'Transnational Comparisons: Theory and Practice of Comparative Law as a Critique of Global Governance'

Abstract:
A project seeking to assert and contrast the ‘practice’ of comparative law in distinction from the well-known and longstanding theoretical critique of the field is itself in need to define the meaning of practice. The following chapter, written for a volume edited by Jacco Bomhoff and Maurice Adams, takes up this challenge in two steps. In a first one, it revisits comparative law’s seemingly eternal self-doubt regarding its target of inquiry and its method. I will suggest that there is a great promise for comparative legal studies in the context of transnational legal pluralism as a methodological approach to the study of intersecting normative and institutional orders. In a second step, I would like to draw out the context in which current debates about comparative and transnational law are unfolding. This context - ‘global governance’- poses significant challenges for the role of law in what has fast become a multi-disciplinary inquiry regarding the contours and foundations of a continuously evolving global regulatory landscape. A reflection on the regulatory aims of comparative law as transnational law, which I have been pursuing together with Russell Miller in ‘Comparative Law as Transnational Law: A Decade of the German Law Journal’ (Oxford University Press, 2012), can serve as a powerful critique of global governance.

Zumbansen, Peer, Transnational Comparisons: Theory and Practice of Comparative Law as a Critique of Global Governance (February 7, 2012). Osgoode CLPE Research Paper No. 1/2012.

Teaching Comparative Law:

reflections and recommendations

Wood Room, Plassey House

University of Limerick, IRELAND

Friday, 20 April 2012 — 11:00-15:00

The Irish Society of Comparative Law and the School of Lawof the University of Limerick (UL) will host a one-day workshop on ‘Teaching Comparative Law’ in the Wood Room in Plassey House at UL on Friday, 20 April 2012 from 11:00-15:00.

There is no fee for participation and lunch is included.

The workshop will collate information on the current teaching of comparative law and related disciplines—especially European law, International law, and foreign laws of any type—in Ireland. To assist in this, a very brief, simple questionnaire has been prepared. Both attendees and non-attendees are invited to complete the questionnaire.

Please contact ISCL Vice-President Seán Patrick Donlan (sean.donlan@ul.ie) for additional information.

Workshop participants will (i) review the teaching of comparative law across Ireland and (ii) discuss its future role in legal education. Current innovative approaches across the globe—Maastricht, McGill, NYU, and SOAS—will be considered for their relevance to teaching both comparative and national law.

The reports provided for the workshop will be compiled and available to reporters, to Heads of Faculties, and to ISCL members. Minutes of the meeting may also be included. It is our hope that these materials might form the basis of a comprehensive overview of the teaching of comparative law and related disciplines in Ireland.

Mr Guillaume Bensussan, first recipient of the ISCL Best Masters Essay Prize, 2012, and Professor Brice Dickson, President of the ISCL 2009-2012.

The ISCL held its 4th annual conference at the Faculty of Law, University College Cork on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 March, 2012. Over 60 delegates attended and presented at the conference, with a healthy blend of established academics and PhD students. The parallel sessions gave the opportunity to all to discuss their ideas, to be challenged, and to challenge others. Various corners of comparative law were explored, such as family law, human rights, legal history and theory, finance and tax, language and law, international law, ECHR law, contract law, e-law, medical law, criminal law, judicial process. The conference was opened by Dr Simone Glanert, School of Law in Kent University, who sparked a heated debate on the topic of the translatability of law. It was closed by Professor Gíuseppe Ferrari, of Universita’ Bocconi in Milan, with an insightful journey, rich of a lifetime of constitutional law experience, in the use of foreign law by constitutional courts. This year also included the innovation of awarding a ‘Best paper prize’ to a masters student- it went to Mr Guillaume Bensussan, of Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, for a brilliant paper and presentation on the patentability of medical diagnostic in the US and Europe. Throughout the day, the coffee breaks were the opportunity for the comparative scholars present to meet new acquaintances, and the dinner was attended by over half of the delegates. The conference was overall a great success, and most sincere thanks are extended to all who helped in organising it (Bénédicte Sage-Fuller, the ISCL executive committee, the UCC Law Faculty administrative staff, academic colleagues in UCC Law, BCL (Law and German) and (Law and French) students, PhD students Fiona Broughton and Dug Cubie, and last but not least maintenance staff who had the building looking shiny and smelling fresh!). Thank you also to all delegates for the interest that they showed for the ISCL, and to the development of comparative legal scholarship in Ireland. Finally, the ISCL has a new president and a new secretary, respectively Professor Steve Hedley, Faculty of Law in UCC, and Dr Niamh Connolly, School of Law in TCD. We wish them both very well in the continuous development of the activities of the ISCL, in concert with the VP and founder Seán Donlan, UL and treasurer Marie-Luce Paris, UCD.