Comparative Law News

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Ordinary Membership is €50 for the calendar year. 

A Discounted Membership, for young scholars under the age of thirty or for scholars in developing nations, is €25.

In addition to being able to vote in elections, both memberships include discounts on conference fees. 

We also hope to offer all members discounts on volumes in the new Ashgate Juris Diversitas Series. 

Each year, ordinary members will receive a selected volume from the Series for free. 

For additional information, see here.

Members of the National Networks of the  are invited to apply to the Medium Term Call for Project Proposals 2013.

The call aims to support projects that promote the mobilisation and empowerment of civil society for inclusion and citizenship in line with the ALF 4D Strategy. This strategy conceives intercultural dialogue as a civil society mobilisation factor, aimed at valuing diversity, promoting the participation of the society in building open and plural democracies, and fostering inclusive and sustainable human development.

The call is open to applicants who are accepted members of one of the ALF Networks in the 42 EuroMed countries prior to the 15th January 2013. The deadline for applying is the 15th April 2013. 

For more information download the guidelines at: http://www.annalindhgrants.org/guidelines.

Les membres des réseaux nationaux de la Fondation Anna Lindh sont invités à postuler à l'Appel à Propositions de Projets de Moyen Terme 2013.

L’appel vise à soutenir des idées de projets permettant de promouvoir la mobilisation et le renforcement de la société civile pour l’inclusion et la citoyenneté, conformément à la Stratégie des 4D de la FAL. Cette stratégie conçoit le dialogue interculturel comme un facteur de mobilisation de la société civile, visant à valoriser la diversité, à promouvoir la participation de la société dans la construction de démocraties ouvertes et plurielles, et à encourager un développement humain inclusif et durable.

L'appel est ouvert aux candidats qui ont été acceptés comme membres de l'un des réseaux de la FAL dans les 42 pays euro-méditerranéens avant le 15 Janvier 2013. La date limite pour postuler est le 15 Avril 2013.
Pour plus d'informations téléchargez les lignes directrices à l’adresse suivante: http://www.annalindhgrants.org/fr/lignes-directrices

Anna Lindh Foundation
P.O. Box 732 El Mansheia, Alexandria, Al Iskandarlyah, 21111, Egypt Website: www.euromedalex.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/annalindhfoundation
Twitter: www.twitter.com/annalindh

International Congress on Gender Violence: intersectionalities  (IISJ Onati, July 10-12, 2013)    The congress will be hosted by the International Institute for Sociology of Law, which is located in Oñati, Spain. Sessions will be held in both English and Spanish, with simultaneous translation provided for the final keynote speaker session.    This congress is aimed at examining the main conceptual frameworks for thinking about gender violence. We invite participants to consider how useful the concept of gender violence is for tackling violence against women. We also particularly encourage papers that will examine the intersections of gender violence with other determinants of inequalities. Papers are invited from researchers working in the area of gender violence, as well as policy makers, practitioners and activists. We feel that this interdisciplinary framework may help to produce new conceptualisations of gender violence.   It is proposed to have sessions on:

• New theoretical models of gender violence: questioning the primacy of gender inequality
• The persistence of gender violence as a gendered phenomenon
• The intersection of gender, race and ethnicity
• Giving voice of marginalised women: disabled women’s experiences of violence
• Debunking stereotypes of battered women: intersections of gender and class
• Sexuality and violence

Abstracts should be submitted online before March 4th, 2013.  For further information, visit the IISJ website: www.iisj.net.

Our colleague at PluriLegal just circulated the following message about two interesting events:
The first concerns two panel discussions at the King's India Institute. The discussions are on (i) Secularism in Pakistan and (ii)Comparative Constitutionalism in South Asia. For details, see here.    In addition, a lecture entitled 'Confessions of a Judicial Activist' will be given by Justice Albie Sachs in early March. The event is organised by the School of Law, Queen Mary University of London. For details, see here.

PhD studentship in Citizenship, Civil Society and Rule of Law

The Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society and Rule of Law (CISRUL) is offering an inter-disciplinary 3-year PhD studentship to start in September 2013. The studentship will include full UK/Europe fees (overseas students will pay the difference of £7100) and partial maintenance. The holder will reside in Aberdeen during the 3 years (except for research trips). We welcome applicants from anthropology, business, cultural and literary studies, history, legal theory and socio-legal studies, philosophy, politics, religious studies, sociology and theology.
Founded in 2009, CISRUL aims to produce conversation across the social sciences and humanities on key concepts of the modern polity. Citizenship, civil society and rule of law are three such key concepts, all three of some pedigree but enjoying a new lease of life, prescribed by bodies such as IMF and United Nations, championed by social movements, and debated in the media and in academic research, although we are also interested in related notions such as democracy, human rights, multiculturalism and pluralism.

Note that applicants must hold or be close to completing a postgraduate Masters degree in a relevant field.

The deadline for full consideration of applications is Friday, 8 March 2013, although we may consider late applications.

Please view www.abdn.ac.uk/cisrul for further details. For enquiries, please contact Tracey Connon (t.connon@abdn.ac.uk) in the first instance.

Applicants may also consider applying for a Comparative Statecraft and Constitutional Thought studentship. See http://www.abdn.ac.uk/cass/graduate/funding/research/02/

    Trevor Stack
Director, Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society and Rule of Law University of Aberdeen Aberdeen, UK
Email: t.connon@abdn.ac.uk

Visit the website at http://www.abdn.ac.uk/cisrul

What: Premio Giovanni Cassandro (IV Edition) for legal historical studies to Prof. Mario Ascheri

Where: Aula Magna of the Dipartimento Jonico in Sistemi Giuridici ed Economici del Mediterraneo: società, ambiente, culture of the Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Convento San Francesco, Via Duomo 259, Taranto 
When: 28 February 2013, 10:00 am

Prof. Mario Ascheri will deliver a lectio magistralis on "Costituzioni, codici e Grande Révolution: mito e realtà della discontinuità oggi". 

What: Annual Conference of the Law, Literature and the Humanities Association of Australasia
Where: The Australian National University

Canberra, Australia When: 5-8 December 2013 
Deadline: 31 May 2013 

The annual conference of the Association invites scholarly and creative research from academics and graduate students working at the crossroads of law, justice, and culture, whether based in legal theory or in disciplines such as literature, art, film, music, history, continental philosophy, anthropology, psychoanalysis, visual culture, or cultural studies. Contributions may take a variety of forms from traditional academic papers to poster presentations, video, or other genres or media.
Contributors should provide a title and an abstract of 200 words or less, no later than 31 May 2013, by email sent to coast@law.anu.edu.au . 
Please include your name and the word Interpellations in the subject line

For more information on this year’s program, including on-line registration:

➢    check the web site 
http://law.anu.edu.au/conferences/interpellations

➢    or contact the Convenor, Professor Desmond Manderson      

The French Association of Young Legal Historians organizes a PhD-workshop on the Journées internationales d'histoire du droit in Besançon (France), 28 May-2 June 2013.

The session will be presided by a Professor. Contributions are strictly limited to 10 minutes. Proposals of up to 2000 characters, with an academic CV, are welcome on: assofjhd@gmail.com.

For more information, see the AFJHD's blog.

A few days ago, the Legal History Blog noted that:

Cambridge University Press recently published Law and Custom in Korea: Comparative Legal History, by Marie Seong-Hak Kim (St. Cloud State University). A description from the Press:

This book sets forth the evolution of Korea's law and legal system from the Chosǒn dynasty through the colonial and postcolonial modern periods. This is the first book in English that comprehensively studies Korean legal history in comparison with European legal history, with particular emphasis on customary law. Korea's passage to Romano-German civil law under Japanese rule marked a drastic departure from its indigenous legal tradition. The transplantation of modern civil law in Korea was facilitated by Japanese colonial jurists who themselves created a Korean customary law; this constructed customary law served as an intermediary regime between tradition and the demands of modern law. The transformation of Korean law by the brisk forces of Westernization points to new interpretations of colonial history and it presents an intriguing case for investigating the spread of law on the global level. In-depth discussions of French customary law and Japanese legal history in this book provide a solid conceptual framework suitable for comparing European and East Asian legal traditions.

And a few blurbs:
"At first look, the title of the book gives readers an expectation of continuity in theme evolving in Korean customary law from premodern times to the present. It is, however, a saga in which Kim tells us of how the civil law tradition in France and Germany was transplanted to Japan and only a few decades later to its colony Korea, as Japanese rulers and judges saw that it fit the needs of efficient colonial management and Western jurisprudence's requirements of customary law. Kim's book provides us with sad but rich stories to explore from Korean civil law history." –Dai-Kwon Choi (Seoul National University)

"For too long, East Asia in general and Korea in particular has been treated as a backwater in comparative legal studies. Marie Kim's monumental contribution helps correct this state of affairs. With nuance and rigor, she uses the lens of custom to situate modern Korean law in a comparative context. A major advance not only for our understanding of modern Korea but also of colonial and postcolonial legality more broadly." – Tom Ginsburg (University of Chicago Law School) Read on here.

Professor Kim is a member of the International Editorial Board of the ESCLH's Comparative Legal History.

A few days ago, the Legal History Blog noted that:

Cambridge University Press recently published Law and Custom in Korea: Comparative Legal History, by Marie Seong-Hak Kim (St. Cloud State University). A description from the Press:

This book sets forth the evolution of Korea's law and legal system from the Chosǒn dynasty through the colonial and postcolonial modern periods. This is the first book in English that comprehensively studies Korean legal history in comparison with European legal history, with particular emphasis on customary law. Korea's passage to Romano-German civil law under Japanese rule marked a drastic departure from its indigenous legal tradition. The transplantation of modern civil law in Korea was facilitated by Japanese colonial jurists who themselves created a Korean customary law; this constructed customary law served as an intermediary regime between tradition and the demands of modern law. The transformation of Korean law by the brisk forces of Westernization points to new interpretations of colonial history and it presents an intriguing case for investigating the spread of law on the global level. In-depth discussions of French customary law and Japanese legal history in this book provide a solid conceptual framework suitable for comparing European and East Asian legal traditions.

And a few blurbs:
"At first look, the title of the book gives readers an expectation of continuity in theme evolving in Korean customary law from premodern times to the present. It is, however, a saga in which Kim tells us of how the civil law tradition in France and Germany was transplanted to Japan and only a few decades later to its colony Korea, as Japanese rulers and judges saw that it fit the needs of efficient colonial management and Western jurisprudence's requirements of customary law. Kim's book provides us with sad but rich stories to explore from Korean civil law history." –Dai-Kwon Choi (Seoul National University)

"For too long, East Asia in general and Korea in particular has been treated as a backwater in comparative legal studies. Marie Kim's monumental contribution helps correct this state of affairs. With nuance and rigor, she uses the lens of custom to situate modern Korean law in a comparative context. A major advance not only for our understanding of modern Korea but also of colonial and postcolonial legality more broadly." – Tom Ginsburg (University of Chicago Law School) Read on here.

Professor Kim is a member of the International Editorial Board of the ESCLH's Comparative Legal History.

Ernst Van Bemmelen van Gent’s ‘Legal Education: A New Paradigm’ is on SSRN:
In the past, between the years 1800 and 1950, legal education was a local, generalist, apprentice-based, non-corporate, and highly academic self-explanatory affair. Most of the legal professionals regarded themselves as involved in ex-post private law and criminal litigation/trials. Legal theory and the curriculum, correspondingly, could focus mainly on local private and criminal law contained in approximately 10.000 pages. 

At the start of the 21st century a number of things have changed. Around 100 specialized areas of legal theory and practice have emerged, along with millions of pages of new material. The sources of these new rules are increasingly international and regional, especially in Europe. The legal profession has also industrialized. The sole practitioner is outnumbered by legal professionals that are mass producing legal services and legislative instruments, as well as adjudicative products. Client demand has changed the emphasis to be more focused on ex ante: preventing disputes. Employers are expecting more than ever that graduates are well on their way through this increased volume of material, plus well versed in critical thinking, advocacy and research techniques. Moreover, in the countries where legal education is subsidized, universities are expected to educate more pupils for less money, plus accepting lower entry qualifications favoring historically less privileged groups. This process includes attempts, again especially in Europe, to harmonize the higher education degree structure across states. 

Law school traditions have not responded to these developments yet. The curriculum and teaching techniques have remained largely the same as in the 1800 to 1950 era. 

The time is ready to change legal education drastically. To guide and justify that change, a modern, 21st century paradigm is required, addressing what the legal profession entails, what issues the legal profession deals with and what legal competences are required, to solve legal problems cheaply, efficiently and in a client friendly manner. Such a new paradigm should also provide the necessary assessment criteria evaluating, which law graduates may be permitted access to legal practices, including the various professional bodies admission procedures but also corporate hiring practices for junior and senior positions. 

This article provides such paradigm. It describes and defines the legal profession along four types of legal practices that exist all over the world. It identifies the “top 55 legal issues” that are most fundamental to any legal practice. It selects 50 areas of law that are necessary for instruction in law schools. More importantly, it argues which 6 legal skills/competencies should be the guiding tool for curriculum and assessment design, as well as the criteria for recruitment, life-long learning and career development in the legal profession. Furthermore, the new paradigm for legal education integrates the global ambitions (UN, OECD, G20) in the fields of sustainable development and rule of law into the daily reality of the legal profession, legal education and legal research.

Edward Elgar Publishing has announced the following:
Randall S Abate and Elizabeth Ann Kronk (eds), Climate Change And Indigenous Peoples: The Search for Legal Remedies
This timely volume explores the ways in which indigenous peoples across the world are challenged by climate change impacts, and discusses the legal resources available to confront those challenges.
Indigenous peoples occupy a unique niche within the climate justice movement, as many indigenous communities live subsistence lifestyles that are severely disrupted by the effects of climate change. Additionally, in many parts of the world, domestic law is applied differently to indigenous peoples than it is to their non-indigenous peers, further complicating the quest for legal remedies. The contributors to this book bring a range of expert legal perspectives to this complex discussion, offering both a comprehensive explanation of climate change-related problems faced by indigenous communities and a breakdown of various real world attempts to devise workable legal solutions. Regions covered include North and South America (Brazil, Canada, the US and the Arctic), the Pacific Islands (Fiji, Tuvalu and the Federated States of Micronesia), Australia and New Zealand, Asia (China and Nepal) and Africa (Kenya).
This comprehensive volume will appeal to professors and students of environmental law, indigenous law and international law, as well as practitioners and policymakers with an interest in indigenous legal issues and environmental justice.
Additional titles in international law include:
Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, Christina Leb, and Mara Tignino (eds), International Law And Freshwater: The Multiple Challenges
Onita Das, Environmental Protection, Security And Armed Conflict: A Sustainable Development Perspective
Alexander Orakhelashvili (ed), Research Handbook On The Theory And History Of International Law

What: Seminar on: L'inquisizione e gli ebrei. Nuove ricerche Where: Archivio della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede, Piazza del Sant'Ufficio 11 (Sala San Domenico), Roma When: on Tuesdays at 4:30 pm, according to the seminar's schedule 
The seminar is organized by Dipartimento di storia, culture, religioni of the University La Sapienza, in collaboration with Archivio della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede and coordinated by Marina Caffiero and Vittorio Frajese. 
All information here 

Program:
Claudio Canonici (Sapienza - Università di Roma) La giurisdizione inquisitoriale sugli ebrei dei vescovi del “territorio romano” in età moderna - 19 February 2013
Paolo Pellegrini (Sapienza - Università di Roma) La filantropia degli ebrei italiani nell’Ottocento: funzioni e pratiche - 12 March 2013
Margherita Palumbo (Biblioteca Casanatense) I “libri talmudici, cabalistici e nefandi” del Sant’Uffizio oggi in Biblioteca Casanatense - 9 April 2013
Raffaella Perin (Scuola Normale Superiore): Pio XI e l'antisemitismo. La mancata lettera sugli ebrei a Mussolini dell'estate del 1938 - 7 May 2013
Cecilia Cristellon (Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main) L’Inquisizione, la censura e la giurisdizione sul matrimonio degli ebrei (secc. XVII-XVIII) – 23 April 2013

What: Colloque C. Beccaria "RECEPTION ET HERITAGE - Du temps des Lumières à aujourd'hui"

Where: Université de Genève

When: 21-22 February 2013 
For all information, click here

What: Conference: Max Weber and China: Culture, Law and Capitalism Where: SOAS, Russell Square: College Buildings. Room: Khalili Lecture Theatre, London  When: 5-6 September 2013, 10:00 am

Deadline for submission:  31st March 2013
Max Weber is not only celebrated as a founder of modern social science but also for his view that modern capitalism was the achievement of a uniquely Western rationalism. His celebrated study of China argued that its legal institutions and ethical and religious culture had prevented a similar development there. But he also drew on his knowledge of China in developing his ideas of bureaucracy, authority and legitimacy. The economic success of China over the last thirty years represents for some the biggest challenge yet to Weber's account of its culture, to his theory of capitalism and to the methods he employed in arriving at his account. But it also brings into question the self-image of the West and the idea of modernity. The conference we are announcing will bring scholars from the social sciences and humanities together in a West/East dialogue central both to mutual understanding between China and the West and also to an exploration of the possible varieties of capitalism. All information here

What: Seminar: "Regole di cittadinanza e strategie di potere tra Medioevo ed Età Moderna"
Where: Facoltà di Giurisprudenza - Università “Roma Tre” - Via Ostiense 161, Stanza 278, II piano
When: March-December 2013 
The seminar, which takes place within the framework of the PIMIC Project (Power and Institutions in Medieval Islam and Christendom), is organized by Sara Menzinger, Giuliano Milani and Massimo Vallerani 
Provisional Program:  4 March 2013, h. 15.30 Cives prima della cittadinanza: percezioni di identità collettive urbane tra IX e XI secolo nell’Italia centro-settentrionale Chris Wickham: l’XI secolo lombardo Mario Ascheri: Privilegi per le città nella crisi post-carolingia
22 March 2013, h. 15.30 Cittadinanza politica nel Medioevo bizantino e islamico Marco Di Branco: Cittadinanza e rivolte nel Medioevo bizantino Patrick Lantschner: Civic revolts in Italian and Islamic cities between Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times (14th-16th century)
19 April 2013, h. 15.30 Doveri fiscali e forme di appartenenza alla comunità cristiana e alla civitas Michel Lauwers: La decima come simbolo di appartenenza alla comunità cristiana (titolo provvisorio) Sara Menzinger: Pagare per appartenere: giustificazione teorica del prelievo tra XII e XIII secolo Massimo Vallerani: Obblighi fiscali e livelli di cittadinanza nei comuni italiani
24 May 2013, h. 15.30 Esclusione dalla cittadinanza: forme di allontanamento materiale e perdita di diritti politici e civili Giuliano Milani: forme di esclusione politica dalla civitas Giacomo Todeschini: Forme di esclusione dalla comunità (titolo provvisorio)
21 June 2013, h. 15.30 Forme di diminuzione della cittadinanza Antonia Fiori: infamia e purgatio nel pensiero ecclesiastico Massimo Vallerani: fama e infamia nel mondo comunale Caterina Bori: il ruolo della fama nel processo islamico (XIV sec.)
19-21? September 2013 Paolo Cammarosano: tema da definire
25 October 2013, h. 15,30 Forme di appartenenza alla civitas nell’Italia meridionale (XII-XVI sec.) Vito Lorè Serena Morelli           
22 November, h. 15.30 Costruzione di teorie di cittadinanza per il mondo coloniale Enrica Rigo Luigi Nuzzo
December 2013 (data da definire) Cittadinanza politica in Dante Justin Steinberg (l’opera): uso di regole ed eccezioni di cittadinanza nella Divina Commedia Giuliano Milani (la biografia): la perdita di cittadinanza di Dante, da fiorentino di nascita a fiorentino politico

What: Legal Theory and Legal History: A Neglected Dialogue? 2013 UK Branch of the IVR Annual Conference
Where: Arts 2 Lecture Theatre, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
When: 12-13 April 2013, 9:00 am-5:00 pm 

The 2013 annual conference of the UK Branch of the IVR is designed to bring together legal theorists and legal historians (including historians of legal theory and political thought) in an attempt to facilitate and encourage dialogue between the two disciplines. The keynote will be delivered by prof. Quentin Skinner:  The Concept of the State in Legal History and Theory
To read the program, click here
All information (registration is compulsory) here. 

Vol. 31.1 of the Law & History Review is now available. The following 3 articles can be freely accessed until February 28th 2013

Kristin A. Collins, Petitions Without Number: Widows' Petitions and the Early Nineteenth-Century Origins of Public Marriage-Based Entitlements 
Kimberley A. Reilly, Wronged in Her Dearest Rights: Plaintiff Wives and the Transformation of Marital Consortium, 1870-1920 
Alfred L. Brophy, Introducing Applied Legal History
Other articles in this issue: 
Roman J. Hoyos, "The People's Privilege: The Franking Privilege, Constituent Correspondence, and Political Representation in Mid-Nineteenth Century America"
Jeffery A. Jenkins and Justin Peck, "Building Toward Major Policy Change: Congressional Action on Civil Rights, 1941–1950"
Robert Tennyson, "From Unanimity to Proportionality: Assent Standards and the Parliamentary Enclosure Movement"
James Oldham and Su Jin Kim, "Arbitration in America: The Early History"
To read the articles, please click here Source: Legal History Blog

What: Conference on Commerce, Corporations and the Law
Where: Princeton University (Dickinson Hall)
When: 27-28 September 2013

Deadline: March 1st 2013 Source: http://www.histproj.org/meeting_2013.html.  The History Project, in cooperation with the History Department at Princeton University and the Joint Center for History and Economics, will hold its second conference on 27-28 September 2013 at Dickinson Hall, Princeton University. 
The conference will be concerned with cross-cultural trade, firms, and legal systems around the world. The History Project is supported by the Institute for New Economic Thinking, with the object of encouraging a new generation of historians of the economy and economic life.  The Organizing Committee welcomes proposals for papers from advanced undergraduates, graduate students and recent PhD recipients.  The deadline for submissions of proposals is March 1, 2013.
The conference will be able to contribute to travel and accommodation costs, and a small number of research grants will be available through the History Project; see http://www.histproj.org/grants.html.
Jeremy Adelman, Nikolas Bowie, Hendrik Hartog, Harold James, Melissa Lane, Jonathan Levy, Bhavani Raman, Emma Rothschild, Melissa Texeira


Call for papers: We welcome proposals for papers from graduate students and recent PhD recipients in different disciplines, including economics, economic history, the history of economic thought, legal history, political theory, and the history of science. The conference will be concerned with cross-cultural trade, firms, and legal systems around the world.
The conference will be able to contribute to travel and accommodation costs, and a small number of research grants will be available through the History Project; see http://www.histproj.org/grants.html Proposals should be uploaded to the conference website.  For more information, please email histproj@fas.harvard.edu

What: Jean-Jacques Yvorel on La mise en images du débat sur la justice des mineurs (1880-1912), within the framework of the Series of Conferences on "La Justice en images et caricaturée" Where: University of Lille 2, Faculté de droit - Salle Guy Debeyre When: 15 February 2013, 10:30 am
Contacts:  Mme Sophie Deroubaix or Mme Sabrina Michel sophie.deroubaix@univ-lille2.fr or sabrina.michel-2@univ-lille2.fr
Tel. : 03.20.90.74.43

All information here