’s at via Monsignor Ventimiglia, 37. Its phone number is 0039-095310488 and the email address is infobooking@hotelnovecentocatania.it.

Feel free, of course, to inform others of our work. We're especially interested in attracting additional individuals with training in the social sciences as well as participants from the Balkans, North Africa, and the Levant. Individuals or institutions interested in participating or sponsoring our work should also contact us.

Anyone interested in attending should contact Dr Seán Patrick Donlan (sean.donlan@ul.ie) or Dr Biagio Andò (bando@lex.unict.it). While the organisers are not able to fund expenses, there is no cost to attend.

NOTICE: The Stellenbosch Papers in the Tulane European & Civil Law Forum

The Tulane European & Civil Law Forum has published articles generated from a colloquium on 'Mixed Jurisdictions as Models?' The colloquium was held in May 2009 and sponsored by the World Society of Mixed Jurisdiction Jurists and the International Association of Legal Science. The introduction by Vernon Palmer, President of the World Society of Mixed Jurisdiction Jurists reads:

Readers of past issues of the Forum are aware of the growing interest in comparative law circles for the mixed jurisdictions and other mixed systems of the world. These pluralist legal orders often internalize common law, civil law, and various personal and religious laws reflecting the diversity of its people and the complexity of its past. It has been asserted that mixed legal systems are the most prevalent type of legal system in the world today. In many respects they may be considered the wave of the future, given the trends toward globalization and international harmonization of laws. On the conviction that Tulane and the Forum should help promote an understanding of these systems, of which Louisiana and South Africa are examples, the Forum is pleased to present the collected papers of the international Colloquium that took place at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa on May 14-15, 2009.

This Colloquium was jointly sponsored by the World Society of Mixed Jurisdiction Jurists and the International Association of Legal Science and its stated theme was "Mixed Jurisdictions as Models? Perspectives from Southern Africa and Beyond". Our generous hosts were Professors Jacques du Plessis, Marius de Waal, and Dean Gerhard Lubbe of the Stellenbosch Faculty of Law, who provided gracious hospitality, excellent arrangements and an ideal venue for discussion of this subject. This conference led to an exceptional exchange of ideas about the challenges faced by mixed legal systems in Africa and beyond. It brought together thirty four scholars from twelve countries. The papers now presented look at mixed systems from angles and viewpoints that tend to illuminate their particular experience. They discuss such themes as the divergent and convergent trends of mixed systems in Southern Africa, the effect that the compartmentalization of personal laws has on everyday life, the challenges confronted in harmonizing business laws into effective instruments (bridging languages and the formal/informal sector of the economy), and the need to harmonize conflicting procedural laws in the courts and the arbitral tribunals. Another subject is the significance of European Union harmonization projects, notably the Draft Common Frame of Reference, on systems outside Europe, with particular reference to Africa. Further topics are the impact and role of national constitutions in reshaping these mixed systems, for example in the quest to integrate customary law and English common law into a single Common Law or in restructuring state liability in South Africa.

The essays close with the personal reflections of a distinguished comparatist, based on a lifetime of experience with African law, concerning the encounter between traditional law and modem law in the mixed systems of French-speaking Africa.

The Editor extends warm thanks to our hosts in Stellenbosch, to the sponsoring organizations, and to the individual authors for their cooperation in making this issue a success.

The articles include:

• Charles Manga Fombad, 'Mixed Systems in Southern Africa: Divergences and Convergences'
• Chuma Himonga, 'State and Individual Perspectives of a Mixed Legal System in Southern African Contexts with Special Reference to Personal Law'
• ES Nwauche, 'The Constitutional Challenge of the Integration and Interaction of Customary and the Received English Common Law in Nigeria and Ghana'
• Christa Roodt, 'Conflicts of Procedure Between Courts and Arbitral Tribunals in Africa: An Argument for Harmonization'
• Claire Moore Dickerson, 'OHADA on the Ground: Harmonizing Business Laws in Three Dimensions'
• Martha Simo Tumnde, 'Harmonization of Business Law in Cameroon: Issues, Challenges and Prospects'
• Francois Du Bois, 'State Liability in South Africa: A Constitutional Remix'
• Hector L MacQueen, 'The Common Frame of Reference in Europe'
• Xavier Blanc-Jouvan, 'The Encounter Between Traditional Law and Modern Law in French-Speaking Africa: A Personal Reflection'

NOTICE: Hatzimihail on Bartolus and the Conflict of Laws

The Legal History Blog just posted the following on one of our own:

'Bartolus and the Conflict of Laws' is a recent article by Nikitas Hatzimihail, University of Cyprus - Department of Law; Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). It was published in the Revue Hellenique de Droit International (2007). The abstract ends in mid-sentence, unfortunately, but I am posting as is. For more, please download the article:

The treatment of issues pertaining to the personal and territorial reach of local statutes by Italian jurist Bartolus of Sassoferrato (1314-1357) has been widely regarded as foundational to the conflict of laws. This article presents a detailed examination of the Bartolan text and places it in historical and political context. It also establishes a working text and improves on previous English translations.

The article approaches Bartolan thought from two angles. It considers the principal notions in modern doctrinal literature regarding Bartolan and medieval conflict of laws (was Bartolus a unilateralist? did he think in terms of territoriality or personality, form/substance, party autonomy or decisional harmony?). Bartolan doctrine is also examined in terms of structure, systematicity. The legal and political environment of his time: the role of the ius commune and the quest for...

NOTICE: William Twining and the Irish Jurisprudence Society

Professor William Twining will speak at the annual public lecture of the Irish Jurisprudence Society to be held at Dublin's Griffith College (the Griffith Conference Centre, Griffith College Campus, South Circular Road, Dublin 8) on Thursday, 14 October 2010.

The title of his lecture is 'Globalisation and Legal Scholarship'.

Registration is at 6:30pm; the formal address begins at 7pm.

Those wishing to attend should contact Maria Oleynik at law@gcd.ie or 00-353-1-4163372.

NOTICE: Italian National Reports on the Cardozo Electronic Law Bulletin

The Italian National Reports from the 2010 IACL Congress are now available on the Cardozo Electronic Law Bulletin.

The Bulletin is also now listed on our blog links.

WANTED: Assistant Professor of Legal Anthropology (McGill)

I just received the following notice:

McGill University, Department of Anthropology seeks a full-time tenure-track assistant professor in legal anthropology with a strong research and publication record based on ethnographic field research. The appointment is to begin August 1, 2011. The Department is especially interested in applicants with research backgrounds in the following: human rights, development, humanitarian intervention, and other transnational normative structures; legal pluralism; emergent and contested identities; conflict and social control; and the shaping of public opinion and public policy. The successful candidate will have a Ph.D. in hand, will be expected to develop a competitive, externally-funded research program involving graduate students, and contribute actively to teaching and service. Area of specialization is open, though some preference will be given to those candidates working in Asia (particularly South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia) and Africa (particularly West and South Africa).

Applicants should send one copy of each of the following: C.V.; letter describing research and teaching experience; one writing sample (in electronic format) such as an offprint, article in press, or thesis chapter; and names of 3 referees (with phone, fax, and e-mail addresses). Applications should be sent before November 15 to Prof. Ronald Niezen, Chair, Department of Anthropology, McGill University, 855 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2T7. Fluency in French is an asset. For further information, e-mail ronald.niezen@mcgill.ca

All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority. McGill University is committed to equity in employment and diversity. It welcomes applications from indigenous peoples, visible minorities, ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, women, persons of minority sexual orientations and gender identities and others who may contribute to further diversification.

NOTICE: Esin Örücü, Mixed Legal Systems, and New Frontiers

Somehow I neglected announcing the publication of Esin Örücü (ed), Mixed Legal Systems at New Frontiers (May 2010) by Wildy, Simmonds and Hill Publishing. Part of the JCL [Journal of Comparative Law] Studies in Comparative Law Series,

 

The aim of this volume is to provide the reader with original views on and insight into mixed legal systems in general, and some mixed legal systems and ongoing mixes in particular.

 

The hope is that the analyses to be found in the eleven contributions will be helpful for scholars, students and practitioners who have a general interest in comparative law and a special interest in mixed legal systems, and provide inspiration to pursue further inquiries.

 

The contributions are a selection of papers presented at the 2007 Second World Congress of the World Society of Mixed Jurisdiction Jurists, 'The Boundaries of Unity: Mixed Systems in Action'. As can he gleaned from the title of the Congress, the emphasis has shifted from the closed family of 'mixed jurisdictions' towards a wider embrace, considering 'mixed systems', in addition to the classical 'mixed jurisdictions".

 

Following the introduction, the first two pieces inform the reader of the multiplicity of approaches to mixed legal systems and widen the horizon, offering expansion, though retaining exclusivity. Then follow chapters throwing new light on Commonwealth Caribbean, United States Novojo law, Turkey, South Africa, Sri Lanka, England and Ireland, the European Union, and Public International Law and International Trade Law; all showing that we are entering an era of legal studies involving looking at all legal systems anew.

 

The contributions are

• Esin Örücü, 'General introduction: mixed legal systems at new frontiers'
• Vernon Valentin Palmer, 'Two rival theories of mixed legal systems'
• Esin Örücü, 'What is a mixed legal system: exclusion or expansion?'
• Jane Matthews Glenn, 'Mixed jurisdictions in the Commonwealth Caribbean: mixing, unmixing, remixing'
• Dale Beck Furnish, 'The law of the Navajo Nation: a three-ingredent mix of consensual (indigeous) and adversary (common law) systems'
• Esin Örücü, 'Turkey's synthetic legal system and her indigenous socio-cuture(s) in a "covert" mix'
• Marissa Herbst and Willemien Du Plessis, 'Customary law v common law marriages: a hybrid approach in South Africa'
• Christa Rauterbach, 'Mixing South African common law and customary law of intestate succession: "Potjiekos" in the making' 
• Anton Cooray, 'Oriental and occidental laws in harmony: the case of trusts in Sri Lanka'
• Seán Patrick Donlan, '"All this together make up our Common law": legal hybridity in England and Ieland, 1704-1804'
• Jan M Smits, 'Mixed jurisdictons: lessons for European harmonisation'
• Colin B Picker, 'Beyond the usual suspects: application of the mixed jurisdiction methodology to public international law and international trade law'

I'm biased as a contributor, but this really is a must read for anyone interested in our themes. It shows the strength of both a productive focus on the 'classical' mixed jurisdictions and the promise of expanding research to more exotic hybrid legal traditions.

NOTICE: CRASSH Fellowship

The University of Cambridge's Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) has announced a very interesting competition for a visiting fellowship there during 2011-12 on the theme of 'Cultures and Politics of the Transregional':

Borders – regional as much as national – are constantly being crossed, both in reality and in fantasy, in socio-political systems of lived experience and in socio-cultural systems of representation. They are crossed by the flow of travellers and longer-term migrants; by the transit of goods, symbols and technologies; by the transfer of new narratives and forms of language; and by the transmission of political and other ideas. At the same time, borders are selective barriers to movement, calibrated for imbalance in the relationships between East and West, North and South and the regions that are aligned with these. Transregional flows – transactions or translations on human, cultural, intellectual, political and economic levels – are conditioned by the interests of those who govern the borders in question.

Historically, geographical and legal borders have delimited the reach of regional identities, which were constructed against those perceived as ‘other’ and instituted or reinforced binary divisions in culture, language, institutions and ideas of selfhood. Today, the dynamics of import and export – sustained not least by new technologies – are more able to cross borders, whether political, cultural, linguistic or economic. And the dynamics in question are driven by changing factors: resource depletion, climate change, hegemonic shifts, and economic disparities. This increase in human and cultural traffic transforms not only borders between regions but also circulating values, objects, practices, meanings and identities.

In an age of more globalised movement and exchange, flows across regional borders and the filtering or blocking systems that control them are ever more large-scale and complex in character. Accordingly, they demand rethinking in interdisciplinary and comparative ways. The new transregional constellations can also prompt us to reassess historical forms of relationship between global regions, which may have been obscured by the tendency to focus attention on the regional as a category of understanding and disciplinary organisation.

Adopting a wide comparative perspective in both geographical and historical terms, and considering both bilateral and multilateral forms of relationship, the work on the theme of Cultures and Politics of the Transgregional will focus on achieving a better understanding of the dynamics of flow and the systems of regulation and resistance that operate between and across regions.

This seems very closely related to our aims. The deadline is 1 November 2010 and fellowship details are available here.

NOTICE: Janke and Licari on France and Louisiana

Two new articles co-written by Benjamin West Janke (Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC) and François-Xavier Licari (University of Metz (Paul-Verlaine), Faculty of Law) have been posted on the SSRN. Each explores legal connections between France and Louisiana:

'Contra Non Valentem in France and Louisiana: Revealing the Parenthood, Breaking a Myth' (forthcoming, Louisiana Law Review)

In this essay, François-Xavier Licari and Benjamin W. Janke will show that the relationship between Louisiana and France is not limited to written law; it also exists in one important extra-codal and equitable principle of prescription law: contra non valentem agere non currit praescriptio. In this regard, the juridical parenthood is tight. They will show that contra non valentem in Louisiana is the fruit of French doctrine and jurisprudence. Furthermore, they will bring to light the noticeable similarity of the maxim’s fate in France and Louisiana. Courts in both jurisdictions proclaimed it as dead, but despite the antagonism it faced, contra non valentem evolved as a major component of prescription’s institution. Finally, they will dispel a deep-rooted myth that contra non valentem does not apply to the domain of acquisitive prescription and reveal another strong convergence between Louisiana and France.


'The French Revision of Prescription: A Model for Louisiana?' (forthcoming, Tulane Law Review)

Though the draftsmanship of the French and Louisiana Civil Codes is generally celebrated, prescription in both Codes is notoriously defective. Located at the end of both Codes as almost an afterthought, the titles of prescription do not share the same general, relative style contained elsewhere. Part of the cause of the prescription title’s shortcoming is attributable to the content.

The provisions that ring loudest are spelled out in numbers rather than letters. Numbers are blind, arbitrary, cold, and inanimate - ace of society accelerates, prescription becomes anachronistic. It is worth questioning whether the very nature of prescription eludes the capacity for codification.

Prescription’s inherent difficulties have created turmoil for both the French and Louisiana civilian systems. Both have struggled with the arbitrariness of any one particular prescriptive period, attempting to balance objectivism against subjectivism, relativity against certainty, and generality against particularity. Though both France and Louisiana began with what might be considered excessively long general periods of prescription, the French and Louisiana legislatures either whittled down the general period or chiseled out particular actions from it. Over time, these piecemeal amendments eviscerated the core components of the doctrine, causing a desperate need for substantial revision.

In 2008, the French legislature took the necessary step and drastically reformed prescription. The general period is now shorter and unified (five years); there are new grounds for suspension (including codified contra non valentem); and a long-stop period is introduced. Louisiana has yet to make any substantial reform to prescription, and revision is long overdue.

This essay will outline the faults in Louisiana and France’s original prescriptive regimes and identify the main innovative trends in the French revision. It then will offer a critical appraisal of the French revision, endorse it as a basis for a Louisiana revision, and discuss how Louisiana jurisprudence is uniquely positioned to integrate the revision in French law. We offer the following as a true dialogue from both the French and Louisiana perspectives about the continuing influence of the French Civil Code in Louisiana, the nature of prescription and its placement in a Civil Code, and the unique opportunity for the Louisiana experience to influence the interpretation of the French revision.

CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS (REMINDER): Mediterranean Hybridity Project Roundtable (Catana, 25 October 2010)

An interdisciplinary roundtable on the legal and normative hybridity of the Mediterranean region will be held in Catania on Monday, 25 October 2010. Organised with Juris Diversitas and hosted at the University of Catania, the event is part of the Mediterranean Hybridity Project launched in Malta in June 2010.

The extraordinary legal and normative hybridity of the Mediterranean was produced in a complex history of conquest, colonisation, and social and legal diffusion across shifting and porous boundaries. But studies of the subject have been isolated, sporadic, and too often framed within narrow jurisdictional and disciplinary constraints.

The Mediterannean Hybridity Project is creating a collaborative interdisciplinary network of experts to study both (i) the state laws that are the domain of lawyers and (ii) the wider normative orders typically studied by social scientists. The project marries conceptual and empirical models from the legal and social sciences, especially earlier analyses of ‘mixed legal systems’ and legal/normative pluralism.

Our intention is to create multidisciplinary jurisdictional reports, resulting in a published collection, and a database on the laws and non-state norms of the region. The roundtable will allow the project leaders to select the participants involved over the course of the project, to finalise the questions to be posed, and to consider our options for collaboration and funding.

The outcome of the project will be more accurate, useful, and accessible accounts of Mediterranean legalities. It may produce an analytical model more useful than existing taxonomies and methods for new research in the region, in Europe, and around the world.

The project leaders are Dr Seán Patrick Donlan (University of Limerick), Dr David Zammit (University of Malta), and Dr Simon Mercieca (University of Malta).

Anyone interested in attending should contact Dr Seán Patrick Donlan (sean.donlan@ul.ie) or Dr Biagio Andò (bando@lex.unict.it). While the organisers are not able to fund expenses, there is no cost to attend. We are especially eager to include participants (i) from the Balkans, the Levant, and North Africa and (ii) anthropologists, geographers, historians, and sociologists. Individuals or institutions interested in participating or sponsoring our work should contact us.