Author: martinkelly
Seminar: Doug Edlin “Departmentalism, Parliamentary Sovereignty, and Judicial Supremacy”
Seminar: Grant Lamond “Analogical Reasoning in the Common Law”
Legal Theory Graduate Workshop
Three of our legal theory PhD candidates will presenting their work in the Raeburn Room, Old College from 2.30-6.00pm on Thursday 11th September. All are welcome.
Schedule
2:30pm – 3:30pm: Session 1
(Alex Latham, ‘The Value of Representation and the Case Against Judicial Review’)
3:30pm – 3:45pm: Coffee/tea break
3:45pm – 4:45pm: Session 2
(Martin Kelly, ‘Missing Fire: Drafting Errors and the “Golden” Rule of Legal Construction’)
4:45pm – 5:00pm: Coffee/tea break
5:00pm – 6:00pm: Session 3
(Felipe Oliveira de Sousa, ‘Giving Reasons as a Form of Recognition’)
Workshop on Positivism in International Law
This Workshop will take place on Tuesday 16 September 2014 from 10.00am – 3.00pm in Old College (Raeburn Room).
The Workshop is open to all and attendance is free – but please email PositivismInternationalLaw@gmail.com if you plan to attend so that we can send you reading materials, and ensure that there is adequate catering etc.
Schedule
10.00-10.30 Registration and tea/coffee
10.30-11.30 The Project of Positivism in International Law
Speaker: Monica Salmones (University of Helsinki)
Discussant: Euan MacDonald (University of Edinburgh)
Chair: Giedre Jokubauskaite (University of Edinburgh)
11.30-12.30 International Legal Positivism in a Post-modern World
Speaker: Jean d’Aspremont (University of Amsterdam)
Discussant: Matyas Bodig (University of Aberdeen)
Chair: Martin Kelly (University of Edinburgh)
12.30-13.30 Lunch
13.30-15.00 Discussion of Key Themes
Chair: Claudio Michelon (University of Edinburgh)
Workshop Description
Legal positivism has long been a leading theory of law, both domestically and at the transnational level. It has informed much of our underlying presumptions about legitimacy of public authority and institutions, and few could argue about the pivotal role that this theory had played in shaping the transnational legal system as we know it. However, the empirical realities of the globalised world (in particular the preoccupations about growing inequality within and between States) and the rise of new sources of normativity in international law, have put this theory under serious conceptual pressure.
There is an increasing tendency to argue (as indeed one of our proposed speakers does) that the positivistic outlook has in fact greatly contributed to the shortage of global justice – essentially by ‘locking’ democracy and meaningful decision-making within domestic realm. Human rights discourse in particular, alongside other forms of ‘natural law’ reasoning, has been increasingly challenging the main premises of this theory. International legal theorists with a more constructive outlook also seem to be fully aware of this erosion of key theoretical assumptions associated with legal positivism; and one can perceive an urge amongst these academics to rethink the foundational claims of this theory in a light of globalised decision-making and its consequences.
This ‘urge’ to engage in a meaningful debate upon this matter is best exemplified by the fact that very recently international legal scholarship has seen at least two new landmark publications on this subject. One of them is the collection of essays by a range of leading international legal scholars (‘International Legal Positivism in a Post-modern World’, J. d’Aspremont and J. Kammerhofer (eds.), CUP 2014); whereas the other one is a more philosophical monograph by Monica Garcia-Salmones (‘The Project of Positivism in International Law’, OUP 2013). Whilst the former takes a more constructive and practical approach on the matter, trying to revive and rethink the main premises of positivist thought, the latter is largely a critical piece that looks at the intersection of international relations, law and economics, and analyses the role that positivist theory plays in this crossroad of disciplines. The two books broadly represent the opposing sides of the debate on this subject, yet they also complement each other in some important and potentially productive ways.
The members of the International Law Discussion Group (ILDG) and Legal Theory Research Group (LTRG) see the present state of academic literature to be well-suited for further in-depth engagement with this subject. In particular it seems to us that the current debate would benefit greatly from inter-disciplinary scrutiny – bringing together the expertise of international lawyers and legal theorists in a mutually beneficial way.
Seminar: “Antipositivist Arguments from Legal Thought and Talk”
David Plunkett (Dartmouth) will be presenting a paper entitled:
“Antipositivist Arguments from Legal Thought and Talk: the Metalinguistic Response”
on Tuesday 17th June at 11.00-12.30 in the Moot Court Room, Old College.
The seminar will consist of an extended discussion of the paper (co–authored with Timothy Sundell) and participants will therefore be expected to have read the paper in advance of the seminar.
If you would like to attend then please email Martin Kelly (edinburgh.legal.theory@gmail.com) for a copy of the paper.
Legal Reasoning, Virtue, and Politics Workshop
The Legal Reasoning, Virtue and Politics Workshop is designed to foster reflection on the relations between legal reasoning and the concept of virtue with a view to assessing some key political and ethical aspects of legal reasoning which have been peripheral in the prevalent rule-based approach to it.
The event will take place on 13-14 June 2014 at the University of Edinburgh Law School.
For more information click here.
MacCormick Seminar: “Judiciary Rising? The UK Supreme Court and Theories of Judicial Empowerment”
Next Tuesday 20 May at 3.00pm in the Ken Mason Suite (Old College), the Constitutional Law Discussion Group (CLDG) will host a MacCormick Seminar. Visiting MacCormick Fellow Dr Erin F. Delaney, Assistant Professor of Law and Political Science at Northwestern University, will speak on:
‘Judiciary Rising? The UK Supreme Court and Theories of Judicial Empowerment’
The meeting will be followed by the usual informal reception.
CLS Annual Lecture: Thomas Pogge
“The Millennium Development Goals and their Successors”
Speaker: Professor Thomas Pogge, Yale University
Lecture Theatre 175, Old College.
This event is open to all, however we encourage interested participants to register their interest through the following link as places are limited: http://goo.gl/Zz3LU2
The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception in the Lorimer Room (Old College) from 6pm onwards.