10 August 2012

NOTICE: Baaij on The Role of Legal Translation in Legal Harmonization


CJW Baaij (ed)'s The Role of Legal Translation in Legal Harmonization has just been published: 
 
Nine distinguished contributors, all leading experts and scholars in multilingual EU Law making, legal translation studies, comparative law and European (private) law, explore and analyse the legal translation praxis within EU legislative institutions appropriate for the purpose of legal harmonization, and examine both the potential and limitations of legal translation in the context of the developments of a single but multilingual EU Legal language. Among the many issues that arise for in-depth analysis in the course of the discussion are the following:defining 'drafting quality';
  • translating legal concepts beloning to specific legal systems;
  • EU Policies on harmonization of national contract laws;
  • legal uniformity vs. uniformity of interpretation and application;
  • the effect of full harmonization clauses;
  • proportion between general language vocabulary and legal terminoligy; and
  • role of English in the EU and the aims of the EU institutions.
The book concludes with a synthesis of the findings and reconmmendations of the various contributions. Most of the chapters were originally presented at a conference organized in January 2011 by the Amsterdam Circle for Law & Language (ACLL) and the Centre for the Study of European Contract Law (CSECL). 

The contributions include:

NOTICE: Hamoudi on Post Ratification Constitution Making and the Case of Iraq

An article by member Haider Ala Hamoudi (University of Pittsburgh - School of Law), 'Thinking Beyond the Original Bargain: Post Ratification Constitution Making and the Case of Iraq', has recently been made available on SSRN's Islamic Law & Law of the Muslim World eJournal:

This paper, submitted in connection with a panel at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, explores some of the implications of regarding a constitution making exercise as not merely the enactment of a particularly important piece of legislation, but rather the establishment a broad and long lasting national compact. In a society such as Iraq, which is not only divided, but where different communities have radically different visions of an ideal state order, such high stakes can be impossible to manage. As such, one way to address the problem of constitution making in such contexts is to embrace ambiguity and deferral as means to reach consensus among sharply divided communities, thereby creating space for future (partial) resolution of existing disputes. This paper explores representative examples where such efforts have been undertaken in Iraq, and the extent to which they have been successful. 

Hamoudi also has his own Blog, Islamic Law in Our Times.

NOTICE: Opinio Juris in Comparatione

The latest Opinio Juris in Comparatione is available on SSRN:

Contents/Sommaire/Sumario

Francesco Donato Busnelli
Ricordo di Fernando Hinestrosa

Articles/Articles/Artículos

Paper n. 1, pp. 1-17

Cristina Amato
The Europeanisation of Contract Law and the Role of Comparative Law:
The Case of the Directive on Consumer Rights

Paper n. 2, pp. 1-21

Marco Farina e Demetrio Maltese
Abuse of Rights and Freedom of Contract in Comparative Perspective:
A Legal and Economic Analysis

Paper n. 3, pp. 1-30

Chiara Perfumi
Theory and Practice of Constructing a Common Contract Law Terminology

07 August 2012

NOTICE: Comparative Law on SSRN (by way of the Irish Society of Comparative Law)

Additional articles from SSRN have been noted by our friend in the Irish Society of Comparative Law: 

Lorena Carvajal-Arenas and A F M Maniruzzaman, Cooperation as Philosophical Foundation of Good Faith in International Business-Contracting - A View Through the Prism of Transnational Law. (2012) Oxford U Comparative L Forum 1.

Nowadays traders are very frequently conducting their businesses in accordance with principles and usages forged in the practice of commerce. This has given rise to an ongoing discussion on the existence of an autonomous third legal order called transnational commercial law or the lex mercatoria. This article looks at the role of good faith in that legal system.
As a consequence of the evolution of the law of contracts, the rise of transnational law and of the influence of its prevalent actors - multinational corporations - a cooperative view of contracts has been developed in international trade.
This article argues that the rationale of cooperation, as the underlying current of transnational commercial contracts, has prompted a new way of interpreting the principle of good faith: it is understood as cooperation between the parties to a contract. This interpretation of good faith requires the party to take various steps to fulfil the legitimate expectations of the other party. Rather than being imposed by a central authority, such a predominantly voluntary cooperation is assumed by the parties for the common good of everyone involved in the contractual relationship. This notion fits the experience of global trade today to the point that - it will be submitted - good faith is the fulcrum of cooperation in cross-border trade.
This proposition will be supported through the analysis of: philosophical doctrines; principles embracing transnational law and international arbitral awards. Furthermore, the development of good faith in some municipal legal systems will be considered; as well as the latest developments of good faith in EU law.

Young, Katharine, The Comparative Turn: Accident, Coincidence, or Fate? (2012). Harvard Law Review Forum, Vol. 125, 2012; ANU College of Law Research Paper No. 12-20.

The comparative turn taken by one of America’s most influential constitutional scholars can tell us much about the field of comparative constitutional law. In this paper, delivered as a Provocation at the Symposium in Honor of Professor Frank Michelman, at Harvard Law School, February 10-11, 2012, three hypothesis are given for this turn. The first hypothesis, accident, looks to the post-Cold war expansion of the field of comparative constitutional law and the upsurge of American constitutional influence at that time. The second hypothesis, coincidence, views Michelman’s seminal work on constitutional economic and social rights, as well as on property, equality, law and economics, and democracy, as singularly apposite for building constitutionalism in post-apartheid South Africa. The third hypothesis, fate, examines how the normative questions that Michelman posed transcended any one constitutional system, precipitating a critical reflection on the United States, South Africa, and other constitutional systems.

Garoupa, Nuno M. and Pargendler, Mariana, A Law and Economics Perspective on Legal Families (July 12, 2012). The Methodologies of Law and Economics, T. Ulen, ed., Edward Elgar, 2013; Illinois Program in Law, Behavior and Social Science Paper No. LBSS13-01.

03 August 2012

NOTICE: International Journal of Procedural Law


The latest volume of the International Journal of Procedural Law has been published:

EDITORIAL 
Loïc Cadiet

Entretien avec M. Jean-Paul Costa, Président de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme

DOCTRINE / STUDIES

Das Zusammenspiel von Rechtsquellen und Institutionen bei internationalen Kindesentführungen
 

Dagmar Coester-Waltjen

Judicial Communication and Co-operation and the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction
 

Peter McEleavy

Coopération d’autorités et recouvrement international des aliments
 

Estelle Gallant

Cooperation in the Taking of Evidence: the European Attitude
 

Chiara Besso

Espacios comunes, contradicciones no asumibles y fórmulas de racionalización. Sobre el diálogo entre Tribunales
 

Ma Pía Calderón Cuadrado

La question prioritaire de constitutionnalité et le dialogue primordial des juges français
 

Pascale Deumier

PRATIQUE / PRACTICE

Analyse Comparative / Comparative Perspectives Figures, Spaces and Procedural Proportionality
 

Catherine Piché

Grandes Décisions / Leading Cases
 

Michele Angelo Lupoi

DÉBAT/DEBATE
Les résistances à la technique du forum non conveniens
 

Hélène Gaudemet-Tallon

INFORMATIONS / INFORMATION

Législation / Legislation
 

Michael Stürner

Bibliographie / Bibliography
 

Elisabetta Silvestri and Jens Adolphsen

02 August 2012

NOTICE: Law and the French Atlantic Symposium (5 October 2012)


This exciting symposium might interest members, not least my fellow Louisianians (by birth or naturalization):

Symposium on Comparative Early Modern Legal History:
Law and the French Atlantic

Date: Friday, October 5, 2012
Location: Newberry Library, Chicago
Organized by: Allan Greer (McGill University)
and Richard J. Ross (University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign)

Dumont de Montigny, Memoire de Lxx Dxx Officiere Ingenieur The French Atlantic has not yet received the sustained attention given to the British and Spanish Atlantic, particularly where the topic of law is concerned. This conference will explore the legal dimension (broadly conceived) of the French Atlantic empire in the early modern period. The variegated and rapidly evolving juridical order of ancien régime France was deeply implicated in the expansion of overseas commerce, the founding of colonies, and the creation of imperial administrations.
Participants may explore topics such as: legal discourse and imperial ideologies; the establishment of colonial jurisdictions in Canada, Louisiana, and the French West Indies; the regulation of slavery; indigenous peoples and the law; the emergence of colonial land tenures; and the legal framework for trade and business enterprise. The organizers wish particularly to encourage comparative approaches that consider more than one French colony and that examine contrasts and convergences with the British, Spanish and Portuguese empires. In according due attention to the distinctive features of French law and the French New World empire, we hope to enrich understandings of Atlantic history generally.
Allan Greer (McGill History) and Richard Ross (Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Law and History) organized “Law and the French Atlantic.”  The conference is an offering of the Symposium on Comparative Early Modern Legal History, which gathers yearly under the auspices of the Center for Renaissance Studies at the Newberry Library in Chicago in order to explore a particular topic in the comparative legal history of the Atlantic world in the period c.1492-1815.  Funding has been provided by the University of Illinois College of Law. 
            Attendance at the Symposium is free and open to the public.  Participants and attendees should preregister by contacting the Center for Renaissance Studies at the Newberry Library at 312.255.3514, or send an e-mail to renaissance@newberry.org. Papers will be precirculated electronically to all registrants. 
For information about the conference, please consult our website at http://www.newberry.org/symposium-comparative-early-modern-legal-history or contact Prof. Richard Ross at Rjross@illinois.edu or at 217-244-7890. 
            Here is the program and schedule:

REMINDER: AUTHORS SOUGHT FOR THE JURIS DIVERSITAS BOOK SERIES


Juris Diversitas recently agreed to produce a book series:
 
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.

We hope to publish monographs, collections (original, conference-based, Festschriften, etc), and student texts.

Anyone interested in publishing in the Series should contact the General Editor, Seán Patrick Donlan (sean.donlan@ul.ie).

The first volume in the series is now being edited by Seán Patrick Donlan and Lukas Heckerdorn Urscheler. It comes out of our 2012 conference with the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law. The volume is currently entitled Concepts of law: Comparative, Jurisprudential, and Social Science Perspectives.
 
Note that special arrangements are also being made to provide the members of Juris Diversitas with discounts on publications in the Series.

Spread the word!

24 July 2012

CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS: Violence of Pluralism: Urban Transformations and New Political Subjectivities in the Rebellious Mediterranean


Those involved in or following our Mediterranean Project might find the following interesting:

 MRM 2013

As part of the annual Mediterranean Meeting to be held in Mersin, Turkey (March 20-23, 2013) Daniel Monterescu and I are coordinating a workshop on the links between violence, pluralism, urbanism and the 2011 uprisings in the Middle East, North Africa and Southern Europe.

Violence of Pluralism: Urban Transformations and New Political Subjectivities in the Rebellious Mediterranean

We seek empirical and theoretical papers addressing these processes from young and established scholars in the social sciences and humanities. Contemporary and historical perspectives are both welcome.

The organizers will provide partial funding for travel expenses of select participants.

The deadline for abstract submission is September 15. Decisions will be made my early October. Final papers are due by February 15.


To send your abstract, fill in the online form at: http://www.rscas.org/application/?p=apply&appl=mrm2013

CALL FOR PAPERS: The Journal of History and Cultures

The Journal of History and Cultures (JHAC) is issuing a Call for Papers for our next issue and welcomes articles on subjects in the fields of history and cultures within a broad geographic and chronological range. We are also accepting book reviews.

 IMG_5349

JHAC is a peer-reviewed journal and an excellent new publishing opportunity both for postgraduates and established academics. Articles should be 5,000-7,000 words in length. We encourage articles that consider and engage with historical, cultural, political, social, and theoretical research in new and original ways. Reviews should be 750-1,000 words in length. Review essays should be in-depth engagements with recent books which develop an argument to complement the reading of the text. A list of books available for review will be appearing on our website; alternatively, you can contact our reviews editor directly to request a specific book to review at jhac@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

The deadline for submissions is 1st October 2012.

Full submission and formatting guidelines can be found at: http://historyandcultures.com/submissions/

Finally, we invite you to join the JHAC community on both Facebook and Twitter @UOBJHAC for regular updates.

We are offering a £50 prize for the best article.

Please email all submissions and address any enquiries to jhac@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

NOTICE: Stateless Law? The Future of the Discipline Conference

Stateless Law? The Future of the Discipline
Faculty of Law and Paul-Andre Crepeau

Centre for Private and Comparative Law,
McGill University, Montreal Conference

28 29 September 2012, Faculty of Law, McGill University

The Paul-Andre Crepeau Centre for Private and Comparative Law and the Faculty of Law of McGill University will host Stateless Law? The Future of the Discipline, an international conference that will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the McGill BCL/LLB Program. This event will aim to foster a debate that critically assesses the latest developments in legal thought and innovative approaches to law, in the light of the challenge of globalization and the move away from a national paradigm for understanding law. It will also ask the question of how to integrate the insights so gained into the teaching of law. The concern is with law in all its dimensions: public and private, local and transnational, formal and informal. By being forced to abandon, at least in part, the posited law of the nation state as their lode star, legal education and legal scholarship have been presented with an opportunity to break the mould of centuries of legal nationalism: an opportunity that encourages new, transdisciplinary and transnational ways of thinking about law. In short, the goal is to re-assess and to re-imagine the discipline of law, its place in the university, and its role in society.

THEMES: Some of the themes which will be covered are: (view online programme): How do globalization and legal pluralism affect our understanding of law and legal education? In its interaction with other disciplines, how does law preserve its disciplinary identity? Can a renewed understanding of particular fields of law shed light on our evolving understanding of the discipline? How is the teaching and research of basic private law-contracts, civil wrongs, property, the law of persons-affected by the increasingly transnational and transdisciplinary focus of legal scholarship?

The working languages of the conference will be English and French.

SPEAKERS: Confirmed speakers include:
- Professor Louis Assier-Andrieu (Sciences Po Paris)
- Professor George Bermann (Columbia University)
- Professor Hanoch Dagan (Tel Aviv University)
- Professor John Gardner (University of Oxford)
- Hon. Nicholas Kasirer (Quebec Court of Appeal)
- Professor Ralf Michaels (Duke University)
- Professor Annelise Riles (Cornell University)
- Professor Stephen Toope (University of British Columbia)
- Professor Ernest Weinrib (University of Toronto)
- Professor Frederic Zenati-Castaing (Lyon III University)

REGISTRATION/FURTHER INFORMATION: More information, detailed program and registration online: http://www.mcgill.ca/stateless

Take advantage of our early bird price (save 50$) until August 1, 2012. A request for Continuing Legal Education accreditation has been made to the Barreau du Quebec.