Thank you to everyone who responded to the call for paper. For those who were not yet ready, the deadline has been extended to May 17.

The Mexican Academy of Private International and Comparative Law (AMEDIP) will be holding its XLII Seminar entitled “Towards an International Judicial Law ” at the Escuela Judicial del Estado de México in Toluca (Mexico) from 13 to 15 November 2019.

The seminar will focus on the draft National Code of Civil and Family Procedure and the draft National Law on Private International Law. The latter is an initiative of AMEDIP and has been drafted by professors Dr. Leonel Pereznieto Castro, Dr. Jorge Alberto Silva and Lic. Virginia Aguilar. These are two significant pieces of legislation and the seminar will analise how they would interact if they were passed by the Mexican Congress.

Potential speakers are invited to submit a paper in Spanish, English or Portuguese by 5 July 2019. Papers must comply with the criteria established by AMEDIP and will be evaluated accordingly. Selected speakers will be required to give their presentations preferably in Spanish as there will be no interpretation services but some exceptions may be made by the organisers upon request.

The final programme of the seminar will be made available at the end of October.

There is a registration fee of 300 Mexican pesos (approx. 14 Euros) for students and 800 Mexican pesos (approx. 37 Euros) for the general public. For speakers, the organisers will provide transportation from Mexico City and will cover hotel costs in Toluca.

For more detailed information (incl. convocation), see www.amedip.org.   Any queries, as well as registration requests, may be directed to asistencia@amedip.org.

Professor Dr Robert Magnus is looking for a highly skilled and motivated PhD candidate and fellow (Wissenschaftliche/r Mitarbeiter/in) to work at the Chair for Civil Law, Private International Law and Civil Procedural Law, EBS Law School Wiesbaden, Germany, on a part-time basis (50%).

The successful candidate holds the First German State Examination in Law. A good command of English and additional language skills are an advantage.

The fellow will be given the opportunity to conduct his/her PhD project (according to the Faculty’s regulations). The initial contract period is two years, with an option to be extended. Responsibilities include research and teaching.

If you are interested in this position, please send your application (cover letter; CV; and relevant documents and certificates, notably university transcripts and a copy of law degree) by email to robert.magnus@ebs.edu or by mail to

Lehrstuhl für Bürgerliches Recht, Internationales Privatrecht und Zivilprozessrecht
EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht
Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 3
65189 Wiesbaden

Further information can be found here.

The latest issue of RabelsZ has just been released. It focuses on “legal methodology” and contains the following articles:

Reinhard Zimmermann, Reinhard, Juristische Methodenlehre in Deutschland (Legal Methodology in Germany), pp. 241 et seq

The existence of a method, and thus also of a methodology, is very widely regarded as essential for an academic discipline. In Germany, law is, and has always been, an academic discipline. It is the object of what is referred to as Rechtswissenschaft (literally: legal “science”; less literally: scholarship relating to the law), characterized by a specifically legal methodology. Legal methodology is a foundational subject taught in German law faculties and set out in a rich body of legal literature. The present essay attempts to assess, on the basis of that literature, how lawyers are conceived (or perhaps rather: supposed) to operate in Germany. A specificity of the German discourse is the conceptual distinction between statutory interpretation and judicial development of the law. The essay provides an analysis of the various factors relevant within the enterprise of statutory interpretation, and of the prerequisites, the different levels, and the legitimacy of judicial development of the law. It also alerts the reader to the political experiences overshadowing the methodological discourse in Germany. The essay starts with five observations of a more general nature focusing on (i) methodological commonalities in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria; (ii) the normative character of the methodological discourse; (iii) (emerging) methodological differences between different fields of law; (iv) the place of Rechtsdogmatik (legal doctrine and the scholarship associated with its creation); and (v) the historical background of the German discourse.

Gregor Christandl, Juristische Methodenlehre in Italien oder: Kurze Geschichte der italienischen Zivilrechtswissenschaft ab dem 19. Jahrhundert (Legal Methodology in Italy – A Brief History of Italian Private Law Scholarship since the 19^th Century), pp. 288 et seq

In Italy, as in other continental legal systems, it is common to refer to “legal science” (scienze giuridiche) with regard to legal scholarship. Since the main purpose of such a legal science is the solution of practical cases or legal problems, it requires a method, or in other words, a prescribed process of single steps that lead to a solution. It is the purpose of this article to find out whether there is any discussion of such legal methodology in Italy, what role it plays in academic legal education and how it has developed since the 19th century. If one agrees that all legal methodology comes down to methods of interpretation of the law, the history of methodology is a history of interpretation. This article therefore also recounts the major developments in the history of interpretation of Italian private law and critically assesses the latest stage of “Italian legal style” in the last fifty years.

Coro Jansen, The Methodology of Dutch Private Law from the Nineteenth Century Onwards, pp. 316 et seq

– No abstract available –

Gerhard Dannemann, Juristische Methodenlehre in England (Legal Methodology in England), pp. 330 et seq

There is no equivalent to the German juristische Methodenlehrein English law. Four of its aspects have appeared to different degrees, in different combinations, and at different times in English legal education and textbooks: (i) the development of case law through the doctrine of binding precedent; (ii) the interpretation of statutes; (iii) jurisprudence; and (iv) the classification and systematization of English law. Based on a historical review of legal education at English universities, the article describes that aspects (i) and (ii) continue to be taught, but separately from (iii), which no longer is a core element at many universities, and that (iv), never a strength of the common law, is frequently neglected. The article offers six reasons why something akin to juristische Methodenlehre  has never taken off in English law: (i) when legal methodology was refined and developed in 19th  century Germany, English law was facing very different problems and only saw the beginnings of university education; (ii) unlike in Germany, legal methodology has never been a compulsory element of legal education; (iii) employers, whose professional organizations still determine the compulsory elements of the legal education syllabus, expect more practical than methodological skills; (iv) student demand for legal methodology has been consistently low; (v) a three-year syllabus for an English LL.B. can accommodate fewer subjects than a four- to five-year syllabus for a German first degree in law; and (vi) English law has demonstrated with its development of case law over the last decades in particular that it is nevertheless quite capable of achieving the goals which German legal methodology seeks to attain, doing so arguably better than German law.

Hans Petter Graver, Teaching Legal Method in Norway, pp. 346 et seq

– No abstract available –

Gabriele Koziol, Juristische Methodenlehrein Japan (Legal Methodology in Japan), pp. 361 et seq

Starting in the 1920s, legal methodology established itself as the object of lively discussions in Japan. Unlike in Germany, however, the discussion did not focus on concrete problems of statutory interpretation, being led instead on a more abstract level. Issues discussed included, for instance, the question of how to deal with law imported from Western countries at the end of the 19th century and the importance of legal dogmatics, considering also the relationship of case law and statutes. While for some time a pragmatic approach prevailed – an approach sometimes even rejecting the binding nature of statutes – in recent years there has once again been a tendency towards a more systematic-functional approach. In legal practice, a set of interpretation methods is generally acknowledged which by and large resemble those adopted under German law. However, some peculiarities of Japanese court practice can be found with regard to the acknowledged sources of law as well as, for example, the use of analogy. In legal education at universities, legal methodology does not play an important role. Nevertheless, the academic discussion on methodological issues has also dealt with the question of what legal education should look like. Currently, the discourse on methodological questions is witnessing a revival, partly due to an increased interest in law and economics. Also, the recent reform of the law of obligations could bring about some changes in the approach to statutory interpretation.

The Max Planck Institute Luxembourg has launched a call for applications for PhD scholarships in 2020. Advanced doctoral students working in comparative procedural law, international procedural law and adjudication are invited to apply by 31 May 2019. While proficiency in English is compulsory, the call is also open to doctoral candidates writing their thesis in a language other than English.

The scholarship offers young scientists the opportunity to stimulate their scientific inspiration and advance their research in a dynamic environment. In addition to a monthly grant of 1.500 €, the selected candidates will be offered a workstation in the reading room, and will have the opportunity to participate in the Institute’s scientific activities.

More information about the call is available here.