Centre for the Study of Law in Society
Seminar Programme
CLIS organises a seminar series every year. For more information about this year series follow the link on the right. Stimulating and insightful the seminars reflect the varied research areas that CLIS is involved in and are an opportunity learn more about Law in Society. Often the seminars are organised jointly with other research clusters and university departments. This reflects the collaborative nature of the cluster and the crossover of the research activities with other research areas such as politics and health care. Everyone is welcome to attend and there is no need to register.
8 November 2011
16:00-17:00, Moot Court Bartolome House
The Value of Legal Accountability
Dr Jeff King, University College London
Abstract
At the table of constitutional design, when statespersons consider whether to expand or contract the role of courts or tribunals, they will ideally engage in some sort of cost-benefit or balancing exercise that compares the value of different institutional options. In so doing, there is a need for a reasonably clear account of what benefits legal accountability provides, and how such putative benefits stand up to some common objections. This paper sets out ten prima facie benefits of legal accountability, and defends the claim that these are benefits against some sceptical challenges against law and adjudication as a mechanism for accountability.
3 May 2012
16:00-17:00, DB13, Bartolome House
Is German Law Autonomus?
Abstract
In this talk, Thomas Lundmark will present his thesis that German lawyers tend to view their law as an autonomous system of rules, whereas English lawyers tend to view their law as being inseparable from politics, economics, psychology, religion, and other influences on everyday life. After illustrating how these divergent notions influence the way that law is taught and applied in Germany and England, Mr Lundmark will offer an explanation for how this divergence in views of the law arose, and will speculate on whether these views are likely to converge in the future.
About the speaker:
Mr Lundmark studied comparative literature in San Diego and Uppsala, and studied law in Berkeley, Freiburg, and Bonn. After practicing law in California, and serving as a senior Fulbright professor in Bonn, Rostock, and Greifswald, he was appointed Professor of Common Law and Comparative Jurisprudence at the University of Münster. Upon his appointment in 1997, he became the first American appointed to a professorship in law at a German university. His latest book is Charting the Divide between Common and Civil Law (OUP 2012).