FACEBOOK: New Combined Facebook Page and Conference Page

We've now a combined Facebook Page and Conference Page at http://www.facebook.com/JurisDiversitas.

'Like' us there to get our posts on Facebook and to join our conversation there (without any obligation). 

If you'll be in Lausanne in June, go to the Conference Page to let us know.

LECTURES: The Brussels School of Jurisprudence and its Conception of the Law

From 5 February to 26 March, the Perelman Center for Legal Philosophy--check out their website for much more--is organising a cycle of conferences dedicated to the Brussels School of Jurisprudence and its conception of the law:

For decades, the teaching, research and thought on law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles have commanded respect through their specificity, excellence and the importance of their practical contribution to the developments of law. To the present day, especially abroad, this specificity goes under the name of the “Brussels School of Jurisprudence”. The name “Brussels School of Jurisprudence” originated in the 1960s, in the wake of the work of Chaïm Perelman, Paul Foriers and the great positivist professors of law who were participating actively in their work, such as Walter Ganshof van der Meersch, Robert Legros and many others. However, the movement had been driven previously by the masters of this generation, who had enthusiastically embraced the European movement for the reform of legal ideas, known as “free scientific research”, with the future dean, Paul Vander Eycken and Henri de Page in particular. These new ideas resounded deeply with the philosophy of the Université Libre de Bruxelles and in particular with the positivism, pluralism and pragmatism developed by Eugène Dupréel, Perelman’s master and inspiration.

In law, it was a question of turning one’s back on a fixed and abstract conception in order to favour the study of living law and its development in social life, as is revealed in its practice and by case examination, especially in jurisprudence. High flying practitioners, eminent lawyers and senior magistrates, who were taking on the roles of professor in the Faculty of Law of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, radically reformed the methods for the teaching of law and for the training of future lawyers in this direction, namely through courses that henceforth were to centre on case studies and legal judgments, the creation of practical exercises by René Marcq from 1920 and work in the form of practical consultation, which placed the emphasis on legal argumentation and adversarial debate. Centres of research were created that enabled the development of collective research and supplied the frameworks and the means necessary for the training and perpetuation of a true school of thought. In civil law, the lawyers of the Brussels School inspired considerable innovations in, amongst other areas, the breach of law, the extension of the notion of damage, the responsibility of the public powers, the theories of cause, appearance, lapse and certainties arising from practice etc. They redeveloped this fundamental material completely through their renowned jurisprudence examinations, particularly in the critical Revue created by Marcq, and by major works of reference from the elementary Treatise of Belgian civil law of De Page and Dekkers to Pierre Van Ommeslaghe’s recent Law of obligations. Their constant attention to practice enabled them to free the principles of commercial law and to impose autonomy on them, with Jean Van Ryn and today, with Xavier Dieux, to rethink their sources and logic within the context of the transformations of globalisation. In criminal law, the major theses of Robert Legros on the moral element and those of Paul Foriers on the condition of necessity profoundly transformed the conception of offence and the philosophy itself of this discipline. In public law, Ganshof van der Meersch introduced via the Court of Cassation important theses from the Brussels School of Jurisprudence into positivist law and initially the general principles of law. He also enabled control by the courts and tribunals of the conformity of the laws with international and European rules and enlisted the movement that was to lead to the control of their constitutionality. Founder of the Institute of European Studies of the Université Libre deBruxelles and the senior Belgian Judge to the European Court of the Rights of Man, he contributed, along with others in the conquest of Europe, to launching the Brussels School.

NOTICE/ARTICLE: Oñati Socio-Legal Papers and Hussin on Circulations of Law

The Facebook page of the Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law noted this morning that '[t]his weekend our Oñati Socio-Legal Papers [on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN)] beat the 10,000 downloads! Just two years after its lauch! Thank you to all our readers!' The papers are available here.
 
Among the papers, I want to highlight Iza Hussin's 'Circulations of Law: Colonial Precedents, Contemporary Questions' for Oñati Socio-Legal Series, Vol. 2, No. 7, 2012. The abstract reads:  

While the project of law-making has seemed an obvious and inherent part of empire-building, and law-delivery has often been a justifying rationale for imperialism, this paper asks more detailed questions about the travels of law. How is a ‘universal’ law made ‘local’, and to what effect? How have past and contemporary legal delivery projects delineated between the categories of local and universal? Our analytic project, therefore, is not simply that law travels, but with whom; not just that it is carried, but alongside what other commodities and baggage; not just that it moves, but that it is transformed by its passage across borders and among localities. Further, whereas much of rule of law and imperial law scholarship sees legal travel as from metropole to colony, this paper argues that ports of call are equally important for the fate of law.  

Aunque el proyecto de legislación parecía una parte obvia e inherente al proceso de construcción del imperio, y la creación de leyes ha sido a menudo una justificación para el imperialismo, este artículo lanza preguntas más detalladas sobre los recorridos del derecho. ¿Cómo se convierte una ley “universal” en “local”, y qué efectos conlleva? ¿Cómo han diferenciado entre las categorías “local” y “universal” los proyectos de legislación pasados y contemporáneos? Así pues, nuestro proyecto analítico no concluye simplemente que la ley tiene un recorrido, sino con quién; no simplemente que es transportada, sino con qué otras comodidades y equipaje; no sólo que se mueve, sino que se transforma en su viaje a través de límites y localizaciones. Es más, mientras que gran parte de la comunidad científica del estado del derecho y el imperio del derecho ve que las leyes van de la metrópoli a la colonia, este artículo defiende que las escalas que realiza son igual de importantes para el destino del derecho. 

JOURNAL: Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law

The new Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law has been published:

Guest Editorial:

Enforcing Fundamental Values: EU Law and Governance in Hungary and Romania, M. Dawson and E. Muir, p. 469

Articles:

European Collective Action: Towards Coherence?, R. Money-Kyrle and C. Hodges, p. 447

Some More Equal than Others? Matrimonial Benefits and the CJEU’s Case Law on Discrimination on the Grounds of Sexual Orientation, J. Mulder, p. 505

Is Online Mediation the Way to Fit the Forum to the Fuss?, E. M. Lombardi, p. 524

Book Review:

Pier Giuseppe Monateri (ed.), Methods of Comparative Law, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham and Northampton 2012, xi + 325 p., hardback, L115, ISBN 978–1–84980–252–9, E. Patrignani, p. 549

Case Notes:

‘Start the Engines’, Comment on the ESM-judgment of the German Federal Constitutional Court of 12 September 2012, F.  Schorkopf, p. 554

Case C-378/10 VALE Építési Kft ., Judgment of 12 July 2012, not yet reported Freedom of establishment: cross-border transfer of company ‘seat’ – The last piece of the puzzle?, S. Rammeloo, p. 563

Case C-130/10 European Parliament v. Council of the European Union, Judgment of 19 July 2012, not yet reported, A. Ott, p. 589

Recent Legal Development:

Monti II: Th e Subsidiarity Review Process Comes of Age… Or Then Again Maybe It Doesn’t, G. Barrett, p.  595

JOURNAL: (2013) 14 German Law Journal

The editors of the German Law Journal have circulated the following:

Dear Readers:

We are pleased to announce that the new issue, beginning the 14th volume of the German Law Journal, Review of Developments in German, European & International Jurisprudence, is now available at www.germanlawjournal.com.
As the Journal did with the German Constitutional Court's landmark Lisbon Case in 2009, we have again worked quickly to provide you with commentary on and criticism of the Karlsruhe and Luxembourg courts' recent engagement with the ESM Treaty. This timely special section, "The ESM Before the Courts," was coordinated by GLJ editors Moritz Renner, Emanuel Towfigh and Floris de Witte. The cases themselves, just as much as the challenging notes we've collected here, more than adequately fill the month's promised insight into "German" and "European" jurisprudence--even while demonstrating that those old categories are increasingly questionable. The general tenor of these pieces seems to be that the Karlsruhe court was up to its old tricks and that the Luxembourg court was helping the EU chart new, controversial territory, even if the path it laid out doesn't thoroughly convince or satisfy.

There's more European coverage in this month's "Article" from Matej Avbelj, who asks "Farewell to the EU-27?"

Perhaps all of this is building to the Journal's special issue "Regeneration Europe"--convened by GLJ editors Floris de Witte, Nina Boeger and Jen Hendry--which we expect to publish later this spring.

A rich set of works also awaits you in our "Developments" section. We particularly draw your attention to Christian Tomuschat's fine commentary on the German Constitutional Court's recent decision calling (once again) for amendment of the Federal Electoral Act, now before it causes trouble in the Federal election scheduled for this fall. Not only does his piece thoughtfully examine the Court's ruling. But it is also a useful primer on Germany's "sophisticated" mixed-member electoral system, which confounds with "negative votes" and "over-hang mandates".

The rest of the "Developments" pieces address foreign-citizen expulsion, U.S.-German conflicts in intellectual property law, the perilous (legal) fate of seals in the Arctic, and the perpetual tension between the promotion of trade and the protection of human rights.

We thank you, our readers, and the colleagues on the editorial team and our student editors, for their wonderful commitment, and wish you - as always - Happy Reading!

Russell Miller
Peer Zumbansen
Editors in Chief
The German Law Journal  

BOOK: Maastricht Students' Perspectives on the Role of Law in a Globalising World

Jan Smits noted, on the Maastricht European Private Law Blog:

The Law of the Future: Maastricht students' perspectives on the role of law in a globalising world.

This volume is the result of a special project on the role of national law in a global society. It contains contributions written by the eight students who participated in the 2012 Maastricht Research Based Learning (MARBLE) course on the Law of the Future, taught by UM-HiiL Visiting  Professor on the Internationalisation of Law Prof. Jan Smits at Maastricht University (UM).

You can download the publication here. 

FEES: Juris Diversitas Membership and Conference Fees

MEMBERSHIP FEES
Membership fees are now due. 

In addition to being able to vote in elections, both ordinary and discounted memberships include discounts or exemptions on conference fees.

Beginning in 2013, we hope to offer all members discounts on volumes in the new Ashgate JD Book Series. Each year, ordinary members will also receive a selected volume from the Series without any additional cost.

CONFERENCE FEES
We'll begin to collect conference registration fees shortly through the JD Blog (through the Subscribe Button).

Don't forget, however, that there are significant discounts for JD members. Please feel free to pay for both 2012 and 2013--before the end of January--to get the largest savings.

BLOG: Tribalism!

They called us 'a remarkable site for comparative law'--thanks Tonia--but you might also enjoy Tribalism!, dedicated to helping indigenous cultures.

Have a look.

JOURNAL: Global Jurist

Global Jurist has published its latest volume.

The journal:

[o]ffers a forum for scholarly cyber-debate on issues of comparative law, law and economics, international law, law and development, and legal anthropology. Mindful of globalization and respectful of cultural differences, linguistic and cultural barriers are overcome and legal issues are finally discussed outside of the narrow limits imposed by positivism, parochialism, ethnocentrism, imperialism and chauvinisim in the law.

JOURNAL: (2012) Law, Innovation and Technology

We are very pleased to let you know that the 2^nd issue of the 2012 volume of Law, Innovation and Technology is now published.

The 2^nd issue is a special issue titled Contextualising the Regulation of Health Technologies and it has its origins in a workshop funded by the Wellcome Trust on Regulating Health Technologies held in London in May 2011. The workshop was conducted under the auspices of the Wellcome Strategic Programme The Human Body: Its Scope, Limits and Future. For further information about this issue please click here to read the editorial. Please also see below for the table of contents, information about online access and details on how to subscribe.

CONTENTS

SPECIAL ISSUE

Contextualising the Regulation of Health Technologies

Editorial: Contextualising the Regulation of Health Technologies

Anne-Maree Farrell, Sarah Devaney, Tamara Hervey and Thérèse Murphy

Free to view – please click here

The Legal and Relational Identity of the ‘Not-Yet’ Generation

Isabel Karpin

Home and Away: The Turkish Ban on Donor Conception

Ilke Turkmendag

Commensuration and Proliferation: Similarity and Divergence in Law’s Shaping of Medical Technology

Alex Faulkner

Pricing New Medicines in the UK: ‘Price is what you Pay, Value is what you Get’?

Keith Syrett

Insurance, Genetic Information and the Future of Industry Self-Regulation in the UK

Ruth Stirton

Reviews

Julie Kent, Regenerating Bodies: Tissue and Cell Therapies in the Twenty-First Century

Sara Fovargue, Xenotransplantation and Risk: Regulating a Developing Biotechnology