Category Archives: General
Peter Haldén, ‘Fundamental but not eternal: The public-private distinction, from normative projects to cognitive grid in Western political thought’
Abstract: Although the public–private distinction is a historical construction it has been deeply internalized and taken for granted in Western ways of thinking about society and politics. Therefore, we often apply it uncritically as a way to categorizing and coding non-Western societies. Doing so unreflectively may distort our observations as well as policies of state- [...]
François-Xavier Licari, ‘L’Arbitrage Rabbinique, Entre Droit Talmudique Et Droit Des Nations’
Abstract: L’arbitrage rabbinique est bimillénaire, mais il demeure largement méconnu. Après une longue période de déclin qui dura jusqu’au milieu du 20e siècle, il se pratique aujourd’hui quotidiennement et participe de la renaissance de l’arbitrage confessionnel de par le monde. Bien que mettant en œuvre des mécanismes fondamentaux qui nous sont familiers, il se singularise [...]
Eric Clive, ‘Key concepts in uniform and regional private law instruments: an emerging consensus?’
“One of the most interesting developments in the last few decades has been the appearance of an increasing number of international and regional legal instruments on private law topics. Some of these have found their way into hard law, while others are soft law, which has no binding force but which contracting parties, drafters, judges, [...]
Joseph Lavitt, ‘Leaving Contemporary Legal Taxonomy’
Abstract: In twenty-first century American courts, dysfunctional outcomes invariably follow the formalistic application of the most salient doctrinal distinctions. Attempts by legal taxonomists to delineate the boundaries between contract and tort law are especially ineffectual. Still, courts irregularly determine the obtainable remedies for legally cognizable injuries based on the way these capricious taxonomic boundaries are [...]
Crawley and Van Praagh, ‘”Academic Concerns” – Caring about Conversation in Canadian Common Law’
Abstract: The Supreme Court of Canada, in its 2001 decision in Cooper v Hobart, refined the test in Canadian common law for establishing a duty of care in the tort of negligence. Although aware of the complexities and ongoing challenges of the “duty of care” concept, the Supreme Court openly labelled these concerns as “academic.” [...]
‘The Public Life of Private Law’ – 1st seminar – sound recordings now available
Seminar 1: Theories & Strategies. “The first seminar begins to think through some of the terms, the strategies and the theoretical frameworks that we will rely upon and develop throughout the series. To begin with, we will pose three sets of questions …” (more, mp3s) [The Public Life of Private Law, 22 January]
Iain Stewart, ‘Mors Codicis: End of the Age of Codification?’
Abstract: What is meant by a legal “code”? The etymology, from Latin “codex,” can mislead – because the codex was a technological rather than a semantic innovation. The idea of a “code” as a rational and comprehensive statement of all the law or of an area of law has its paradigm in the French Code [...]
Jan Smits, ‘Private Law in a Post-National Society: From Ex Post to Ex Ante Governance’
Abstract: As a result of increasing economic globalization and technological progress, the power of State-made law to govern relationships among private parties is decreasing. It is argued in this contribution that as a result, private actors increasingly turn towards alternative types of ordering that as much as possible avoid the applicability of (default) State-made law. [...]
Brian Sloan, Informal Carers and Private Law
“Every day, large numbers of altruistic individuals, in the absence of any legal duty, provide substantial and essential services for elderly and disabled people. In doing so, many such informal carers suffer financial and other disadvantages. This book considers the scope for a ‘private law’ approach to rewarding, supporting or compensating carers, an increasingly vital [...]
Claudio Michelon, ‘The Public, the Private and the Law’
Abstract: This paper aims at challenging the perceived continuity between the underlying normativity of, on the one hand, the public and the private domains of social action and, on the other, the normativity of public and private law. As the argument goes, the underlying normative assumptions of the utilization of law (in general) by the [...]
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