2017 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Comparative Law
“Comparative Law, Faith and Religion: The Role of Faith in Law”
October 26 – 28, 2017
American University Washington College of Law
4300 Nebraska Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016
The proposed general theme seeks to compare political, market and social institutions to address private and public law conflicts in societies that fall under either a faith-based or a non-faith based legal tradition. The theme has two parallel goals arguing both against the dichotomy between faith and non-faith based legal traditions while at the same time maintaining the distinction as a useful device to address some of the challenges faced by predominantly Islamic countries as well as religious minorities in Western societies where laws are deemed to be non-faith based.
The first goal is to challenge the very notion that there is a dichotomy between faith based and non-faith based societies. By exploring the distinction between religion and faith, the theme assumes that faith (defined as complete trust and confidence in a belief system) is essential to the functioning of any legal system whether that faith is in a form of secular morality or a religious one. We explore how the notion of laïcité affects societies by foregrounding “non-religious” based behaviors in state-citizens relations while obscuring how religious norms impact market and family relations. In addition, many substantive areas of western law draw upon religious-faith traditions which in turn play an important role in the development of legal doctrines in private, public and criminal law.
The second goal is to understand societies where faith as well as religious law is foregrounded such as Islam and Judaism. We also hope to address the notion of human rights in Confucianism as well as the concept of law in Buddhism and other faith traditions.
We believe that a better understanding of the dichotomy between faith-based and non-faith based legal traditions will provide new tools for comparative scholars to understand why legal reforms are at times unsuccessful. We have two plenary sessions: one framing the issue and another addressing the notion of rights from a variety of perspectives. Our hot topic panel will address oppression of religious minorities. After each plenary session we have concurrent panels addressing more specific examples that were proposed based on the conference topic.
American University Washington College of Law, Washington, D.C., October 26, 2017 Law's Porosities/Porosités du droit
Joint Conference of the Société de législation comparée and the American Society of Comparative Law
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
This conference intends to illuminate areas of the law in which seepage occurs from one domain into another, a phenomenon we are seeing increasingly both in international and domestic legal settings. The erasure of territoriality in certain areas is one cause of this, increasing encounter is another. Many countries face common problems as they cope with transformations that are not always apparent. Papers are welcome from scholars and practitioners in any area responsive to the theme. Current topics range from international arbitration to human rights to the recently approved Restatement on Foreign Relations.
Free Registration. Reduced hotel fares with registration. The languages of the conference are French and English. For information on call for papers, please click here. For information on the Société de législation compare, please go to: http://www.legiscompare.fr/web/?lang=fr