The 20th International Roundtable
for the Semiotics of
Law (IRSL 2019)
The Limits of Law
Hosted
by Instituto Jurídico da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Coimbra
(UCILeR - University of Coimbra Institute for Legal Research) / Portugal
Theme:
The Limits of Law
CALL FOR PAPERS
In
a time of plurality and difference which is also, significantly, a time of
aproblematic (if not naif) panjuridism, the discussion of the
limits of law is not a frequent or obvious explicit topos. On the one hand, the
diagnosis of plurality and difference favours
the conclusion-claim that «the
sense of the expression the “law” is constructed internally, and separately,
within the system of semantic values of each [semiotic] group» (B.F. Jackson) –
which means arguing that only «the signifier» is common, not the «signified»,
as well as admitting an implacable diversity of interpretative communities
(involving incommensurable cultural-civilizational, political, ethical and
professional codes or canons). On the other hand, the celebration of panjuridism, successfully corroborated
by the relentless emergence of ultraspecialized dogmatic fields (from health
law to biolaw, from robotics law to geo-law), justifies a passive assimilation
of hetero-referentially constructed interpretations of social need, reducing law to a mere conventional order (with
contingently settled frontiers) or even to an ensemble of institutionally
effective coactive resources — which in
any case means depriving juridicity
or juridicalness of any
practical-cultural specific or intrinsic (non-contingent) sense claim. However,
do our present circumstances condemn us to this complacent nominalism,
preventing us from attributing any effective relevance to the problem of the
limits of law? Even without departing from the “semio-narrative” ground (and
its external point of view), it may
be said that plurality and difference do not exclude a productive exploration
of intersemiotic aspirations (if not inter-semiocity) — relating differently
contextualized claims of juridicity and
paving the way for the reconstruction of plausible arguments of continuity. These arguments may, in turn, justify a
return to the well-known questions on the concept and/or the nature of law (in the sense in which, in
an all or nothing approach, Hart and Raz have taught us to understand
this), and may also, conversely, lead to the reinvention of an archetypal or aspirational perspective (Fuller, Simmonds), in relation to which
the reconstituted features of the
autonomy and the limits of law do not represent characteristics but rather guiding intentions or constitutive
aspirations or promises (if not desiderata),
with reference to which past or present expressions and their institutional
instances should permanently be judged. Following this path in fact means
acknowledging how the problem of limits
becomes an indispensable thematic core whenever the reflexive agenda involves
rethinking law’s autonomy (or rethinking this autonomy beyond the possibilities of legal formalism), as an autonomy or claim to autonomy which should
be seriously considered in terms of its cultural-civilizational specific
(non-universal) base, as a decisive manifestation of European identity and
European heritage (Castanheira Neves). It is precisely this critical-reflexive
connection between issues of sense and limits (aspirations and borders) which,
in terms of law, as well as considering the challenges of a société post-juridique (F. Ost), our
roundtable aims to explore. This means discussing the growing weight of
heteroreferential elements (invoking philosophy
and economics, literary criticism and sociology, epistemology and ethics,
politics, political morality and social engineering as plausible key arenas),
which not only interfere (as contextual conditions) with juridical discursive
practices but also wound these practices
(and their autonomous intelligibility) by functionalizing them (diluting their specificity in a new
practical holism), or at least condemning them to permanent «boundary disputes»
(David Howarth). However, this discussion also leads directly to the
consideration of specific (real, hypothetical and even fictionalized)
case-exempla, including the so-called «tragic cases» (Atienza), which enable us
to experience the limits of law’s responsivity or even the impossibility of
obtaining plausible correct legal answers. The roundtable will, as usual,
favour a practical-cultural context open to multiple perspectives and involving
the productive intertwining of juridical and non-juridical approaches.
Confirmed plenary speakers: François Ost (Université Saint-Louis -
Bruxelles), Manuel Atienza (Universidad de Alicante), Pierre Moor (Université
de Lausanne), Fernando José Bronze (Universidade de Coimbra) and J. M. Aroso
Linhares (Universidade de Coimbra)
Abstracts
of 300 words (max.) should be submitted by January 15th, 2019 to José Manuel
Aroso Linhares (Organizer) (jmarolinh@gmail.com)
and Anne Wagner (valwagnerfr@yahoo.com) with
participation decisions made by January 30th, 2019. Selected papers will be invited for
publication in a special issue of the International Journal for the Semiotics
of Law (Springer: http://www.springer.com/lawjournal11196)
and/or for inclusion in an edited volume.
Respecting
the tradition, the roundtable languages will be English and French.
Organizational Committee: J M Aroso Linhares,
M.A. Reis Marques, Ana M. Gaudêncio, Inês F. Godinho
Registration period: from 4th
February to 15th April 2019*
- General
(professionals):
1 – Registration** + Excursion (Guided tour) *** + Dinner**** -
200 €
2 - Registration** + Excursion (Guided tour) *** - 165 €
3 - Registration** + Dinner**** - 185 €
4 - Registration** - 150
€
- Students (including
PhD candidates):
1 - Registration** + Excursion (Guided tour) + Dinner - 160 €
2 - Registration** + Excursion (Guided tour) *** - 125 €
3 - Registration** + Dinner**** - 145 €
4 - Registration** - 110
€
*
The information concerning payment possibilities will be available the 28th
January, a week before the beginning of the registration period.
** Registration fees include the roundtable
materials, 4 coffee breaks and 3 lunches (from the 23rd to the 25th May).
***The
excursion (Guided tour) [15€ ] will take place on the 24th May (afternoon)
****The
dinner [35 €] will take place on the 24th May.
