[Via H-Law, we have the followng CFP sent out by Christopher Tomlins, the Chancellor's Professor of Law, at the School of Law, University of California, Irvine,]
Proposals are invited from ASLH members interested in joining an ASLH-sponsored panel at the European Society for Comparative Legal History's biennial meeting, to be held 8-9 July 2014 in Macerata, Italy, at the University of Macerata. (Conference proceedings will be in English.)
As part of its policy of international outreach, the ASLH has entered into an agreement with the ESCLH by which each association will sponsor a panel to take part in the other association's meeting on a biennial basis. In 2013 the ASLH will host an ESCLH panel at its Miami meeting. In turn, the ESCLH will host an ASLH panel at its Macerata meeting.
The theme of the ESCLH meeting is "Traditions and Changes." The meeting organizers elaborate on the theme [here], where additional information is available). Here is a compressed version of the conference call:
"The conference encourages scholars to use comparative-historical approaches for working on the complex concepts of 'tradition' and 'change', both separately and in correlation. What do we think tradition is? How is it made up, 'built' or 'invented'? How does it relate to concepts like recollection, historical store-room, juridical experience, legal culture, and/or legal system? What purpose does a tradition serve? Why and how is it used to promote or reject change and transformation? Is tradition a synonym of 'past,' and change a synonym of 'future.' or does a dialectic prevail which can, at times, unite or separate tradition and change? What role do jurists and doctrine carry in this field? We encourage reflection not only on 'tradition' and 'change' as categories, but also on how they are used. It is clear that power in general and public or private institutions in particular seek legitimacy though recourse to 'tradition,' or alternatively 'rationalization.' Note also the growing use of polyvalent categories like 'western legal tradition' (both in the singular and the plural) or 'common constitutional traditions.'"
Papers for the ASLH panel will be selected with the following criteria in mind: appropriateness to the conference theme; historiographical/substantive originality; thematic unity for a single panel; and capacity to engage with the host society's scholarly audience. Proposals on any area of comparative legal history that relates to the general theme of "Traditions and Changes" are welcome. Paper proposals submitted for the ASLH panel but not selected will be forwarded to the conference organizers for their consideration.
Participants in the ASLH panel are expected to seek funding support from their home institutions to meet the costs of conference attendance in the first instance. "Top-up" support (maximum $5000 for the panel as a whole) will be available from the ASLH for participants whose home institutions will not meet their full expenses. Proposals should consist of (1) a 250 word synopsis of the proposed paper, and (2) a US$ estimate of the prospective participant's expenses accompanied by a reliable estimate of the US$ funds available to the prospective participant to meet those expenses.
Proposals should be sent by email attachment to ctomlins@law.uci.edu. Deadline for receipt of proposals is 15 December 2013.
