Comparative Law of Cambodia

Scholarships for cambodian students 2012

2011-10-20T20:34:00.000-07:00

University of Sydney Scholarships for 2012

Posted on September 4, 2011 by danny| Leave a comment

University of Sydney Scholarships for 2012 – University of Sydney is pleased to announce the International Fellowship of Sydney new Entrepreneurs international students at 2012. University of Sydney Scholarships for 2012(undergraduate) 30 scholarships of AUD $ 10,000 per year for a maximum of three years (a total of AUD $ 30,000) for each course at the University of Sydney (subject to the recipients receive satisfactory… Read more »

Posted in Phd, Scholarships to Australia, Undergraduate

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Erasmus Mundus 2012

Posted on May 30, 2011 by danny| 3 Comments

Erasmus Mundus 2012 are educational flagship program from the European Commission for Higher Education students, teachers and institutions. Erasmus Mundus 2012 are aimed for increasing academic mobility within Europe by providing financial support to higher education students and teachers who wish to study or work abroad. Undergraduate students, graduate students and academic staff are able to participate in Erasmus Mundus 2012. Erasmus Mundu… Read more »

Posted in Doctorate, Electrical Engineering Scholarships, Mathematics Scholarships, News, Scholarships to Netherland, Undergraduate

chemical sciences scholarship for African-American, Hispanic, and Native American students

Posted on May 14, 2011 by danny| 2 Comments

The scholarship is designed to encourage African-American, Hispanic, and Native American students to pursue undergraduate college degrees in the chemical sciences. The goal of the scholarship program is to aid in building an awareness of the value and rewards associated with careers in science and to assist students in acquiring skills and credentials needed for success in these areas. With respect to the American Chemical Society Scholars Progr… Read more »

Posted in Biology Scholarships, chemistry Scholarships, Environmental Engineering Scholarships, Scholarship to USA, Undergraduate

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University of Oulu Master’s Scholarships

Posted on August 15, 2011 by danny| Leave a comment

ed to the International Master Scholarship are: non-EU/EEA citizen, a permanent residence permit in Finland, EU / EEA citizens or similar people, students at the University of Oulu, who accepted study before the school year 2012-13). Eligible for a master’s degree at the University of Oulu for the 2012-13 academic year the applicant received his first degree (bachelor or equivalent) from a recognized institution of higher education. … Read more »

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Panasonic Scholarships for 2012

Posted on September 9, 2011 by danny| Leave a comment

Panasonic Scholarships for 2012 – Panasonic offers scholarships to promisingstudents from those countries a good opportunity to do research at universities in Japan and allow them to contribute to the development of their countries and the friendship between these countries and in Japan in the 21 Promoting century. In 2011, the Panasonic Co. Ltd., Panasonic Corporation, offer in cooperation with the Panasonic Group of Companies in Indone… Read more »

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Call for papers for the World Library and Information Congress 2012 in Helsinki, Finland

2011-10-16T19:06:00.001-07:00

World Library and Information Congress: 78^th IFLA General Conference

and Assembly

General Theme:

Helsinki, Finland: 13-17 August 2012

Acquisitions and Collection Development Section Open Session

Call for Papers

Theme:

“Treating Print in an Increasing Digital Collection: Issues, Dilemmas & Directions”

Background: Traditional print resources are becoming a challenging format and commodity in many libraries. With library users preferring online access, space issues becoming more prevalent, and collection development turning more digital, the perception of print potentially becoming endangered appears significant. Print, however will not disappear and as we consider the 2012 IFLA Presidential theme, “Libraries: A Force for Change,” we suggest that print will contribute to that part of the theme as “inclusionary, transformational and innovative” in how it integrates with a growing digital collection. This Open Session will examine directions for the future role of print in all library environments worldwide and consider associated issues, dilemmas and trends libraries are experiencing as they consider selection, collection management decisions and readers’ preferences in meeting information needs with print resources. This is a call to solicit submissions for 4-6 presentations (15 minutes each) to be delivered at the IFLA 2012 Congress in Helsinki, Finland (13-17 August) that explores any of the following themes for how libraries are treating materials issued in print, including books/monographs, serials/journals for all readers:

· Examining old vs new – blending the traditional collections with the increasingly digital

· Understanding the lifecycle of print – including born print, digitized from print, enhanced, duplicated content

· Reviewing economic and business models of print – costs, pricing, benefits, sourcing, publishing patterns, library/publisher/vendor relationships

· Managing print resources - space planning, binding & repair, shelving, processing, circulation data, metrics

· Selecting and Acquiring – utilizing Approval Plans, aggregators, patron driven models for print, exchange programs and coordinating with other formats

· Changing workflows – for acquisitions, cataloging, preservation, and other units

· Accessing and using - resource sharing, last copy scenarios, ergonomics, copyright and intellectual property

· Communicating about and promoting status of print – readers’ preferences, different user communities, supporting readers with special needs (ex, visual impairments)

· Investigating content specific needs of print – oversized books, images, high resolution, subject demands (arts as an example), literature, translations, rare books, documenting world heritage

· Remembering - is print all about cultural heritage, memory and the past or does it embrace the future?

· De-selecting print – how, when, why, what drives such decisions

· Not forgetting print

Form of papers (Extract from the Guidelines for Planning Congress Programmes issued by the IFLA Professional Committee): “It may be impractical to require that every speaker prepares a formal paper, rather than PowerPoint slides. IFLA’s first preference remains papers, translated into IFLA’s official languages. If speakers cannot produce papers, however, they must prepare a substantial abstract, including references such as URLs and bibliographies, to accompany their presentation.”

Languages of papers can be one among the seven IFLA working languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish.

The programme is 2 hours. We are planning for 6 presentations that are 15 minutes each with time for questions and discussion at the conclusion.

If interested in submitting an abstract, please provide, name of author(s), title, institutional affiliation(s), contact information and title of submission with a 300 word abstract detailing content and presentation to Julia Gelfand (jgelfand@uci.edu) by -15 January 2012-.

Proposals will be reviewed by a sub-committee of members of the Standing Committee of the Acquisition and Collection Development Section. Successful proposals will be identified by 1 March 2012. Final papers will be due on 15 May 2012. At least one author will be expected to attend conference to deliver paper. There will not be any financial subsidy nor contribution towards expenses to attend the IFLA World Congress.

This program is being co-sponsored by the Serials Section.

Origins and impact of the French Civil Code

2011-10-13T04:47:00.000-07:00

By Catherine DELPLANQUE, researcher in legal history.

Translated in to English by Edith Horak

The French Civil Code, which has just celebrated its two hundred years, holds a special place in the French legal system. To enhance our understanding of the background and the evolution of the Civil Code, we will present here the legal, political and theoretical influences, which played an active role in its promulgation on 21 March 1804. The Civil Code, which is inextricably associated with Bonaparte remains a strong legal, sociological but also cultural landmark for the French nation. The Civil Code has been a truly modern instrument in that it has successfully been applied over 200 years despite the social transformations which successively shook the French landscape. Its lasting effects cannot be ignored and we will try to outline them here.

The French civil code was promulgated on 21 March 1804 (i.e. the 30 ventôse, year XII of the Revolutionary calendar). Bonaparte, the first Consul, was the main instigator of this promulgation. Indeed, it was him who ordered that all the thirty-six laws that had been voted in the years XI and XII should be gathered into “one and single body » bearing the title of « the French Civil code». No one can forget this famous quote from Bonaparte’s days in Sainte-Hélène: “My true glory will not result from the forty battles that I have won. These will fade away because of Waterloo. My true glory will reside in my Civil Code, which will never be forgotten. It is my Civil Code, which will live eternally”. Indeed, this Code, which is nearly an object of worship, became the Napoleon Code in 1807.

The Lain word for code “codex” is used to describe a book composed by parchment sheets or written tablets bound together. The official definition of the Code, as taught to first-year law students in France, states that a code is “a classified body of laws gathering different subjects which belong to the same legal branch”. This definition mirrors that given by the first Consul in the beginning of the nineteenth century i.e. “a single collection of all the civil laws voted in 1803 and 1804”. An alternative definition was given by Jean-Etienne-Marie Portalis, one of the four authors of the Civil Code, in 1804: "a body of laws designed to provide a legal framework for social, family and business relationships between individuals who live in the same geographical area". France went through ten different constitutions in two hundred years. Why has it kept its Civil Code of 1804 even if its current contents differ from its original version?

Two centuries separate 2004 from 1804. The French society has been ruled by the same rules of civil law for two hundred years. Since 1804, France has been swept by two empires, two monarchies and four republican systems but has maintained a single Civil Code. It seems that political changes have not affected the stability of the French society. Out of the 2281 articles of the Civil Code, nearly 1200 articles have been kept in their original version. For instance, the form of the following articles has not changed in two hundred years:

1- Property: Article 544 of the Civil Code states that "Property is the right to use and control things in the most absolute manner provided this use and control are not prohibited by the law";

2- Tort law (“Droit of la Responsibilite”). Article 1382 of the Civil Code states that "any loss caused to a person through the behaviour of another must be repaired by the person whose fault it was that the loss occurred.”

To present a fair picture of the Civil Code, I will attempt to outline its evolution by focusing on three topics:

1. The background of the Civil Code and its legal, political and doctrinal origins

2. The promulgation of the Civil Code

3. The long lasting effects of the Civil Code and its impact on the French society

I. Political, legal and theoritical origins of the Civil Code

A. Political origins.

Any attempt to codify laws necessitates three conditions in order to succeed: favourable timing, talented jurists and political willpower.

For the French revolutionary men of that time, Rome represented the model to follow: they knew that clarity, coherence and simplification would permit the unification of legal rules. However, such codification would not have been achieved without a favourable political environment and the willpower of the rulers. Louis XIV’s reign was marked by the unification of judicial laws but failed to unify civil rules. The French Society was used to legislative diversity and the king’s authority appeared as the only factor of unity. In contrast to the French people, the Revolution was not so tolerant of this existing diversity. Instead, it promoted the great principle of Equality between all citizens, according to which all laws should apply similarly to everyone across the French territory. The idea of legal unification naturally gave way to legal codification.

Unfortunately, in the absence of general willpower and stable political conditions, a number of projects failed to deliver practical results:

These projects were:

1- The project of 9 August 1793: Cambacérés’ first project consisted of 719 articles to be grouped in three books: Individuals (“Les Personnes”), Property (“Les Biens”), and “Duties” (“Les Obligations”)

2- The project of 9 September 1794, which was shorter as it consisted of only 297 articles.

3- A third and more technical project

B. Legal and theoretical origins of the Civil Code

There were two main periods leading to the completion of the Civil Code. These periods were uneven in length but equal in terms of significance. The first period “L’ Ancien Droit” or the “Ancient Law” covers all laws prior to 14 July 1789. This legal system was based on territorial diversity and a variety of legal systems resulting from different sovereigns. This system was sectarian, inegalitarian, driven towards the community and landowning. The second period is called « Le Droit intermédiaire » or

the “Intermediary Law” and covers the period between the Ancient Law and the Civil Code. It is the legal system which emerged with the Revolution.

The French Revolution influenced the civil law in three different ways:

1- It developed political principles such as freedom of conscience, equality of rights and property and free trade,

2- It created civil laws and

3- It provided a fertile environment for the preparation of projects on the Civil Code.

The Revolutionary programme indeed included the unification of civil laws through codification.

Finally, one of the Revolution’s main objectives was to enable people’s access to legal sources and rules.

II. The making and the promulgation of the Civil Code

A Consular decree (“décret du Consulat”) of the 24 thermidor year VII (12 August

1800) appointed a commission composed of four members which task was to draft of

a civil code project:

1. Who are the authors of the Civil Code?

• Portalis (1746-1807), a lawyer from the South of France

• Tronchet (1726-1806), Louis XIV’s lawyer

• Maleville (1741-1824), a judge

• Bigot de Préameneu (1747-1825), a lawyer

These four men shared at least one common characteristic they all played a role in the Monarchy.

The 2 remaining authors are Bonaparte (1769-1821) and Cambacérès (1753-1824).

2. The spirit of the civil code

The spirit of the Revolution was undoubtedly the driving force behind the drafting of the Code. The ideology of the French civil code has indeed been strongly influenced by features such as secularisation, secularity and individualism.

The Civil Code was the civilian expression of the Declaration of Human Rights of 1789 and thus praises three main values: Equality, Freedom and Individual Willpower.

Thus, on 21 March 21 1804, (30 ventôse of year XII under the revolutionary calendar) the Civil Code for the French people was promulgated. It included three books:

- The first book about “Individuals” (“Des Personnes” )

- The second book about “Property” (« Des Biens et des différentes modification de la propriété »)

- The third book about the acquisition of property (« des différentes manières d’acquérir la propriété»).

III. Evolution and impact of the Civil Code

This codification enterprise did not stop the transformations of civil law, which actually abounded in the twentieth century. These very transformations rendered a revision of the code necessary.

1. Transformations of the Civil Code since Napoléon

a. A slow progress until 1880

Between 1804 and 1880, France was governed by one single government, that of the great liberal upper middle class, which was satisfied by the Civil Code. The Code, outlived the successive constitutions which swept France and remained the fundamental constitution in the country.

b. Around 1880, the advent of a Democratic Republic will lead to fundamental changes

In many ways, changes were driven against the Civil Code rather than in its favour. One can identify two principal routes in this complex movement: the triumph of individualism dominated the law on individuals and family. In the areas of inheritance, contracts, property and liability, civil law experienced socialisation probably linked to the principle of Equality.

c. Since 1958 (Vth Republic), these last two trends have lasted

In the law applicable to individuals (“Droit des Personnes”), the principle of equality

was used to make several legal achievements:

i. Equality between husband and wife (matrimonial regimes, 1965 and 1985)

ii. Equality between mother and father ( parental rights, 1970 and 1987)

iii. Equality between natural and legitimate children (Guardianship, 1964 ;

filiation, 1972)

iv. Equality of rights between teenagers and adults (lowering of the age of

majority, 1974)

With regards to inheritance rights, there has been no decisive return to liberalism

despite an existing political will to do so.

2. Reforming the civil code

The emergence of a plurality of legal systems has rendered a reform of the Civil Code necessary. The unity of the Civil Code has been affected by the co-existence of two regimes: the first regime being a legal framework common to several areas, the second regime being made up of specific rules.

It is the form as well as the text itself which need to be reformed. France has been looking for answers, which can be found in the supremacy of the legislative process and the European legal system.

Scholarships for Cambodia | 2012 Scholarships for Students from Cambodia

2011-10-11T03:27:00.001-07:00

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Online

2012 World Bank scholarship is offered jointly by the World Bank and the government of Japan. This scholarship is intended for students from Cambodia. Since 2007, APU has been a Cooperating University with this scholarship, providing funding to students who wish to study in one of APU’s International Cooperation Policy (ICP) Programs.

Eligibility

(1) Major Field of Study: The applicant must apply for one of APU’s International Cooperation Policy (ICP) Programs, however, the IMAT Program does not qualify for this scholarship.
(2) Nationality and Residence: Applicants must be Cambodian nationals, Cambodian citizens or Cambodian students. Applicants who have been currently residing in an industrialized country for a period longer than one year will not be considered.
(3) Age: Applicants must be under 40 years of age as of 1st April, 2012.
(4) Professional Experience: At least two years of work experience related to the applicant’s chosen field of study (acquired after a university degree). Priority is given to applicants currently working in the public sector.
(5) Obligations: Recipients of this scholarship should agree to return to their home country after completion of studies under the Program.

Benefits

· Full Admission Fee
· Full Tuition
· A monthly subsistence allowance of 170,000 yen (*amount subject to change for 2012) to cover living expenses, including housing and books (*see (2) in “Notes”)
· Economy class air travel between the home country and APU at the start of the study program and one return journey following the end of the overall scholarship period. In addition to the ticket, scholars receive a US $500 travel allowance for each trip

How to apply

START YOUR APPLICATION HERE

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Scholarship for Developing Country

2011-10-10T02:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Student,

Various international student scholarships are available such as DAAD in Germany, HIMM in USA, in many Saudi Arabia and other countries. Please find scholarship lists below and feel free to ask if you have any questions.
Help Others: Please forward this email to your friends if they are also interested in scholarships.

Germany DAAD Scholarship for Students from Developing Countries
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PhD Position in Bio-based Materials Engineering at University of Freiburg, Germany
PhD Scholarships in Bio-based Materials Engineering, Institute for Forest Utilization and Works Science, Germany Study Subject(s): Sustainable use of forest.. [Read Full Scholarship Detail]

Postdoctoral in Ab-Initio Modeling of Organic Interfaces for Opto-Electronics Applications at DTU, Denmark
The Center for Atomic-scale Materials Design offers Postdoctoral in Ab-Initio Modeling of Organic Interfaces for Opto-Electronics Applications Study Subject(s):Ab-Initio Modeling.. [Read Full Scholarship Detail]

Senior Researcher in Copyright Law at University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Institute for Information Law (IViR) offers Senior Researcher in Copyright Law at University of Amsterdam, Netherlands Study Subject(s):Copyright Law.. [Read Full Scholarship Detail]

Postdoctoral Position in Climate Change and Ageing at Umeå University, Sweden
Scholarship for Postdoctoral students in Climate Change and Ageing at Umeå University, Sweden Study Subject(s):Climate change and ageing Course Level:Postdoctoral.. [Read Full Scholarship Detail]

Two PhD Studentship within the field of ICT, Media and Learning at Umeå University, Sweden
Umeå University announce Two PhD Studentship within the field of ICT, media and learning, Sweden Study Subject(s):ICT, media and learning.. [Read Full Scholarship Detail]

PhD Scholarship 2012 in Experimental Studies of Interstellar Surface Reactions, Denmark
PhD stipend: Experimental studies of interstellar surface reactions, Aarhus University, Denmark Study Subject(s):Experimental studies of interstellar surface reactions Course Level:PhD.. [Read Full Scholarship Detail]

Postdoctoral Position at Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, India 2011
Postdoctoral Position in Basic Sciences, Earth, Ocean & Climate Science, Electrical Sciences, Infrastructure, Mechanical Sciences and Humanities, Social Sciences and.. [Read Full Scholarship Detail]

PhD in Health Psychology at University of Bath, UK 2012
PhD in Health Psychology for UK/EU citizens at University of Bath, UK 2012 Study Subject(s):Health Psychology Course Level:PhD Scholarship Provider:.. [Read Full Scholarship Detail]

AQD calls for papers on fish health

2011-10-08T07:40:00.001-07:00

– OCTOBER 8, 2011

POSTED IN: NEWS (HOMEPAGE), RECENT POSTS

SEAFDEC/AQD, with support from the Government of Japan Trust Fund, addresses the poor status of fish health management in many Southeast Asian countries by organizing the International workshop on fish health management: Accelerating awareness and capacity building in Southeast Asia, scheduled on 1-2 March 2012 at the Sarabia Manor Hotel & Convention Center in Iloilo City, Philippines.

Through inputs from invited scientists & experts, the workshop aims to discuss the knowledge-practice issues & gaps in fish health management in Southeast Asia, particularly in small-holder farms in rural communities. It will likewise be venue to keep the stakeholders up-to-date with novel diagnostic techniques and innovative researches on disease prevention. Finally, the workshop’s outputs will serve as basis for optimizing the ability of both fish health practitioners & aquaculturists in controlling fish disease outbreaks and improving productivity through healthy & wholesome aquaculture.

Papers are invited in the following areas: (1) Accelerating awareness in fish health management through capacity building, and (2) Innovative research and novel diagnostic techniques for fish pathogens. Submissions are either for oral or poster presentation. Abstracts should be sent in not later than 1 December 2011 to Dr. Ma. Michelle Peñaranda (mmpenaranda@seafdec.org.ph) or Mr. Demy Catedral (ddcatedral@seafdec.org.ph). Corresponding authors will be notified of abstract acceptance by 10 January 2012.

To date, SEAFDEC/AQD has organized three international workshops: (1) Disease control in fish and shrimp aquaculture in Southeast Asia – diagnosis and husbandry techniques in collaboration with the Office International des Epizootics (OIE) in Iloilo City, Philippines (2001); (2) Meeting on the current status of transboundary fish diseases in Southeast Asia: occurrence, surveillance, research and training in Manila, Philippines (2004); and (3)SEAFDEC international workshop on emerging fish diseases in Asia in Bangkok, Thailand (2007). The proceedings of the third workshop has been published in 2009 as Volume 61, Number 3 of the Israeli Journal of Aquaculture – Bamidgeh.

For more information and guidelines on the call for papers, visit SEAFDEC Philippines’ announcement on said international workshop at: http://www.seafdec.org.ph/2011/intl-workshop-fish-health-mgmt/. You may also contact the workshop secretariat, Ms. Gregoria Pagador, through email: gepagador@seafdec.org.ph or phone: +63 33 5119171 for inquiries.

Global Competitiveness

2011-10-06T21:29:00.001-07:00

Changing World

By BERNARDO M. VILLEGAS

October 7, 2011, 1:08am

MANILA, Philippines — The recent improvement in global competitiveness of the Philippines in the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranking leaves little room for complacency. We are still behind all of our ASEAN peers, with the exception of Cambodia.

It is a long way to go to be in the top 20 or even in the top 50. Given the headstart the Philippines had as an industrialized and democratic society after the Second World War, we should adopt the attitude of National Competitiveness Council co-chairman Guillermo M. Luz who greeted the good news with the following cautiously optimistic words: “We are extremely happy with the results thus far. When we set out to improve our rankings, we realized that we had to be systematic and persistent in our efforts in order to record consistent gains over time.

The teamwork between government and the private sector and the coordination among different government agencies is beginning to show results... Although our ‘institutions’ ranking improved marginally, this remains a key challenge for us.

This category looks into the strengths of our public institutions in their management of public funds, counter-corruption, legal framework, and favoritism and transparency in government decisions. Many of these indicators have begun to move in the right direction in terms of slightly improved rankings but room for improvement and gains remain. Our performance remains in the bottom 20% of global ranking.”

There are a variety of ways to continuously improve our global competitiveness. One approach is to build on our strengths to make even more quantum leaps in improving our standing. Another is to focus on our weaknesses and to move heaven and earth to overcome them.

A middle way is to spread our efforts on both building on our strengths and overcoming our handicaps. My opinion is to give the stress to building on our strengths while gradually eliminating our weaknesses, which always take a longer time to achieve.

The Global Competitiveness Index measures over 110 key indicators spread across 12 major categories or “pillars.” The Philippines recorded improvements in ranking in 9 of the 12 pillars, with significant jumps in the categories of “macroeconomic environment” (from 68 to 54), “technological readiness” (from 95 to 83), and “institutions” (from 125 to 117).

Our weaknesses were obvious in the categories where rankings declined: “infrastructure” (from 104 to 105); “health and primary education” (from 90 to 92); and “labor market efficiency” (from 111 to 113).

Special mention has to be given to our 14-position leap in “macroeconomic management” which got a big boost from the very positive gains in credit rating, government debt, interest rate spreads, and management of inflation. Also key drivers for our improvement in ranking were market efficiency for goods, particularly in the intensity of local competition; extent and effect of taxation; prevalence of foreign ownership; the local supplier quantity; Internet users; and Internet bandwidth.

I personally cannot understand why we were cited positively for “marked improvement in FDI and technology transfer” since my own perception is that we are way behind our ASEAN peers (possibly even Cambodia) in our openness to foreign direct investments because of the numerous obstacles found in our very Constitution and other laws and administrative practices that militate against FDIs.

Removing these obstacles will take some time because, among others, constitutional amendments will be necessary.

We must have a long-term strategy to address our deficiencies in infrastructure, the quality of health and primary education, and the efficiency of our labor market. We all know that these problems take time to resolve.

Take, for example, the labor market. Part of the problem there is that our existing Labor Code is full of archaic provisions that date back 20 or more years ago. The challenge of coming out with a new Labor Code is daunting.

Even if a new Code is passed in the next two to three years, implementation will take even much longer. It would be difficult for us to have significant improvements in this area even during the term of the current Administration.

The same can be said for the other categories in which we rank poorly. As another example, it would take more than five years before we can bring down the very high price of electricity that is a real deterrent to manufacturing activities.

In contrast, under “macroeconomic environment,” we are already No. 54. It is not overly ambitious to target breaking into the top 50 circle or even top 20 circle under the present Administration since we have an outstanding team of fiscal and monetary policy makers who are among the best in East Asia.

If we obtain investment grade in credit rating soon, continue to decrease our government debt as a ratio of GDP, bring down inflation to the 2 to 3% level, etc., our much improved ranking in macroeconomic management can compensate partly for the slow progress we may be making in improving, for example, the quality of our primary education.

We can also work more aggressively on increasing the intensity of local competition by being more effective in preventing oligopolistic or monopolistic practices (even in the absence of a competition law which may take time); improve the extent and effect of taxation by finetuning our tax laws and revenue collection measures; and promote more investments from both domestic and foreign investors in our IT infrastructure so that we can move to the magic 50 circles in both Internet users and Internet bandwidth.

By working on our strengths, thus focusing on the “low-hanging fruits,” we provide the appropriate macroeconomic environment and investment climate that will attract the larger funds needed to tackle the more intractable challenges as the quality of roads, quality of ports, the quality of railroads and airport infrastructure, and the quality of electricity supply.

All these need massive domestic and foreign investments that would be easier to attract if we rank among the top 20 in those areas where we already have our strengths compared to our ASEAN peers. Even at the corporate level, building on strengths is a more effective strategy to achieve objectives than eliminating weaknesses.

In fact, there are even circumstances under which management is resigned to the fact that some weaknesses may be difficult to remove, at least for the medium term, and the only intelligent strategy is “to make them irrelevant.” For comments, my new email address is bernardo.villegas@uap.asia.

Call for Papers Call for Papers - Deadline 1 December 2011

2011-10-04T01:52:00.001-07:00

Call for Papers

Call for Papers - Deadline 1 December 2011
3^rd Conference of the Asian Borderlands Research Network
CONNECTIONS, CORRIDORS, AND COMMUNITIES
Centre for Southwest Borderland Ethnic Minority Studies, Yunnan University, Kunming, China

12 - 15 October 2012

Extensive land and maritime networks have crisscrossed Asia for centuries, providing the basis for encounters between diverse ethnic, linguistic, economic, religious, and political groups. Today, developments such as new infrastructural projects, an increase in media access, and renewed interest in shaping cross-border cultural identities serve to both underscore these long-standing linkages and create new forms of connections across Asia. During the 3^rd Asian Borderlands Research Conference in Kunming, we invite submissions that address continuities and ruptures along routes and borders in Asia, broadly related to the theme, "Connections, Corridors, and Communities".

Connections: How are Asian borderlands made more (or less) visible through the study of cross-border connections? In what ways does the idea of the "borderland" remain resilient throughout political and historical ruptures? What are the characteristics of various kinds of connections that are being created (as well as cut off) in Asian borderlands?
Corridors: Are networks and paths throughout Asian borderlands being forged, reopened, diverted, or closed, and what are the effects of such processes? Can one conceive of "corridors" in relation to maritime or island borderlands, information technology networks, or bodily borders in Asia?
Communities: What constitutes a "community" or "communities" in and across Asian borderlands, and how might these be contingent upon other factors, such as politics, environmental issues, and history? What are some of the barriers and restrictions to the creation of communities in the context of Asian borderlands? In what ways is a community defined by the state, by organizations, and/or by local individuals?

Since one of the main goals of this conference is to spur collaboration and conversation across diverse fields in the hope of building up a more nuanced picture of the intersections and relationships across Asian borderlands, submissions are invited from scholars, writers, policy studies researchers, artists, filmmakers, activists, the media, and others from a wide variety of disciplinary backgrounds. We invite conceptually innovative papers, based on new research, in order to develop new perspectives in the study of Asian Borderlands.

Only a small number of individual papers will be selected. We therefore encourage you to submit a full panel or roundtable proposal. We will consider proposals for panels and roundtables that have a thematic focus, are of a comparative character, and involve scholars or practitioners affiliated with different institutions.*

*New to this Asian Borderlands conference, the roundtable format is intended to allow for a more open forum on a broader theme. Typically, panelists will each address the main issue or topic of the roundtable, and the remainder of the time is open for an informal discussion between the panel members and a more extended question-and-answer period with the audience. Some examples of wide themes in relation to Asian borderlands may include, but are not limited to: migration; security; gender; technology; environmental issues, etc.

The deadline to send in paper, panel or roundtable proposals is 1 December 2011.

Please click here to submit abstract and panel proposals and here for roundtable proposals.

Participants will be notified towards the beginning of the year 2012.

Very limited financial support may be made available to specific scholars residing in Asia and some junior or low-income scholars in other parts of the world. If you would like to be considered for a grant, please submit along with your abstract for a panel and/or paper a short letter stating the motivation for your request. Please also specify the kind of funding that you have applied for or will receive from other sources. Please note that the conference operates on a limited budget, and will not normally be able to provide more than a partial coverage of the costs of travel.

The conference will be hosted by the Centre for Southwest Borderland Ethnic Minority Studies, Yunnan University, Kunming, China. Further information about registration fees, the venue, and logistics will be provided on the ABRN website once the panels have been accepted.

Convenors:
Prof. He Ming (Yunnan University, China)
Dr. Joy Bai (Yunnan University, China)
Dr. Tina Harris (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
Prof. Willem van Schendel (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
Dr. Erik de Maaker (Leiden University, the Netherlands)

For more information, info@asianborderlands.net

Topics of Japanese Law

2011-10-04T00:12:00.000-07:00

On Additional Resolution of Constitutional Amendment Procedural Law

Professor Asaho Mizushima
(Research Staff, Faculty of Law)
(on 6 February)

Constitutional Amendment Procedural Law (May 18, 2007, Law No. 51). The procedural law that substantiates the constitutional amendment provision (Article 96) of the Constitution of Japan. Also called “Constitutional Amendment Referendum Law”. After 60 years since the establishment of the Constitution of Japan, the Law finally comes into existence. The Law was never established until now due to political conflict on the issue of constitutional amendment, though the Law merely stipulates procedures for constitutional amendment and is only of a practical nature. However, the way of its establishment has left some unsolved issues. As a result of the forceful handling of the government at the time by the Cabinet of Shinzo Abe, the legislation was railroaded through the Diet in the middle of its deliberation; not only did the legislation fail to obtain affirmative votes of opposition parties, the legislation itself contains significant faults. The “additional resolution” in “Special Investigative Committee on Constitution of Japan” of the Upper House is a perfect example of this situation. The 18 items of the additional resolution stand out in Japan’s legislative history because of their extremely unusual characteristics.

To begin with, an additional resolution refers to a resolution made by a Diet committee while it is adopting legislative bills or budget bills, with the purpose of including operational nonbinding targets and reminders to be provided for relevant ministries and agencies. Additional resolutions are often required by opposition parties as the conditions for affirmative votes to legislative bills. Additional resolutions have no binding power and are only of political or ethical nature.

The number of items, 18, is by no means particularly large. In recent years, for instance, the amended Nursing-Care Law had 24 items and the Law for Independence of Persons with Disabilities (2005) had 23 items. Then, what is the issue?

First, the minimum voting rate must be considered. For example, according to the Constitution, amendment is possible by a majority of votes, so if the voting rate was 30%, amendment can be done by a little over 15% of constituency. Hence, the item stating that “in order to prevent mistrust on validity of constitutional amendment”, the “minimum voting rate system” would be examined no later than the implementation of the Law (Item No. 6) was added. During the deliberation phase of the legislative bill, this point was regarded as an important issue. However, the ruling parties rushed the establishment of the legislation and the point remained unresolved. Isn’t the Procedural Law a failure, if such “mistrust” arises from its own institutional design? It’s not too much to say that the unresolved, important issues were listed in the additional resolution because of the forcible passage without adequate deliberation.

Among others, what I consider as “a low point in Japan’s legislative history” is Item No.12. “Penal regulations will be examined from the viewpoint of defining [criminal] constituent factors and taking into account necessary measures under legal system”. When I first saw this Item, I could hardly believe my eyes. This is worse than mere rough-and–ready or cutting-corners legislation.

The original role of additional resolution is to call attention to the actual operation of penal provisions, which are “passed with the understanding that the provisions have clear constitutional factors”, from the viewpoint of protection of human rights. One of the Items of this time’s additional resolution states that “in the application of the penal provisions, attention must be paid so that expression of opinions and activities of citizens about constitutional amendment are neither cowered nor restricted” (Item No. 14). In addition to this, the legislation was passed with unclear constituent factors; therefore Item No. 12, which requests the future clarification of the factors, is virtually a concession of defeat if it is a work of legislative body. Clarification of criminal constituent factors is not a matter of politics, but a matter related to the most important legal theory of the Constitution. That is because, if the criminal constituent factors are ambiguous and unclear, there is a high possibility of violating Article 31 [Legality Principle and Doctrine of Vagueness]. The legislative body declared its doubt over Constitutional violation from the very first establishment of the legislation through the additional resolution, and it is not an exaggeration to say such legislation is unprecedented.

The implementation date of the legislation will be “the date after the passing of three (3) years from the promulgation date”, i.e. May 18, 2010. With tenacity and saying that “during my term as prime minister term, constitutional amendment must be achieved”, Prime Minister Abe caused the Diet to rush the establishment of the Constitutional Amendment Procedure Law, and then this strange additional resolution was created. After four months from the establishment of the legislation, he suddenly resigned from the position of the prime minister. Subsequent Cabinets take a cautious stance to the constitutional amendment. Though now on the brink of the legislation’s implementation, virtually no examination has been made on the various issues presented by the additional resolution. This legislation is about constitutional amendment procedure and is extremely important. I would like to suggest that the implementation date should be extended and that the entire legislation needs full-fledged revision after adequate deliberation on all 18 items therein.

Vavilov-Frankel Fellowship at Bioversity International

2011-10-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

Two fellowships, for up to US$ 20 000 each, are available for 2012 to carry out research, from 3 to 12 months, on a wide range of biophysical, economic and social themes related to the conservation and use of plant genetic resources in developing countries.The deadline for applications is 6 November 2011

This year’s Vavilov-Frankel Fellowships call focuses on the following themes:

Gene discovery in crop wild relatives
Use of plant genetic resources for adaptation to progressive climate change
Facilitating better use of genebank materials
Researching neglected and underutilized species for food and nutrition security
Policy research in support of the implementation of the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
Applying economics to agrobiodiversity conservation, sustainable use and policy analysis
Farmer, trader and market strategies for adding value to crop diversity
Management of plant diseases through a better understanding of host-pathogen interactions and co-evolution

Bioversity International established the Fellowship Fund in 1989 to commemorate Academician Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov’s and Sir Otto Frankel’s unique contributions to plant science.To date, we have supported 37 outstanding young scientists from 24 developing countries. Read more about the history of the fund.

The fellowships are supported by Pioneer Hi-Bred, United States and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), Australia.

Applications may be submitted in English, French or Spanish by 6 November.

Download supporting information and application form below:

English

Français

Contact detail: e.goldberg@cgiar.org

Moreinfo: http://www.bioversityinternational.org/announcements/2012_vavilov_frankel_fellowship.html

Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program at National Endowment for Democracy

2011-10-03T21:42:00.001-07:00

Named in honor of NED’s principal founders, former president Ronald Reagan and the late congressman Dante Fascell, the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program was established in 2001 with funding from the U.S. Congress to enable democratic practitioners, scholars, and journalists from around the world to deepen their understanding of democracy and enhance their ability to promote democratic change.

Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows maintain full-time residence at the International Forum

for Democratic Studies, NED’s research arm located in Washington, D.C. Dedicated to international exchange, the program offers a collegial environment for fellows to reflect on their experiences and consider lessons learned; conduct research and writing; develop contacts and exchange ideas with counterparts in Washington, D.C.; and build ties that contribute to the development of a global network of democracy advocates.

The Forum hosts 16 to 20 Reagan-Fascell Fellows per year, divided into two five-month sessions:

the Fall session starts on October 1 and ends on February 28

the Spring session begins on March 1 and ends on July 31

The program offers two tracks, a practitioner track and a scholarly track.

The Practitioner Track

The Reagan-Fascell program was established primarily to support democratic activists, human rights advocates, journalists, and others who work on the front lines of democracy promotion in emerging and aspiring democracies. The program seeks to provide experienced activists with an opportunity to reflect on their work, learn from counterparts in the United States, and reevaluate techniques for building democracy in their country of origin. Fellowships on the practitioner track typically culminate in a strategy memorandum, short article or op-ed, and a formal presentation of the fellow’s analysis and ideas.

The Scholarly Track

Recognizing the importance of intellectual contributions to the theory and practice of democracy, the program offers a scholarly track principally for professors and researchers from emerging and aspiring democracies. Accomplished scholars from established democracies are also eligible to apply. Applicants are expected to possess a Ph.D., or academic equivalent, at the time of application, and to have developed a rigorous research outline. During their stay at the Forum, scholars make at least one formal presentation and complete a substantial piece of writing (a monograph or book) for publication.

Facilities and Services

Each fellow receives a monthly stipend for living expenses, plus health insurance and reimbursement for travel to and from Washington, D.C., at the beginning and end of the fellowship period. Fellows also receive a fully equipped office and research support through the Forum’s Democracy Resource Center and the Research Associates Program.

While in residence at the Forum, fellows have the opportunity to interact with staff and other visiting scholars and activists in the collegial environment at NED, and with the policy, media, and academic communities in Washington, D.C. Fellows are encouraged to consult with counterparts in the United States, and to participate in the many conferences and seminars held at NED and at the various universities, think tanks, and nongovernmental organizations in the metropolitan area.

Application Information

Please note that our fellowships are not designed to pay for professional training or to defray the cost of education for students working toward a degree.

Contact Fellowship Programs:

Program Assistant, Fellowship Programs

International Forum for Democratic Studies,

Phone: (202) 378-9700 / Fax (202) 378-9407

E-mail: fellowships@ned.org.

Moreinfo: http://www.ned.org/fellowships/reagan-fascell-democracy-fellows-program

Asian Graduate Student Fellowships

2011-10-03T21:39:00.001-07:00

The Asia Research Institute of NUS invites applications from citizens of Asian countries enrolled for a fulltime advanced degree at a university in an Asian country (except Singapore) for consideration for the award of Asian Graduate Student Fellowships. These fellowships are offered to current graduate students doing their Master’s or PhD degrees and working in the Humanities and Social Sciences on Southeast Asian topics, and will allow the recipients to be based at NUS for an ‘in residence fellowship’ for a period of two and a half (2 ½) months. The aim of the fellowship is to enable scholars to make full use of the wide range of resources held in the libraries of NUS and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Scholars will be expected to commence on 16 May 2012, and to make a presentation on their work at the Singapore Graduate Forum on Southeast Asian Studies in July 2012.

Successful candidates can expect the following benefits:

1) A monthly allowance of SGD1,000.

2) A monthly housing allowance of SGD250.

3) A settling-in allowance of SGD150.

4) A sum of $100 on a reimbursement basis for miscellaneous expenses

5) A one-time round trip travel subsidy by the most economical and direct route on a reimbursement basis upon being accepted for the fellowship.

6) Access to library and computer resources on campus.

Applicants are invited to e-mail/facsimile/mail their application forms (CLICK HERE), a 2-page outline of their research proposal in English (this may be accompanied by a longer statement in a Southeast Asian language) to the address below by 15 November 2011. Arrangements should also be made by which at least two letters of reference, one of which is from your principal supervisor, are sent confidentially to the same address by the same deadline.

The 2-page research proposal must include the following details:

1) Whether the data collection or fieldwork stage of the research has already been completed;

2) how the fellowship will contribute to the research;

3) the types of sources to be consulted in Singapore;

4) proposed work plan during the fellowship.

You can look forward to excellent library and internet computer facilities at NUS’ main library (http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/), the library at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) (http://www.iseas.edu.sg/library.html) and the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library at the National Library (http://www.nlb.gov.sg) to facilitate your research for the dissertation. NUS’ main library has 2 million volumes covering all topics while ISEAS’ library has 200,000 on Southeast Asian topics, half of which are in Southeast Asian languages.

Selvi

Asia Research Institute

NUS Bukit Timah Campus

469A Tower Block #10-01

Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259770

E-mail : arikk@nus.edu.sg

Fax: 65 67791428

Moreinfo: http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/article_view.asp?id=6

Asia Pacific Leadership Program

2011-10-03T21:19:00.001-07:00

The East-West Center is pleased to invite applications for the Asia Pacific Leadership Program Fellowship (APLP) for the 2012 – 2013 year. The APLP is the center of excellence for leadership education in the Asia Pacific region and a signature program of the East West Center.

Currently celebrating its 11th anniversary, the APLP has created a network of 400 dynamic leaders in 53 countries who are helping to build a peaceful, prosperous and just Asia Pacific community. Upon acceptance, all participants receive a fellowship valued at approximately $15,000 USD to cover the majority of the program costs.

Program Description

The APLP seeks outstanding individuals from all walks of life (government, business, NGOs, health sciences, media, monastic orders, and education) to participate in an innovative leadership development program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai’i.

From August – December 2012, 40 Fellows from around the globe will join regional specialists and leadership educators in a dynamic learning community. Through APLP, Fellows will:

Explore leadership techniques and tools
Analyze personal leadership strengths and weaknesses
Grasp and be able to communicate implications of regional and global trends
Survey a wide range of content including climate change, demographics, international relations and global markets
Connect with a diverse range of global specialists and research
Forge deeper intercultural communication skills and join a lifelong learning community at the East-West Center
Develop enhanced abilities to navigate regional and personal change

From January – April 2013, Fellows have the option to participate in extended fieldwork in Southeast Asia, internships, self-designed projects and employment experience.

A wide range of supplemental scholarships are available.

Application and Eligibility Details

For more information about the APLP, please visit our website at: www.eastwestcenter.org/aplp

For inquiries, contact us via email at aplp@eastwestcenter.org or call us via Skype (AsiaPacificLeadershipProgram).

New Scholarships and Financial Aid Updates from Scholarship-Positions.com

2011-10-03T02:02:00.000-07:00

New Scholarships and Financial Aid Updates from Scholarship-Positions.com

October 2, 2011: Search Free Online College Scholarship, Financial Aid and Grants

Dear Student,

Please find recently updated scholarships on Scholarship-Positions.com. Help Others: Please forward this email to your friends if they are also interested in scholarships.

150 Developing Countries Scholarships – 2012 Cud Scholarship Program, Belgium
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Felix E. Martin, Jr. Scholarship at University of Kentucky 2012, UK
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សៀវភៅណែនាំសម្រាប់ការចុះបញ្ជីពាណិជ្ជកម្ម និងការប្រកបអាជីកម្មអនុលោមតាមច្បាប់

2011-10-03T01:45:00.000-07:00

If you want to download this book please click to here

Comparative Study on Romanian andHungarian Labour Law with SpecialRegard to Working Time

2011-10-03T00:30:00.001-07:00

Andras Szalay

Comparative Study on Romanian and Hungarian Labour Law with SpecialRegard to Working Time

Tilburg

2010

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1934359

Table of content

1 Introduction

2 Brief theoretical explanation of Hungarian and Romanian legal systems in international context

3 Working time pertaining to the labour law of Hungary and Romania

3.1. Regular working time

3.1.1. Equally distributed working hours

3.1.2. Unequally distributed working hours

3.1.2.1. Work in shifts

3.1.2.2. Work in cycles (reference period of time)

3.2. Overtime working

3.2.1. “Normal” overtime working

3.2.2. Overtime working as a stand-by duty

3.3. Reduced full-time employment

3.4. Night work

4. Leisure time in accordance with Hungarian and Romanian labour law

4.1. Lunch break

4.2. Leisure period between two working days

4.3. Weekly rest

4.4. Statutory public holidays

4.5. Annual leave

4.5.1. Basic annual leave

4.5.2. Additional annual leave

2 Conclusions

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1934359

Comparative Study on Romanian and Hungarian Labour

Law with Special Regard to Working Time

1. Introduction

In this paperthesimilarities and thedifferences ofHungarian and Romanian labourlaware analysed, taking working time ascopeofthisstudy. Wearegoingto followthecomparative method, usingpositivefactfinding ratherthan normativeassessmentdue to restriction in size of the paper.

Were I describe the vital importance of the topic, I would say that these similarities and differences effect as many as ten thousands of migrant workers employed in both of these countries. In this studywefocus on health careworkers and therefore weemphasise working time regulations which are the most specific part of their employment.

Ithas to bementioned thereis asignificantHungarian minorityovertheborderconsequently the same language enables migrant workers for both of the directions. The frequency of (temporary)migration depends on currenteconomicsituation as wellas its direction. During the late ‘90’s until the early 2000’s it was rather common among Romanian employees to have a job in Hungary but nowadays trends are seemed to change and more and more Hungarian choose to work in Romania.

Concerningthehealth carefacilities forcounties laying onthetwo sidesofthe450kmlong border lineitwould befruitfulto cooperate even ifsocialsecuritysystems differhighlyfrom each other. TheEU-founded “Interreg”programaims to foster this typeofcross-borderco-operations especially between new member states. The author intends to participate in the preparation of a tender focusing to reduce the information gap among the involved employees. This paper may act as a stem of a future information package for workers concerned.

Inthis studyletmegiveyou abriefaccountofthelabourlawsystemofthetwo countries and acomparison howtheselaws areinternationallyembedded. SubsequentlyIintend to go on to describe our main topic, the working time regulations. Because of the dimensions of this paper wewillnotdealwith otherimportantissues:wages,workingconditions, job security justto mentionbutafew. Offcoursewedo believethesefactors areas importantas thetopic of the present paper but their possible contents surpass the frame of this study.

Themethod ofthis studyis to comparemostlythelegislativetexts ofthetwo countries. We do agree¹that is not a fully sufficient way but for the said reasons deeper background searching, group collaboration oreducationalvisitwould notbepossibleatthis stage. On the otherhand, theauthorintends to avoid thecommon trap to beoverinfluenced bythesystem in his own country².

Ourexpectations about thecomparison arethat beyondtheequallyregulated basicstandards wewillfind moredifferences in details than common rules. Wewillalso verifywhetherthe general point of view the Eastern is the less protective towards its employees.

2. Brief theoretical explanation of Hungarian and Romanian legal systems in international context

As it is well known, in contrast to the civil law, labour law has developed purely within nationalframes. Differentlyfromthecommon Romano-canonistheritageofthecivillawthe labourlawhas marked particularlybyits nationalroots.³Thesituationis similarwith thetwo studied countries with theremark thatduringthelastcenturies,becauseofthe often arrested development, for Central-European countries the Western role models has signified an important source as well.

Traditionally, Romaniahas determined byFrench influencewhileHungary has been partof Roman-Germantraditions. BeforetheSecond World Warneitherofthesecountries disposed of codified labour code. During the communist regime we can hardly call the events “developmentofthelawsystem”butitis importantto mention thatthefirstwritten labour lawregulations was beingintroduced in this period.AfterthefalloftheBerlin Wallthelegal continuityhas been restored and theinvolved countries followed theirpre-warpractices. On theotherhandwecouldnot considertheselegalsystems as homogeneous anymorebecause of the various impacts of the privatization and the globalization. Therefore, mixed legal systems havebeen formed combiningAnglo-Saxon, Germanand French influences and some national characteristics. Moreover, both of the countries joined to the European Union, Hungary in 2004, while Romania in 2007 which has provided an additional obligation to comply with international standards.

As the involved workers are (temporary) migrants, their right to cross-border job is a key factor. Thefreemovementofpersons –inthiscontext:workers –forms partofasubstantial “Four Freedoms” of the European Union as the EC Treaty states⁴. This freedom enables citizens ofamemberstateto work in anothercountry underthesameconditions as nationals of that state. In spite of this provision some restrictions concerning new member states has been presented.Thereisaseven year⁵provisionaltermduring whichmemberstates arenot obliged to applythefreemovementofworkers provision regardingto thecitizens ofthenew member states. While Hungary became earlier a member state than Romania, its rights to retain thelimitations wereequalwith othermemberstates. Hungary has chosen agradually opening:from2007 to 2009, for219 kindsofjob weredeleted fromeverylimitation, while therestofthejobs belongedto work permityet⁶.From1^stofJanuary2009Hungary does not applyany limitation longer so cross-borderworking is morecurrent than ever.

Both of the countries were accepted early as a member state of the International Labour Organisation, Romania in 1919 and Hungary in 1922⁷, though they temporarily opted out, from 1955 (Hungary) and 1956 (Romania) their membership is considered constantly. This paperwould notwanttodealwith theperformanceofthetwo countries in details within the ILObutfocusingon thetopic, wemadeaquickresearch on theacceptanceoftheworking timeconventions byourtargetcountries. Considering thelongmembership, itis surprising forthefirstinstancehow mere is thenumberoftheratified conventions, as itisshown in the chart below⁸:

ILO Labour Standards on Working Time	Hungarian ratifications	Romanian ratifications
Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No.1)		+
Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14)	+	+
Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1930 (No. 30)
Forty-Hour Week Convention, 1935 (No. 47)
Weekly Rest (Offices and Commerce) Convention, 1957 (No. 106)
Reduction of Hours of Work Recommendation, 1962 (No. 116)		+
Holidays with Pay Convention (Revised), 1970 (No. 132)	+
Night Work Convention, 1990 (No. 171)
Part-time Work Convention, 1994 (No. 175)

3. Working time pertaining to the labour law of Hungary and Romania

We can classify working time as regarded to regular working time or overtime. There is a worldwidephenomenon that employers intend to strivefor qualifyworkinghours areregular workingtimebecauseofthelimitations and theadditionalcharges ofovertime. In this chapter we will survey the possibilities of work allocation. We deal exclusively with full-time employment because thepart-time employment is not common at all among migrant workers.

3.1. Regular working time

3.1.1. Equally distributed working hours

As a general rule in both of the countries for full-time employment, the average regular workingdayconsists of8 workinghours and so aweek 40 workinghours⁹.In theeventof equally allocated working time employee will work the same quantity of time on each workday as a regular working time. We notice that in health care services that pure and simple distribution has almost vanished at all remainingonly for particular jobs.

3.1.2. Unequally distributed working hours

Therearetwo possibilities to distributeworkinghours unequallyto workingdays:when work is donein shifts orwhen work is determined in cycles. Hungarian lawknows both ofthese possibilitiesbutemployershalldecide between, consequently thereis no wayto applythese two institutions togetherorin amixed fashion. On thecontrary, wedid notfind regulations in Romanian labour law about work cycles¹⁰.

Asignificantdifferencecan beexperienced in thewayhowtheemployer maydecideabout unequally distribution. In Hungary, employer is obliged – in absence of the alteration in a collective agreement -just to inform employees about shifts or cycles while subject to the Romanian lawan unequalworkingscheduleshalloperateonlyifitis expresslystated in the individual labour contract¹¹.

What is common in shift working and work cycles is the fact that notwithstanding the unequally distributed working hours, dailyand weekly limitations are represented.

3.1.2.1. Work in shifts

In accordance with Hungarian law, working hours may be arranged in shifts, Labour Code distinguish afternoon and nightshift, moreoverdouble-shift, continuous shiftand swingshift can beapplied also. Afternoon and nightshifts and the derivated shifts areimportantfromthe point of view of additional wage elements. What is essential, in the event of shift working the regular working time can not surpasses 12 hours on a daily and 48 hours on a weekly basis¹².

TheRomanian alternative is abitdifferent. Thevarious types ofshiftworkingaresimilarto the Hungarians but regulations abound concerning working hours. Pertaining to Romanian law, in case ofshiftworkingyoumaytemporarilyexceed 8hourdailyand 48 hourweekly working time buton averageofthreeweeks you shallcomplywith the8 hour/48 hourrule¹³. Duringthethreeweeks period othertimelimitations arenotmentioned exceptthatthelength of the working day of 12 hours shall be followed bya period of rest of 24 hours¹⁴.

3.1.2.2. Work in cycles (reference period of time)

In Hungary, employermaydeterminework hoursin cycles. In otherwords, itispossiblein such way by law to establish a certain reference period of time. Two-month (eight weeks) cycles maybeappliedforworkers in allprofession, whilecycles canbelongeron thebasis of collective agreement (four-month/eighteen-week) or six-month (twenty-six-week) if the collectiveagreementapplies to a whole sector. Forsomeexceptionalcases or situations are altering from the mainstream – e.g. employees working in stand-by duty, seasonal workers etc. -the cycle may be extended up to oneyear(fifty-two-week) ¹⁵.

During a work cycle the daily – and so the weekly – working hours may be determined irregularly but must be between four and twelve hours a day.

As aconsequenceofwork cycles, weekly restdaysmaybeaggregated upto sixmonths. We discuss this possibilityintherelevantchapterofthis paper¹⁶.Wenotethatduringareference period thewages areconstant, thecurrentmonthlywageis notdepend on theactualregular working time but the average of the reference period.

In Romania the reference periods are not applied.

Comparingthesystem ofthetwo countries concerningunequallyallocated workinghours we can conclude that Romanian law defends stronger employees against usually inconvenient unequallyscheduledwork with theneedofits contractualframeand thetightertimeperiods (3 weeks vs. even one year in Hungary) while Hungarian labour law is seem to be more consistent about strict daily and weekly working hours regulations with no exceptions.

3.2. Overtime working

When we talk about overtime working we are supposed to distinguish between “normal” extra timeworking and stand-bydutyas aconsequenceoftherelevantEUlegislation. Sincehealth care workers are generally affected by these developments, we deal with this issue with an emphasis.

Accordingto the Workingtimedirective¹⁷, anyperiod has to beconsidered as eitherworking timeorrestperiod, thetwo concepts beingmutuallyexclusive¹⁸.This regulation affected the stand-bydutyperiods as well. Thefactthatstand-bydutyisconsidered as working timewas enlightened by the decisions of the European Court of Justice in the SIMAP¹⁹and in the Jager²⁰cases. Thesejudgments stated thatthetermofstand-bydutyis entirelyworkingtime, notwithstanding from the physical placement and the effective working activity. Consequently, nationallegislations aresupposed to look atstand-bydutyperiod as apartof regularworkinghours orpartofovertime. Thelimitations forboth oftheseperiods would be valid for the accumulated time in terms of the total working hours and the aggregated overtime working.

Perceiving that regulation is a double-edge sword, the Directive was modified in 2003²¹, distinguishing“active”and “inactive”stand-byperiods. Inactiveperiods arenotformpartof theworkingtime.Whatis more, theDirectivedoes notcontainregulations aboutthesalary paymentofstand-bydutyperiods. Forpracticalreasons, neithertheDirective, northeCourt stated the salary of the stand-by period might be equal with the salary as it was for regular working time. Otherwiseemployers would havebeen faced enormous additionalcosts and a need to increasesignificantlythenumberofworkers. In this casepractical reasons overwrote -again -the legal train of thoughts.

As aconsequenceofthe rapidlychanginglegislation, bythetimeHungarywas modified its national regulations the European frame has been changed again. Therefore, the applicable legislation follows the earlier directive and considers the entire time of stand-by duty as working time.

3.2.1. “Normal” overtime working

Subjectto Hungarian regulations, thedailyand theweeklyworkingtimeshallnotexceed 12 and 48 hours²²respectively,notwithstandingwhetherthetypeoforigin oftheworkingtime was regularorirregular.Itis obvious thatyou can compile a48 hours workingtimewith 48 regular working hours only if working in shifts or cycles, because normally, as it was aforementioned, the regular working time may not surpass 40 hours. Another option is to combine40 hoursofregularworkand 8hours ofovertimeorin theeventofshifts orcycles, more than 40 hours ofregular hours with a few hours of overtime.

The rules on – entirely or partially -stand-by duty workers may derogate – as we can see below.

Inaccordancewith Romanian LabourCode, themaximumlegallength oftheworking time shall not exceed 48 hours weekly, including overtime work²³–as we have seen above, with an exception of work shifts.

In Hungary, in addition to regular wages employees shall be entitled to a 50 % wage supplement for work performed in excess regular working hours in weekdays and 100 % bonus or50 %supplementplus appropriaterestperiod, underthedecision oftheemployer²⁴. The bonuses of stand-by duty periods derogate from general rules – we will discuss it as below mentioned.

In Romania, additional hours are compensated for with a correspondent rest period as a generalrule. Ifitis notpossibleto compensatein kind within 30 days, overworkingshallbe compensated with additionalbonus payment. This bonus shallbethe50%ofthebasicwage for the first two hours ofoverworking and 100 % for more hours²⁵.

3.2.2. Overtime working as a stand-by duty

According to the Hungarian law, the cumulated working hours (regular working time plus overtime)maysignificantlyexceed thedailylimitof8 hours and theweeklylimitof48 hours ifovertimeconsists ofstand-byduty only. Inthis case workingtimemaybeaslong as 24 hours on a daily basis and 60 hours on aweekly one. For health careworkers this regulation is abitdifferent, forthemweeklyworkingtimemaybe even 72 hours in which theemployeris entitled to distribute 60 hours while employee may undertake an additional 12 hours voluntarily²⁶.

Moreover, limits areregulated on yearly basis too, becausefrom the point of view of overtime working, the term of stand-by duty is equal with other overwork periods. That is why employer can not determine more than 416 hours (52 week x 8 hours) yearly as overtime, includingstand-by duty and employeecan notundertakemorethan 624hours (52 weekx12 hours) on a yearly basis subject to the same fashion. Obviously, the weekly partition of working hours may be unequal. We conclude the limits of working time in the event of stand-by duty on the chart below: As it is seems, on the one hand, employer temporarily could apply extra-long 60 hours or, with the prior written consent of theemployee,a 72 hours week, on the other hand, because of theyearly limits these extra hours would vanish rapidly.

Thanks to theflexiblerules ofthegivenDirective thestand-bydutyperiods arepaid bythe 70, 80 or90 %oftheappropriateworkingtime, dependingon should stand-bydutybetaken on working day, weekend or onpublic holiday.

Pertainingto theRomanian regulations, thereis ayearlylimitation on additionalworking as well, which is generally 120 hours. In special situations whit the consent of the unions the limit can be increase by more 240 hours²⁷. We mention that the aggregated 360 hours can not reach theHungarian timelimits and in Hungaryunions arenotbeableto influencedirectly the distribution of overtime.

3.3. Reduced full-time employment

When we are facing an employee with less than 8-hour working day in equally distributed workinghours, itis notnecessarilyapart-timeemployment. Both legalsystems providethe option of a reduced full-time employment which is mandatory in same cases, without any deduction from the wages.

Hungarian Labour Code contains special regulations about workers who are exposed by factors ofrisk atleastduringthehalftimeoftheirworkinghours. Theirdailyworkingtimeis 7 hours and 20 minutes, in which effectiveworkingtimeis 6 hours theadditional1 hour20 minutes is dedicatedto othernon-working,professionalactivity(forexampleexamination of scientific literature, trainings etc.). Among health care workers radiologists, laboratory workers and physiotherapists areespeciallyaffected bytheserules. Weremark thatwecan hardlycallsuccessfultheworkinghour’s reduction in practicein such way. Themeasurement oftheexpositiontimegives causeforunnecessarydebates in themajorityofthecases. The legislation has left several gaps²⁸what jurisdiction is not able to replace oreven amend.

Romanian regulations stipulatethattheduration ofworkingtimeis less than 8 hours adayin cases in which certain categories ofworkers requirespecialprotection. Theseprotected ones areyoungworkers who arenot18 years ofageyet, with 6 hours perdayand 30 hours per week working timeand employees workingdirectlyand permanentlyin particularlydifficult or hazardous conditions (e.g. biological, physical, chemical agents, greater physical efforts, high levels of stress etc.)²⁹.

Makingacomparison between thetwo legislations wecan observethatRomanian regulations are much more unambiguous. Apart from age limitations, risks must have direct and permanenteffectto beentitled to workinghourreduction. In Hungaryneitherdirectness, nor permanent nature is required but the grater possible level of reduction in time is rather theoreticalbecauseoftheuncertaintyofthelegislativetexts. On thecontrary,ifonceawarded thereduction is moreradicalin Romania, whilein Hungaryworkers areobliged to spend an additional period of time of 1 hour 20 minute at their workplace.

3.4. Night work

In both ofthestudied jurisdictions nightwork means awork performed 10 p.m. and 6a.m. next day.

Subject to the Hungarian law, night work hours are equal with regular work hours but employer shall pay in generality 15 % bonus to the employee performing work at night. Youngworkers and expectant women, from the detection of pregnancyuntil oneyearafter the childbirth are banned from night work at all³⁰.

According to theRomanian labourregulations, nightworking timeis onehourshorterthan regular working time with no deduction from the salary. Interestingly, this provision is not applied to employees whose working time is shorter than 8 hours a day. From the point of viewofsalaries, nightwork is rewarded bya25 %bonus oftheregularworkingtime. This bonus is doneto workers as wellwhoseworking timeis shorter. Youngworkers, expectant women afterthesixth month ofpregnancyandnursingmothers arebanned fromperforming night work³¹.

4. Leisure time in accordance with Hungarian and Romanian labour law

Thedifferentcategories ofleisuretimearesimilarin thetwogiven countries; thereforein this chapterwewillexaminetherules and regulations aboutlunch break, leisureperiod between two working days, weeklyrest, statutory public holidays and theannual leave.

4.1. Lunch break

According to both countries legislations, if the length of the working day exceeds 6 hours employee shall have the right to lunch break. Moreover, derived from working hour regulations, in Hungary the right for the lunch break is re-established if the working hours surpass another 6 hours period³².

Theduration oflunch break is slightlydifferent:in Hungary atleast20 minutes, in Romania minimum 30 minutes. Either of the legal system considers lunch breaks as a part of the working hours.

4.2. Leisure period between two working days

Subjectto theHungarian LabourCode,employershallbeaffordedatleast11 hours ofrest timeaftertheconclusion ofdailywork and beforethebeginningofnextday’s work. With the consentofthecollectiveagreementthis period should bedecreasewith no morethan 3 hours for workers in stand-by duty, continuous shift or alternating shift. Another important rule, especiallyforhealth careworkers, is thatafterworkingin stand-bydutythework should not continue and it is mandatory to apply the 11 hours(or at least 8 hours) restperiod³³.

In Romania, as ageneralrule, 12 consecutive hours of rest is mandatory between two working days which may bereduced to 8 hours, as well as in Hungary³⁴.

4.3. Weekly rest

Pertainingto Hungarian lawemployees areentitled to two restdayperweek, oneofwhich must fall on a Sunday. There are several exemptions from this general rule. Employees workingin aworkingtimecyclemaybeprovided aminimumweeklyrestof48 consecutive hours that is to include a Sunday. Further derogation that employees working in a working timecyclewheretheirposition oremployerregularoperation necessitates Sundayworkingor employee works in stand-by duty, continuous shift, three or more shift or employee is a seasonal worker, may be provided the said 48 consecutive hours as well but their right to Sundayas arestdayis limited byoneSundayin amonth. In addition, in theeventofworking time cycle employer is entitled to aggregate the weekly rest periods giving 40 consecutive hours weeklyrestincludingacalendardayandoncein amonth aSunday, with acondition to provide 48 weekly rest on the average of the working time cycle. Moreover, the allocation should bemoreelevated ifemployeeworks in stand-byduty, continuous shift, threeormore shiftoremployeeis aseasonalworker, becausein this case, weeklyrestshould begiven bi-weeklyorwith theconsentofthecollectiveagreement, monthly. Inthelattercases onerest dayafter each six working days must beallocated ³⁵.

Sinceregulations seemto be complicated, letmegiveyou a case³⁶.Takeforexampleafour-week, 160-hour work cycle, with 8-hours of daily work. The employee will work the first week fromMondayto Saturday12hours perday,thesameon thesecond week(so far144 hours total), which leaves only16 hours ofwork fortheremainingtwo weeks. These16 hours are worked on Monday and Tuesday, and the aggregated rest days can be taken from Wednesday(12 days total). No supplementarypayis duesinceno work isperformed beyond the cycle.

In accordancewith Romanian LabourCode, regulations arefarless flexiblethan Hungarians. Thegeneralruleprovides Saturdayand Sundayas usualweeklyrestdays and justwithin a highly strict frame is possible to allocate the weekly rest otherwise. Under exceptional circumstances theweeklyrestshallbegranted on acumulativebasis. Thetimeframeofthe accumulation can not surpass 15 working days and consent of the trade union and the authorization of the territorial factory inspectorate are needed³⁷.

Differences are striking between the two countries regulations. Over the alterations of the timeframeofaccumulation,which is amonth in Hungarian law and just15 days in Romania, and thelackofnecessityofconsentin Hungary, wecan observethatRomanian lawdefend Saturday and Sunday as usual weekly rest days while in Hungary the legal protection of Saturdayhas vanished at all a fewyears ago.

4.4. Statutory public holidays

Withoutcitingtheexactdates, wecansurvey thatthenumberofpaid publicholidaysconsist of 10 days in Hungaryand 8 days in Romania³⁸. A great institution is found concerning public holidays in RomanianLabourCode:to whomthelegalreligion otherthan Christian should choose another two-two days instead of Christian religious holidays, this provision is not known in Hungary. Addingtheinformation thanin EuropeHungaryhasthesecond largest Jewish population after France some positive changewould be needed in this respect.

4.5. Annual leave

4.5.1. Basic annual leave

In Hungary, the basic annual leave is 20 days. This basic leave shall be increased with complementaryleaveaccording to theageoftheworker,thereforeLabourCodewarrantover 25 years averagely after each two or three years of age one additional leave day, hence the annual leave may be between 20 and 30 days³⁹.

Comparingto Hungarianregulations, in Romania20 days ofannualleaveis also guaranteed byLabourCode, sinceafter1998 itwas increasedfrom18 days buttheadditionalleaveis the subject of bargaining⁴⁰.

4.5.2. Additional paid annual leave

Somegroup ofworkers is entitled to additionalleaveoverthebasiconebecausethepersonal circumstances of theseemployees or the nature of their work meritgreaterlegal protection.

Subjectto theHungarianlaw, young workersup to 18 years and blind workers areentitled to five extra days of annual leave, single parents and one of the parents in pairs enjoy two additionaldayafteronechild, fourdays aftertwo children and seven days forthreeormore children. Moreover, employees permanently working underground or at least three hours a daytheirjob is subjecttoionizingradiation shall havefiveextradays⁴¹. Ourrestrictions about themeasurementofworkingtimearethesameas expressed concerningdailyworkinghours reduction⁴².

Pertaining to the Romanian labour law, regulations are the same to the preferred groups: young workers, blind workers, other disabled people and employees working under difficult, dangerous or harmful conditions are equally entitled to three days additional leave peryear.³³

This paperdoes notdealwith unpaid leaveand thecases ofsick leaveorothersocialsecurity related issues.

5. Conclusions

Firstofall, letussummarizewhatwehavecovered. Wehavebrieflypresented theroots of thelegalsystems ofHungaryand Romania, then wehaveanalyzed therelevantinternational impacts for our topic from the International Labour Organisation and the European Union. Subsequently, we have compared in details the working and leisure time regulations of the two countries.

Since we can consider the two labour law in compliance with main international requirements, weconcludeitis seems to bepossibleto createan appropriatesystemwithout ratified each and every conventions. Concerning the relevant EU regulations, we have an impression thattherecentlyaudited newmemberstates sometimes –as forthestand-byduty for example –comply better with these rules than other state members.

As ageneralconclusion, wecan statethat this paperhas focused onlyon workingtimeissues because of time and size limit we did not deal with other important factors such as wages, workingconditions orlegalprotection. Therefore, only from this anglewecould notdecide which legal system constitutes more advantage to the given employees. On the other hand, it is striking, how much stronger is the trade unionism and how far more important is the collective agreement in Romania.

Justto mention butafewexamples, theyearlylimitofovertimecan beincrease120 hours with 240 hours onlyiftradeunion consentwhilein Hungarythereis apossibilityto allocate 416 hours on a yearly basis without any consent. Moreover, in Romania the cumulation of weeklyrestperiod maynotexceed 15days and theconsentofunion is needed, in contrastto Hungarianlawwhereacumulation is possiblefor15 dayswithoutconsentand onemonth of aggregation is permitted with acondition ofapprovaloftheunion. Finally, wemention the additionalannualleavewhich is subjectto thebargainingaccordingto Romanian labourlaw while in Hungary the legislation laid down the rules.

In contrast it is observable that in Hungarian law the protection of maternity is far more elevated. Sincethelawis culture, influenced bysocialmovements, itis importantto remark thatHungarian population is decreasingconsequentlytheseregulations arethesinequanon’s oftheameliorations. As an example, wecan mention theadditionalleaveafterchildrenwhich is guaranteed by law or the full prohibition of night work from the detection of pregnancy until one year of childbirth. It was not the subject of this paper but we remark that social security law and policyas well is far more protective in this field.

Quotationsand references

1	Blanpain, R. (ed.), Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations in Industralized Market Economics p. 13-16. (IXth and revised edition, The Hague, 2007)
2	Blanpain, op.cit., p. 17
3	Supiot, A., Le droit du travail p. 21-22. (Paris, 2008)
4	Article 39 of the amended EC Treaty
5	Two years plus a possible extention of three years and another possible extention of more two
6	354/2006 (XII.23.) Korm. r. (Government Decree)
7	www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/country_profiles (27/10/2009), with the observation, that this ILO web page contains an insufficient data concerning the membership of Hungary: the country joined first in 1922 to the organisation, than opted out from 1949 finally re-joined in 1955. The web page contains only the latter.
8	ILOLEX, http://www.ilo.org/global/What_we_do/InternationalLabourStandards/Subjects/W orkingtime/lang--en/index.htm (21/10/2009)
9	Romania: Article 38 paragraph 3 of the Constitution Hungary: Law No. 22/1992 on Labour Code Section 117/B (1)
10	After browsing relevant ILO sources, the national monograph of Romania and Romanian Labour Code
11	Hungary: Law No. 22/1992 on Labour Code Section 118 (1) and 118/A (4) Romania: Law No. 53/2003 on Labour Code Article 113 (2)
12	Law No. 22/1992 on Labour Code Section 119 (3)
13	Law No. 53/2003 on Labour Code Article 111 (2)
14	Law No. 53/2003 on Labour Code Article 112 (2)
15	Law No. 22/1992 on Labour Code Section 118/A (1)-(3)
16	See 4.3.
17	Directive 93/104/EC

18	Hendrickx, F.: EU Labour Law Student Handbook p. 212 (Tilburg, 2009)
19	C 303/98
20	C 151/02
21	amended by Directive 2000/34/EC
22	Law No. 22/1992 on Labour Code Section 119 (3)
23	Law No. 53/2003 on Labour Code Article 111 (1)
24	Law No. 22/1992 on Labour Code Section 147 (1)
25	National monograph of Romania paragraph 84. and Law No. 53/2003 on Labour Code Article 119
26	Act No. 84/2003
27	Blanpain, R. (ed.) International Encyclopedia for Labour Law and Industrial Relations, National monograph of Romania paragraph 84. (The Hague, 2007.)
28	Just to mention but a few of unanswered questions: What is the limit of effectiveness of the exposition for the reduction of working hours? Is a stochastic relation between risk and exposition enough to recuse working time? The halftime of what: the 8-hours normal working time or the 6-hours reduced one? What about overtime ans stand-by dutyi n case of reduced working time? Is it possible to aggregate the daily 1 hour 20 minutes to hold trainings or not?
29	Law No. 53/2003 on Labour Code Article 109 (2) and Blanpain op. cit. National monograph of Romania paragraph 82.
30	Law No. 22/1992 on Labour Code Section 121
31	Blanpain op. cit. National monograph of Romania paragraph 83.
32	Hungary: Law No. 22/1992 on Labour Code Section 122 Romania: Law No. 53/2003 on Labour Code Article 130
33	Law No. 22/1992 on Labour Code Section 123
34	Law No. 53/2003 on Labour Code Article 131
35	Law No. 22/1992 on Labour Code Section 124
36	The case is taken from www.magyarorszag.hu/english/keyevents/
	a_alpolg/a_munka/a_munveg20050805/a_piheno20060627.html

37	Law No. 53/2003 on Labour Code Article 132
38	Hungary: Law No. 22/1992 on Labour Code Section 125 (3)
	Romania: Law No. 53/2003 on Labour Code Article 134 (1)
39	Law No. 22/1992 on Labour Code Section 131
40	Law No. 53/2003 on Labour Code Article 140 and Blanpain op.cit. National
	monograph of Romania paragraph 89-91.
41	Law No. 22/1992 on Labour Code Section 132
42	See paragraph 3.3 of the paper
43	Law No. 53/2003 on Labour Code Article 142

Fall 2011 Symposium Call for Papers

2011-10-02T06:50:00.001-07:00

Fall 2011 Symposium Call for Papers

Opening Doors: Making Diversity Matter in Law School Admissions
Host
Society of American Law Teachers

Date
Friday, November 11, 2011

Location
St. John’s School of Law, Queens, NY

Co-Sponsors

The Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development, St. John’s School of Law
Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development, St. John’s School of Law
Dean’s Diversity Council, Seton Hall University School of Law
Center for Diversity in the Legal Profession, City University of New York School of Law

About the Symposium
There is a consensus among law school deans and professors that diversity enhances the educational experiences of law students. The U.S. Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger recognized that diversity is critical in developing the future leadership of the United States. However, two factors often adversely affect the success of law school diversity initiatives: (1) the U.S. News and World Report rankings methodology often cause law schools to overemphasize LSAT and GPA credentials of the admitted students, which adversely affects students of color; and (2) the absence or ineffectiveness of pre-law advisement for college students of color.

Currently U.S. News and World Report’s rankings methodology for law schools does not include diversity, although the magazine has a separate ranking for the most diverse law schools. In response to the suggestion that adding various diversity-related measures would improve the ranking methodology and related results, U.S. News and World Report rankings expert Robert Morse has expressed concerns about the feasibility of including a diversity measure in the U.S. News ranking formula in a fair and meaningful way. According to Morse, there are several key questions to address:

Does diversity include both economic and ethnic diversity?
Should diversity be linked to an academic quality as opposed to a social goal?
Can schools in ethnically diverse states be compared to those in less diverse states?
How would a diversity measure rank historically black law schools?
Should private schools be measured against the same yardstick as public law schools?

Students of color, especially those who are first-generation college students, often lack access to the personal and professional networks they need to guide them to and through the law school admissions process. As a result, it is crucial that this population receives quality pre-law advisement. There are few empirical studies on the effectiveness of this kind of counseling. But existing studies show that students of color come late to the law school application process. This delay undermines acceptances and the availability of scholarship dollars. Studies also show that pre-law students, irrespective of race, tend to distrust their pre-law advisors and find their advice less trustworthy than advice offered by peers. This lack of trust is likely compounded by the complexity of trans-racial conversations between pre-law students of color and white pre-law advisors. There is also anecdotal information suggesting that some students of color are ill advised about the admissions process.

This symposium aims to:

Think through possible reforms of the U.S. News & World Report rankings methodology to make it more inclusive of diversity
Identify or develop studies highlighting special issues in advising students of color
Develop and promote adoption of model pre-law counseling techniques for students of color
Invitation to Participate

Invitation to Submit Papers
The Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development, the official publication of The Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development, will publish an issue on topics related to the symposium. We invite legal educators and others to submit essays and articles discussing:

How the U.S. News and World Report could incorporate diversity into its rankings methodology in a fair and meaningful way
Studies on special issues present when advising college students of color about law school admissions
Model practices for pre-law advisement of students of color

Submission Guidelines
If you would like to contribute a paper to be considered for the Journal’s symposium issue, please submit an abstract of 250 words or less through our online abstract submission form or by email to AaronBarhamJCRED@gmail.com. The abstract submission deadline is October 1, 2011. Selected authors must submit their finished papers to the Journal no later than January 15, 2012.

More Information
For more information on the symposium and this Call for Papers, please contact Aaron Barham, Research and Symposium Editor for the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development, atAaronBarhamJCRED@gmail.com or (718) 990-6074 .

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The purpose to create this blog is to share knowledge of law to Cambodian people, students and other stakeholders. If you have any common, please drop your email: comparativelawinfo@gmail.com

GERMANY: Launch of digital campus network

2011-10-02T01:58:00.001-07:00

GERMANY: Launch of digital campus network

Geoff Maslen
02 October 2011
Issue: 191

Dubbed the Collaboration Network for Academia, the world's first'iversity', which has been set up by a team of young entrepreneurs in the small town of Neuenhagen outside Berlin, had its official launch today. Organisers say academics and students now have access to a novel workspace unavailable in other online formats.

With US$1.6 million in venture capital from the European Union, the federal state of Brandenburg and BMP media investors, the platform attracted more than 11,000 users during the start-up phase.

"The funding provides us with a sizeable launch pad. It has enabled us to present a world-class product," said iversity founder Jonas Liepmann.

He said that using the site, lecturers could easily organise courses, research projects and conferences, "all for free". Academics could set up a course website, upload teaching materials and engage with students, share links, references and observations in research groups, and announce events or call for papers.

"Moreover, iversity also provides students with tools for interaction and collaboration that standard e-learning systems do not provide," Liepmann said. "iversity offers what I always felt was lacking during my own studies - possibilities for real student collaboration outside the classroom."

Students could interact with course materials on the website, work together on assignments, and build an archive of learning materials and discussions, among other things.

Co-founder Hannes Klöpper said iversity had appeared at the right moment. Not only was the number of incoming students rising each year in Germany, but changes in the high school system in some federal states meant that two full-year groups would enter universities this semester.

"Rather than just sitting alongside each other in anonymous lectures, iversity will enable students to learn from and with each other online."

The iversity site says 20 young international graduates from a variety of academic backgrounds make up the team. Their home universities include Cambridge in the UK, Columbia, Duke and Princeton in the US, Humboldt Universität and Freie Universität Berlin in Germany, Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris and the National University of Singapore.

In a statement on its website, the team says: "The university has changed little since the days of Gutenberg but students, however, have!

"The internet has become an integral part of our lives. Today, we share ideas online. We socialise online. We learn online. Every day, everywhere - except in the classroom where the laws of Gutenberg [print] continue to prevail. Our universities are still working with blackboards. It is time for a digital revolution on campus. Let us bring the campus experience online!"

The group says their aspiration is to become "the course management platform of choice for instructors and students around the globe". With this in mind, iversity has a cloud-based service that it says will foster "limitless collaboration among academics worldwide".

"Faculty are no longer forced to work with the outdated software in use at their institution. Instead, they can sign up on an individual basis. Our aim is not to replace the university or the academics who work there. Our aim is to empower them."

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It might be said that the comparative law study in Cambodia is rare at the universities of Cambodia. The purpose to create this blog is to share knowledge of law to Cambodian people, students and other stakeholders. If you have any common, please drop your email: comparativelawinfo@gmail.com

Criminal Law in Comparative Context

2011-10-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

Criminal Law in Comparative Context

Markus D. Dubber*

For Journal of Legal Education

Introduction

This paper has three parts. First, I discuss why U.S. criminal law has resisted integrating transnational legal perspectives. Second, I explain my contextual approach to comparative criminal law. Third, I discuss some specific examples of how I use comparative materials in criminal law teaching.

I. Comparative Criminal Law as Oxymoron

Criminal law traditionally has been the most parochial of legal disciplines. The power to punish is closely associated with the power to govern and, in fact, with the very idea of political might. A state without the power to punish lacks sovereignty, the essence of statehood. In U.S. law, the power to punish is thought to derive from the power to police, i.e., the state’s power to maximize the welfare of its subjects. The power to police is as broad as it is essential; already the Slaughterhouse Cases made clear that the police power “extends to the protection of the lives, limbs, health, comfort, and quiet of all persons, and the protection of all property within the State; . . . and persons and property are subjected to all kinds of restraints and burdens in order to secure the general comfort, health, and prosperity of the State. Of the perfect right of the legislature to do this no question ever was, or, upon acknowledged general principles, ever can be made.”[1]

As a central aspect of sovereignty, the police power is also deeply discretionary: the state enjoys wide latitude in deciding how—and even whether—to deal with offenses against its sovereignty. The police power is at bottom patriarchal; it is rooted in the householder’s power to manage the affairs of his household, including the power to discipline its members. As Blackstone put it in a much-quoted passage, “police” concerns itself with “the due regulation and domestic order of the kingdom: whereby the individuals of the state, like members of a well-governed family, are bound to conform their general behaviour to the rules of propriety, good neighbourhood, and good manners: and to be decent, industrious, and inoffensive in their respective stations.”[2]

The police power accounts for the longstanding resistance to place meaningful constraints on

U.S.

criminal law, from substantive criminal law (scope of criminal law, definition of offenses, availability and scope of defenses) to police and prosecutorial discretion to the infliction of punishment in our prisons.[3]

A state reasserting its sovereignty in the face of a criminal affront has no more patience for comparative analysis of its punitive practices than would a lord disciplining his servant, or a master correcting his slave. One sovereign might occasionally glance at another’s correctional regime, but to suggest that it were under an obligation to adjust the exercise of its penal power in light of foreign criminal law would constitute an affront to the very sovereignty the criminal law seeks to reflect, and reaffirm, in the first place.

Insofar as comparative law always has had a critical edge, under the police power conception comparative criminal law is a contradiction in terms since criminal law is, in an important sense, beyond critique. Certainly, if one state’s criminal law were subject to critique, that critique would have to be entirely internal, i.e., framed in terms of principles, concepts, and practices constituent of the state itself. Any reference to external law would be beside the point at best, offensive at worst.

There are no choice-of-law problems in criminal law because the notion of one sovereign applying the criminal law of another is preposterous. The first sovereign, in the very act of applying the laws designed to reaffirm the sovereignty of another, would negate it instead. Jurisdictional issues likewise don’t arise with any frequency; territorial jurisdiction remains the name of the game in Anglo-American criminal law, with no need to investigate the relative effect a purportedly criminal act had on one sovereign or another. Double jeopardy doesn’t force the jurisdictional issue either since there is nothing unconstitutional about separate sovereigns reasserting their sovereignty against an act that manages to offend the sovereignty of both (in which case punishing the act twice would not amount to placing the perpetrator twice in jeopardy “for the same offense”).[4]

In the United States criminal law parochialism has been turned into something of a virtue. U.S. exceptionalism in criminal law is as often celebrated as it is bemoaned. To many, that the United States is the only Western democracy that still practices capital punishment, competes for the world’s highest incarceration rates, and disenfranchises millions of convicted persons occasionally appears as evidence of fierce independence in the face of overwhelming opposition, as a sign of that unique moral strength which allows one nation to withstand the worldwide rush to keep up with the Joneses as the global community marches down the path of unthinking political correctness and the cheap pursuit of international popularity. No cuddling criminals here, no giving in to the demands of thugs, no cowering before the threats of felons.

There are two possible responses to this state of affairs. One is to say that comparative criminal law in the United States is a pointless, hopeless endeavor best left for occasional journalistic reportages from far away places, for the edification of interested readers at home. Another is to say that no country needs comparative perspectives on criminal law more desperately than does the United States.

II. The Spirit of Comparative Criminal Law

Traditionally, comparative law is thought to require comparing one country’s law with that of another. In this, external, version, comparative criminal law compares U.S. criminal law with foreign criminal law, or perhaps with international criminal law. Here one might compare the common law approach to criminal law with the civil law approach, with the U.S. (along with the U.K.) representing the former and, say, Germany (along with France) representing the latter. One might note the influence of English criminal law throughout the common law world (composed of countries once under English rule) and the influence of German criminal law among civil law countries (including much of Latin America, Europe (except France), Japan, Korea, and

Taiwan

).[5]

External comparison of this type even has some doctrinal payoffs. Besides its obvious relevance in the emerging field of international criminal law, transnational, transsystematic and even transcultural comparison informs the doctrine of cultural defenses in domestic U.S. criminal law, and—less directly—questions of mistake or ignorance of law, the de minimis defense,[6] and provocation in the law of homicide, and most broadly the exploration of reasonableness (which pops up not only in the law of mens rea but also in any defense that is framed in terms of a reasonable belief regarding the presence of defense elements, including self-defense).

External comparative criminal law, however rewarding, can be quite daunting. International comparison is tricky across barriers of language, system, culture, and style. Here it’s useful to keep in mind that comparison need not be external. “American criminal law” for decades has been a species of internal comparative criminal law.[7] More than four decades after the completion of the Model Penal Code, and the reform of criminal codes throughout the United States (with notable exceptions such as California and federal criminal law), criminal law in the

United States

can no longer be regarded as a common law subject. The monolith of “common law” (which itself was an increasingly curious mixture of English law and the expanding body of criminal jurisprudence arising in the various states, and eventually federal law as well) has been thoroughly and irrevocably replaced by a set of fifty-two (counting federal criminal law—including the shadow federal criminal code, the federal sentencing guidelines[8]—and the District of Columbia—fifty-three if one counts military criminal law and more still if one counts the various criminal laws of Native American tribes) independent and comprehensive systems of criminal law, with their own criminal codes and corresponding bodies of jurisprudence interpreting these criminal codes.

It’s high time the study and teaching of “American criminal law” be recognized as a type of comparative criminal law. Once the comparative nature of the all-too-familiar enterprise of first-year “Criminal Law” is acknowledged, the leap to external comparative criminal law appears far less perilous and extravagant.

Comparative criminal law is best thought of as a spirit, an approach, an attitude, rather than as a formal discipline or even a serious commitment to the exploration of the details of foreign criminal law (just what is the Dutch position on assisted suicide?).[9] In this critical comparative spirit, any transjurisdictional comparison, domestic or foreign, internal or external, promises a fresh perspective. So does transdisciplinary comparison, locating criminal law in relation to other fields of law, most notably torts,[10] contracts,[11] and property, but also—perhaps less obviously—the law of crime victim compensation[12] (set out, for instance, in the Uniform Victims of Crime Act). Victim compensation law concerns itself with exactly the same questions as does criminal law, only upside down (in an effort to assess victimhood, rather than offenderhood) so that what is a ground for criminal liability (offenderhood) in one is a ground for criminal compensability (victimhood) in the other. Here too doctrinal significance isn’t hard to find—consider merely the problem of distinguishing between criminal and tort law approaches to questions of negligence, causation, defenses (privileges), and corporate liability or the parallel between crimes and (intentional) torts (assault, trespass, etc.).

III. Comparative Criminal Law in Action[13]

Let’s move on to same examples. Opportunities for comparative analysis can be found in all aspects of U.S. criminal law, including foundational and systematic issues (often classified as “preliminary”), general principles of criminal liability (the “general part”), and specific offenses (the “special part”). I will mention just a few.

A. Preliminary

1. Jurisdiction[14]

U.S. criminal law continues to adhere to the principle of territorial jurisdictions, even though in fact other bases of criminal law jurisdiction have made significant inroads. Still, the orthodox view remains that criminal jurisdiction is determined by the locus criminis. This view is intimately connected to the traditional view of criminal law as grounded in the quasi-patriarchal power to police, a central component of state sovereignty, which is limited only by its territorial reach (originally, the boundaries of the household). Comparative analysis reveals other bases of criminal law jurisdiction that may, or may not, point to other conceptions of criminal law. The reach of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for instance is not defined by territory, but by the offender’s membership in a given community (the U.S. military). Other criminal law systems illustrating active (i.e., offender-based) personality jurisdiction include those of various Native American tribes and German criminal law. (Note that active personality jurisdiction is not necessarily inconsistent with the police power view of criminal law insofar as the offender’s act can be interpreted by the sovereign as an offense even if it does not cause harm to the household.) The German criminal code also provides convenient illustrations of passive personality (which turns on the victim’s status, rather than the offender’s), the protective principle (harm against the polity itself, rather than one of its members) and—along with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court—the idea of universal criminal jurisdiction for offenses against persons simply viewed as humans, rather than as members of this or that political community with its attendant sovereignty.

The reference to the German criminal code and the Rome Statute illustrates three points about the use of comparative materials in criminal law teaching. First, it makes sense to focus on one or two foreign jurisdictions, rather than assembling a bouquet of foreign laws for various issues. That way students may be able to compare systems, and general approaches, rather than specific rules taken out of context. Second, codes work better than cases. Translating court opinions is very hard—though Stephen Thaman does an excellent job of it in his innovative book on comparative criminal procedure.[15] They contain lots of irrelevant and confusing procedural detail, and differences in style (e.g., referring to defendants only by the first letter of their last name, citing to statutes rather than to cases, shorter statements of fact, more technical lingo) can generate interesting comparative discussions, but not about substantive criminal law. Finally, international criminal law is a rich source of comparative material that will only grow in importance as international criminal jurisprudence continues to evolve.

2. Legality

Comparative analysis reveals that other criminal law systems have a different view of the principle of legality. In Germany, for instance, the principle of legality (Legalitätsprinzip) is thought to imply a principle of compulsory prosecution—a radical attempt directly to eliminate police and prosecutorial discretion altogether.[16] In the

U.S.

, of course, discretion in law enforcement is thought to require no constraints, but is celebrated as an essential requirement of a legal system dedicated to the protection of individual liberty in the face of rigid abstract rules of laws.

Upon closer inspection, it turns out that in Germany the principle of compulsory prosecution itself is subject to a principle of appropriateness (Opportunitätsprinzip), which permits prosecutors (but not police) to refrain from pursuing certain minor cases in the interest of public policy.[17] What’s more, discretionary informal disposition mechanisms like plea bargaining—once said to be limited to the United States—have long since become widespread in German criminal courts.[18]

3. Sentencing

The law of punishment offers many opportunities for comparative reflection. The absence of capital punishment in other Western democracies has already been mentioned. Some comparative statistics on incarceration rates might further illustrate the unique harshness of

U.S.

punishment.[19] Some reference to the day-fines systems in place in many European countries (where fines have replaced imprisonment as the paradigmatic criminal sanction) might also be useful.[20] Many Western countries have begun to formalize victim-offender mediation as a mode of disposition.[21] Rehabilitation continues to be endorsed as the dominant rationale for imprisonment, as codified in various codes of punishment execution.[22] Sentencing guidelines remain a phenomenon limited to U.S. law, as the continued commitment to rehabilitation in other systems goes hand in hand with the familiar preference for discretion in matters of sentencing.

The distinction between (primarily deontological) punishments and (primarily consequentialist) measures, which has been a staple of many criminal law systems for some time, is not formally recognized in the United States. It might be helpful, however, in discussing recent U.S. innovations such as Sexually Violent Predator statutes and sexual offender registrations laws, which eschew punitive labels in favor of regulatory ones and as a result escape serious constitutional scrutiny.[23]

B. General Part

Moving on to criminal law doctrine, comparative analysis might begin with the structure of the analysis of criminal liability. Here the common law approach (which distinguishes roughly between actus reus and mens rea, with an ill-defined role assigned to defenses) can be contrasted with the Model Penal Code approach (with its differentiation among objective and subjective offense elements and a—less well developed—distinction between justifications and excuses) and the German-influenced civil law system (with its rigid separation between three levels of the analysis of criminal liability: objective and subjective offense elements, justification, and excuses).[24]

A comparative look at actus reus reveals considerable consensus across systems.[25] There is also not much variation in the treatment of omission liability, though other criminal law systems are more likely to criminalize failures to aid absent more specific interpersonal duties. The origins of the oft-cited German omission statute in National Socialist criminal law, however, raises interesting questions about the view of the function of criminal law that underlies general omission statutes.[26] Criminal possession liability is not limited to U.S. criminal law, but nowhere else is possession criminalized as broadly or as severely.[27]

There are also remarkable similarities in the law of mens rea. The Model Penal Code scheme in many respects resembles the civil law distinction between purpose, knowledge, dolus eventualis, and negligence—though recklessness and dolus eventualis fail to match up in interesting ways. At the same time, civil law continues to build on a general concept of intent (dolus, Vorsatz) that can profitably be compared with the old common law concept of intent that the Model Penal Code rejected as unworkably vague.[28]

It’s no surprise that

U.S.

law on intoxication is—at least on its face—stricter than other criminal law systems. While not declaring intoxication irrelevant for certain purposes (e.g., to disprove recklessness or perhaps even any type of mens rea, see Montana v. Egelhoff), German criminal law criminalizes the intoxication itself and punishes it generally at the level of the offense against which the intoxication was raised as a defense.[29] Civil law systems are also more likely to recognize a general good-faith (unavoidable) ignorance-of-law defense, without requiring—as does

U.S.

criminal law—reliance on an official misinterpretation of the legal norm in question.[30]

Among inchoate crimes, the U.S. law of attempt does not differ dramatically from that in other jurisdictions, though the Model Penal Code treatment of attempt is far more detailed than that found in other criminal codes (as is the case with quite a number of doctrinal issues). The U.S. law of conspiracy is framed broadly; the Nuremberg trials exposed wide differences in the conception of conspiracy liability among common law

(US, UK) and civil law countries (France, USSR). Under the Model Penal Code (as opposed to under the common law), however, the law of conspiracy is not significantly wider than it is under German criminal law, which in effect covers much the same inchoate conduct under the law of attempt and complicity.[31]

Despite apparent differences, U.S. and German law do not differ radically in their approach to the problem of imputing one person’s conduct to another, most commonly through the mechanism of accomplice liability. While the Model Penal Code scheme is less differentiated than the German scheme (and, for that matter, the common law scheme of principals and accessories of various degrees and types), both assess liability to each actor based on her individual culpability, rather than to the principal and her accomplice or accomplices en masse. The German criminal code, however, generally discounts punishments for facilitators vis-à-vis both principals and solicitors or instigators.[32]

German criminal law continues to deny the possibility of corporate criminal liability.[33] Corporations are said to be incapable both of engaging in criminal conduct and of forming a mental state. Still, even German law permits the imposition of stiff “fines” on corporations for “transgressions”[34] codified in a code of transgressions rather than the criminal code.

Taking a comparative view of the law of defenses suggests important structural similarities and specific differences. The conception of necessity and duress in civil law resembles that in the Model Penal Code without, however, necessarily excluding the possibility of circumstantial (as opposed to personal) duress. German criminal law, moreover, categorically denies the possibility of quantifying the value of human life, thus precluding the use of the necessity defense in homicide cases.[35] Self-defense and insanity in German criminal law are handled much the same way as they are in the Model Penal Code, while eschewing the level of detail found notably in the Model Code’s self-defense provisions.[36] Treatments of the superior order defense in Israeli criminal law[37] and of provocation in Jordanian criminal law[38] may add further context to the discussion of an understudied topic in the former case and an all-too-familiar one in the latter.

3. Special Part

Comparative analysis of specific offenses is trickier than that of general principles of criminal liability. It’s easy enough to line up different definitions of, say, larceny in various jurisdictions. But very little would be gained by cataloging differences and similarities, a task complicated by the need to consider differences in statutory context, categorization of offenses, general definitions, and style of codification. Comparison at the level of specific offenses makes for a good exercise in the careful reading of statutes, but yields relatively little insight into substantive criminal law.

Issues that might be worth exploring comparatively, however, might include the scope of the special part and, more generally, the foundation and limits of the state’s power to punish, thus returning class discussion to questions raised earlier on, in the “preliminary” portion of the course. Here one might point out, for instance, that many Western countries decriminalized consensual homosexual sex long before the United States Supreme Court decided Lawrence v. Texas, on the ground that the criminal prohibition of consensual homosexual sex does not protect a relevant legal interest.[39]

Conclusion

Using comparative materials in teaching U.S. criminal law requires some work. But it’s worth the trouble as tired discussions of familiar topics in U.S. criminal law are enlivened by adding comparative perspective and context, whether from within or from without. If U.S. criminal law is to break out of its parochial exceptionalism, we criminal law teachers need to expose ourselves and our students—future prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, legislators, and law professors—to a broad range of approaches to common problems. A look outside will reveal not only differences, but also a great many similarities, especially on the level of criminal law doctrine, rather than in matters of broad penal policy. The Model Penal Code in particular need not fear comparison with the most advanced systems of criminal law elsewhere. Comparative criminal law is not a one-way street; at its best, it involves the exchange of ideas in a spirit of mutual curiosity.[40] A rule or an approach is neither better nor worse simply because it is foreign.

In closing, here are some resources that the comparative curious criminal law professor might consult as she considers integrating transnational perspective into her teaching, and perhaps her research as well:

American Series of Foreign Penal Codes (English translations of foreign criminal codes, now published by W.S. Hein)

Buffalo Criminal Law Center, Criminal Law Resources on the Internet, <http://wings.buffalo.edu/law/bclc/> (collection of materials and websites on comparative penal law)

Markus D. Dubber & Mark G. Kelman, American Criminal Law: Cases, Statutes, and Comments (2005), <http://www.dubberkelman.com> (casebook with extensive comparative materials)

Markus D. Dubber & James Q. Whitman, Comparative Perspectives on Criminal Law (forthcoming 2007) (textbook on comparative criminal law)

George P. Fletcher, Basic Concepts of Criminal Law (1998) (introductory criminal law textbook with broad comparative perspective)

Richard S. Frase, “Main-streaming Comparative Criminal Justice: How to Incorporate Comparative and International Concepts and Materials into Basic Criminal Law and Procedure Courses,” 100 W. Va. L. Rev. 773 (1998)

* Professor of Law, Roger & Karen Jones Faculty Scholar, and Director, Buffalo Criminal Law Center, SUNY Buffalo School of Law, <dubber@buffalo.edu>. This paper is based on presentations given at the AALS Workshop on Integrating Transnational Legal Perspectives Into the First Year Curriculum, Washington, D.C., Jan. 4, 2006. I thank the participants in this event for their comments and suggestions. Interactive outlines of the presentations with links to relevant comparative materials are available online at AALS Workshop on Integrating Transnational Legal Perspectives, <http://www.aals.org/am2006/program/transnational/dubber.pdf> and <http://www.aals.org/am2006/program/transnational/dubber2.pdf> (accessed May 20, 2006).

[1] 83 U.S. 36, 62 (1872) (quoting Thorpe v. Rutland and Burlington Railroad Co., 27 Vt. 140, 149 (1854) (Redfield, C.J.)). For further discussion of the police power and its implications for U.S. criminal law, see Markus Dirk Dubber, The Police Power: Patriarchy and the Foundations of American Government (2005); see also Markus D. Dubber & Mark Kelman, American Criminal Law: Cases, Statutes, and Comments 2-3, 78-84, 591-94 (2005).

[2] 4 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of

England

162 (1769).

[3] See generally Markus D. Dubber, “Policing Possession: The War on Crime and the End of Criminal Law,” 91 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 829 (2002).

[4] On this point, see Markus D. Dubber, “Toward a Constitutional Law of Crime and Punishment,” 55 Hastings L.J. 509 (2004).

[5] See Markus D. Dubber, “The Promise of German Criminal Law: A Science of Crime and Punishment,” 6 German L.J. 1049 (2005), http://www.germanlawjournal.com/article.php?id=613.

[6] See, e.g., In State v. Kargar, 679 A.2d 81 (Me. 1996) (discussed in Dubber & Kelman, supra note 1, at 372-73).

[7] See generally Markus D. Dubber, “Criminal Law,” in Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law (forthcoming 2006); Markus Dirk Dubber, “Reforming American Penal Law,” 90 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 49 (1999).

[8] See, e.g., Dubber & Kelman, supra note 1, at 445 (attempt), 467-68 (abandonment), 528-29 (self-defense), 560 (necessity), 609 (duress), 641-42 (insanity), 861 (murder).

[9] For further elaboration of this comparative or contextual approach to criminal law teaching, see Dubber & Kelman, supra note 1, at v-xi.

[10] See, e.g., Dubber & Kelman, supra note 1, at 59 (battery, false imprisonment), 223-24 (voluntary act), 287 (intent), 328 (recklessness), 956 (negligence); see also Dubber, supra note 4.

[11] See, e.g., Dubber & Kelman, supra note 1, at 971 (larceny by false promise), 997 (mail fraud); see also Dubber, supra note 4.

[12] Id. at 68-69 (alternative sanctions), 507-08 (defenses); see also Dubber, supra note 4.

[13] The following examples are drawn from Dubber & Kelman, supra note 1. A summary outline, along with links to illustrative casebook excerpts is available online at Markus D. Dubber, “Criminal Law and Procedure,” AALS Workshop on Integrating Transnational Legal Perspectives Into the First Year Curriculum, http://www.aals.org/am2006/program/transnational/dubber2.pdf (accessed May 20, 2006).

[14] Dubber & Kelman, supra note 1, at 154, 158-60, 165, 167, 169 (excerpting, e.g., Uniform Code of Military Justice arts. 2, 5, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Code § 1-1-430, Poarch Band of Creek Indians Code § 4-1-2, German Penal Code § 3, 5, 6, 7, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court arts. 1, 5, 8).

[15] Stephen C. Thaman, Comparative Criminal Procedure: A Casebook Approach (2002).

[16] Dubber & Kelman, supra note 1, at 103-04 (excerpting German Crim. Proc. Code §§ 152, 153, 153a).

[17] For further comparative materials on legality, see Dubber & Kelman, supra note 1, at 115 (legislativity and common law defenses; excerpting Draft Canadian Criminal Code § 17), 123 (legislativity and the principle of analogy; excerpting German Penal Code (1935) § 2), 149 (publicity principle as illustrated by Israel Penal Law § 3 and Standard Penal Code for Latin America arts. 8, 9), 178 (comprehensiveness of criminal codes).

[18] Id. at pp. 99-100; see generally Markus Dirk Dubber, ‘‘American Plea Bargains, German Lay Judges, and the Crisis of Criminal Procedure,’’ 49 Stan. L. Rev. 547 (1997).

[19] Id. at 34; see also James Q. Whitman, Harsh Justice: Criminal Punishment and the Widening Divide Between America and Europe (2003).

[20] Dubber & Kelman, supra note 1, at 39.

[21] Id. at 66 (excerpting German Penal Code § 46a).

[22] Id. at 30 (excerpting South African Correctional Services Act of 1998 § 2, German Code of Punishment Execution §§ 2, 3).

[23] Id. at 75-77 (excerpting German Penal Code §§ 46, 62, 66, 67d, 67e).

[24] Id. at 186-89.

[25] Id. at 224 (excerpting Israel Penal Law § 34G).

[26] Id. at 248, 252 (German Penal Code §§ 13, 323c, 330c).

[27] Id. at 258; see also Markus Dirk Dubber, “Policing Possession: The War on Crime and the End of Criminal Law,” 91 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 829 (2002).

[28] Id. at 286, 315 (excerpting German Penal Code § 15, German Penal Code (Alternative Draft) §§ 17, 18, Israel Penal Law § 20).

[29] Id. at 386 (excerpting German Penal Code § 323a).

[30] Id. at 380 (excerpting German Penal Code §§ 16, 17, Israel Penal Law § 34A).

[31] Id. at 695-96 (excerpting German Penal Code § 129). On attempt see id. at 444 (excerpting German Penal Code §§ 23(1), 24); see also id. at 699 (renunciation; excerpting German Penal Code § 129(6)).

[32] See Markus D. Dubber, “Complicity in Domestic Criminal Law: A Comparative Analysis, Criminal Law: A Comparative Analysis,” __ J. Int’l Crim. Justice __ (special issue on Individual Criminal

Responsibility in International Criminal Law) (forthcoming 2006).

[33] Dubber & Kelman, supra note 1, at 753.

[34] See Markus D. Dubber, “Theories of Crime and Punishment in German Criminal Law,” 53 Am. J. Comp. L. 679 (2006); Markus D. Dubber, “The Promise of German Criminal Law: A Science of Crime and Punishment,” 6 German L.J. 1049 (2005), http://www.germanlawjournal.com/article.php?id=613.

[35] Dubber & Kelman, supra note 1, at 148, 558, 560-61, 608-09 (excerpting German Penal Code §§ 34, 35, Israel Penal Law §§ 34K, 34L, 34O).

[36] Id. at 536 (self-Defense; excerpting German Penal Code §§ 32, 33); 641 (insanity; excerpting German Penal Code §§ 20, 21).

[37] Id. at 622 (excerpting Israel Penal Law § 34M(2)).

[38] Id. at 948 (excerpting Jordanian Criminal Code art. 340).

[39] For critical analysis of this argument in terms of “protected legal interests” (Rechtsgüter), see Markus D. Dubber, “Theories of Crime and Punishment in German Criminal Law,” 53 Am. J. Comp. L. 679 (2006).

[40] On the project of comparative criminal law, see generally Markus D. Dubber, “Criminal Law,” in Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law (forthcoming 2006).

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It might be said that the comparative law study in Cambodia is rare at the universities of Cambodia. The purpose to create this blog is to share knowledge of law to Cambodian people, students and other stakeholders. If you have any common, please drop your email: comparativelawinfo@gmail.com

Teaching Comparative Constitutional Law: Methodological Challenges

2011-10-01T20:34:00.000-07:00

Teaching Comparative Constitutional Law: Methodological Challenges

Dr. Philipp Kiiver & Dr. Mariolina Eliantonio

Maastricht University

The Netherlands

1 Introduction

The Maastricht Law Faculty is known for stressing the value of international comparison throughout its curriculum. This equally applies to the field of constitutional law. Apart from including comparative elements in the study of domestic constitutional law, the Faculty offers courses on comparative constitutional law specifically, at both bachelor and master level. While these courses are quite popular and well-evaluated, we continue to meet a recurring challenge of finding the didactically optimal way of introducing comparative constitutional law as a subject of its own. Essentially, the two competing approaches are (1) comparison on a country-by-country basis, and (2) thematic comparison subject by subject. A related question concerns the optimal way of matching available textbooks and other literature to the chosen teaching method. In the following paragraphs, we shall outline the practical implications of the different approaches and our experiences with them, as well as our experiences with prescribing literature. In addition, we shall submit the comparative constitutional law textbook that Maastricht staff have written themselves to broader reflection.

2 International Comparison in Studies of Domestic Law

It is a relatively straightforward exercise to include comparative elements in studies of the constitutional law of a law faculty’s home system. Thus, where a course on Dutch constitutional law at a Dutch university devotes attention to the legislative process in the Netherlands, it may devote attention to the legislative process of other countries as well. Apart from the other benefits of engaging in comparative constitutional law, the exercise helps students to better understand and appreciate their own system. For example, an aspect of the law that is tightly regulated in their system might in other systems be mentioned implicitly at best; conversely, international comparison may reveal what their own constitution does not say on a particular subject. A practical example is, in the context of the legislative process, the possibility for one chamber of parliament to overrule the other, and the right for a chamber to propose amendments to bills. In the Netherlands (as in the US), both chambers must agree in order for a bill to become law; yet that is not the case in all systems. Meanwhile, the Dutch Constitution (and the French one even more so) regulates precisely who may propose amendments to bills and when; other constitutions (including the US Constitution) mention this only in passing.

As a matter of didactics, the logical consequence in this setting is that comparison takes place subject-by-subject, not country-by-country. After all, one starts out with one’s own constitutional law and takes a look across the border for each area discussed, usually to look at systems which feature different solutions. To stay with the example of the legislative process, the Dutch system might be compared with a system where one chamber of parliament may, at least usually, overrule the other (such as the UK, Germany or France).

3 Comparative Constitutional Law as a Separate Subject

The deeper methodological challenge arises when comparative constitutional law is introduced as a subject on its own. The subject is then to a large extent divorced from the domestic background. Practically, this means that for example exchange students may easily participate in the course along with nationals of the faculty’s home country, and gain knowledge and insights that are of universal value. In addition, comparative constitutional law as a separate subject can be used to teach undergraduate students, irrespective of their nationality, in a broader curriculum. Maastricht’s European Law School program teaches European, international and comparative law in English from the very first day, already at bachelor level. The program is designed to satisfy the labor market’s increasing need for lawyers who are used to think and work in an international, cross-border setting. Whereas a traditional curriculum might include comparative elements in the study of domestic law, comparative constitutional law as a separate subject requires course planners to make a fundamental choice. Essentially, and notwithstanding hybrid solutions, the choice is between a thematic and a country-by-country approach. In a country-by-country approach, selected jurisdictions are covered one by one, and the same range of themes is discussed for each of them. Gradually, and with each new system discussed, students learn to distil differences and similarities from the sequence of systems. A thematic approach, meanwhile, takes subject-areas as a starting point (e.g., lawmaking, government-parliament relations, and human rights) and considers each selected area in a number of selected jurisdictions.

4 Advantages and Drawbacks

The greatest advantage of a thematic approach is that it allows for a discussion of aspects of constitutional law in greater depth. Since the object of comparison is defined and delimited from the outset, students can concentrate on the relevant part of foreign law only. The drawback, or rather the precondition, however, is that students must have a basic understanding of foreign constitutional systems to begin with. If they do not have such an overview, they risk considering aspects of law in isolation from their immediate context and thus fail to fully understand the relevant aspects themselves. To return to the above example of the legislative process, the possibility for the National Assembly to override the Senate in France cannot be understood without being aware of the historical foundations and institutional design of the French Constitution: national or popular sovereignty; the history of French unicameralism, bicameralism and, in the late 18th century, a brief period of tricameralism in France; the election process and rationale of the Senate; the government’s dominant role in lawmaking, etc. This means that a thematic approach to comparative constitutional law as a separate subject is by definition more advanced, because it presupposes at least basic familiarity with the individual systems discussed. A country-by-country comparison, meanwhile, can be introduced much more easily. A student will be able to follow such a course if he or she has a sufficient understanding of his or her own system, and learn about other systems in due course. The drawback here is that, depending on the time available, comparative insights emerge only gradually and there might not be enough time to actually

weave the systems together at the end. The risk is then that, during exams, students answer comparative questions in a country-by country manner, which of course misses the point of comparative law. After all, the main aim is not to become an expert on individual foreign systems, but to understand commonalities and differences across systems. The Maastricht Law Faculty has made the strategic choice of teaching comparative constitutional law at bachelor level on a country-by-country basis, and to apply a thematic approach to comparative constitutional law courses at master level. Of course these courses are not necessarily followed by the same students: bachelor graduates might opt for different courses or another university for their master; master programs attract students from other universities. Generally, however, this division is well received. Another and perhaps more pressing question is what type of textbook to prescribe for each approach.

5 Choice of Literature

The quality of available literature greatly affects the quality of a course. Typically, textbooks on (comparative) constitutional law largely reflect the didactical divide between thematic and country-by-country approaches. Tim Koopmans’ Courts and Political Institutions (Cambridge University Press 2003) is an ideal example of a thematic textbook. It discusses the role of the judiciary as opposed to the government and the legislature in different constitutional systems. The style is erudite and, one might say, essayistic: it has a coherent narrative and takes the reader to a journey across diverse systems. It is ideal for a course which takes a thematic approach. Yet again, it has the same drawback as the course for which it is suited: it presupposes prior knowledge and is therefore appropriate for a relatively advanced level. It could be prescribed at the end of a country-by-country course, or in a course which lists a country-by-country course as a prerequisite. The same holds true for other thematic publications on specific areas of constitutional law: in the case of federalism, for example, Michael Burgess’ Comparative Federalism (Routledge 2006) is a volume comprising chapters on issues rather than individual countries. At the opposite end of the scale we may find edited volumes, such as Constitutional Law of 15 EU Member States edited by Lucas Prakke and Constantijn Kortmann (Kluwer 2004) or, again on the area of comparative federalism, A Global Dialogue on Federalism edited by John Kincaid and Alan Tarr (McGill-Queen’s 2005). Such volumes typically contain country chapters, each chapter devoted to one jurisdiction. The advantage of this format is that the individual chapters can be prescribed one by one in a country-by country course. The drawback is that the value for comparative studies proper depends on the extent to which the editors have been able to weave the individual chapters together. Some edited volumes contain rather elaborate introductory and concluding chapters by the editors themselves, and succeed in committing the authors to a common style, chapter structure and choice of topics; other volumes are rather loose collections of heterogeneous essays. A hybrid model has been adopted by Aalt Willem Heringa and Philipp Kiiver in their volume Constitutions Compared - An Introduction to Comparative Constitutional Law (Intersentia, 2nd ed. 2009). Here each chapter is devoted to a particular aspect of constitutional law (federalism and decentralization, election systems, the legislative process, government-parliament relations, the role of judges). Each chapter starts out with an elaborate comparative overview, but is then followed by more detailed country chapters on that specific aspect.

Please read in PDF here

Fellowship and Research Opportunities for Students and Professionals

2011-10-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

Fellowship and Research Opportunities for Students and Professionals

Development & International Law

Agency for International Development (USAID)

Washington D.C.
The Fellows Programs provide USAID with fresh ideas, energy and the latest state-of-the-art technical knowledge, representing a broader set of specific expertise than is normally represented by the agency's U.S. direct hire employees. Fellowship programs are also a mechanism by which USAID can increase its outreach to partners, NGOs/PVOs, universities, and other donors. For the fellows, these programs introduce people to development issues and development institutions, give them visibility in the donor community, can help jumpstart their career, and help them with career choices at a critical time in their work development.

Center for International Sustainable Development Law
Various locations
CISDL Research Fellowships are awarded through a competitive selection process. Legal scholars, lawyers and others with a deep interest in sustainable development law research, debate and implementation from any region of the world are invited to apply.

Environment Science & Technology

Center for International Environmental Law
Washington D.C.
The Center for International Environmental Law is pleased to offer the Louis B. Sohn Fellowship in Human Rights and Environment. The Fellowship commenced in 2004 and recognizes a recent law graduate working in the area of human rights and the environment. In particular, we are looking for emergent leaders in the field of human rights and the environment that have had significant on the ground experience working on human rights issues. The Sohn Fellow works at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) in our Human Rights and Environment Program.

Echoing Green Fellowship Program
New York, NY
To accelerate social change, Echoing Green invests in and supports outstanding emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions. Through a two-year fellowship program, we help our network of visionaries develop new solutions to society’s most difficult problems. These social entrepreneurs and their organizations work to solve deeply-rooted social, environmental, economic, and political inequities to ensure equal access and to help all individuals reach their potential.

Environmental Law Institute
Washington, DC
ELI’s International Programs seek to restore, manage, and conserve the natural systems upon which people and the planet depend. Global sustainable development requires attention to environmental, developmental, and social priorities. As part of ELI’s mission to foster and empower a new generation of environmental professionals abroad, the Visiting Scholars Program brings promising young environmental lawyers, economists, and scientists from other countries to ELI to collaborate with our staff in Washington. Individual scholars are typically in residence at the Institute for periods of one to three months, with some staying for a year or more. The Scholars work on independent projects — often focusing on environmental challenges in their home countries — as well as Institute projects and programs in their regions and the US. Prior Scholars have worked on projects ranging from identifying legal tools for promoting pollution prevention in key mining countries in the Americas to examining how African constitutional law can be used to promote environmental protection.

Human Rights & Humanitarian Law

Advocates for Human Rights
Minneapolis, MN
The Advocates for Human Rights helps individuals fully realize their human rights in the United States and around the world. For over 25 years, The Advocates’ innovative programming has touched the lives of refugees and immigrants, women, ethnic and religious minorities, children, and other marginalized communities whose rights are at risk. The Advocates strengthens accountability mechanisms, raises awareness, and fosters tolerance. Adapting traditional human rights methodologies to conduct cutting-edge research, The Advocates has produced 75 reports documenting human rights practices in 25 countries.

Amnesty International
Various locations
Amnesty International's Ralph J. Bunche Human Rights Fellowship seeks to develop human rights leaders in communities of color in the United States. The Fellowship provides training and experience in international human rights advocacy to activists who are interested in the field of international human rights and focuses on building the competencies of activists in the core areas of international human rights advocacy, including research, action mobilization, campaigns, and media communications. The Fellowship also aims to connect Amnesty's mission and work with international issues that are related and relevant to communities of color in the U. S.

Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
Boston, MA
The Carr Center Fellowship is a general fellowship opportunity intended to support a wide range of research and scholarship associated with human rights issues.

Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute
New York, NY
The Human Rights LL.M. Fellowship Program was established by Columbia Law School and the Human Rights Institute to support students at Columbia Law School's Master of Law (LL.M.) degree program. The successful Human Rights LL.M. Fellowship applicant is committed to human rights scholarship and/or advocacy and intends to work in the human rights field following completion of the program. Human Rights Fellows receive funding towards tuition, room, and board for the LL.M. program at Columbia Law School.

Georgetown Law Center
Washington, DC
Georgetown University's Center for Applied Legal Studies will offer one lawyer a two-year teaching fellowship (July 2010 - June 2012). The fellowship provides a unique opportunity to learn how to teach law in a clinical setting. Fellows and faculty members at the Center work as colleagues, sharing responsibilities for designing and teaching classes, selecting students for the Clinic, supervising law students in their representation of clients, grading, and all other matters.

Harvard Law School
Boston, MA
The Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program supervises law students in the direct representation of non-citizens applying for U.S. asylum and related protections. The Program also provides representation in cases involving family reunification, protection of domestic violence and crime survivors, and avoidance of forced removal in immigration proceedings. In addition, the Program is active in appellate and policy advocacy on local, national and international levels.

Human Rights First
Washington, DC; New York, NY
Human Rights First was founded in 1978 to promote laws and policies that advance universal rights and freedoms. The Refugee Protection program at Human Rights First is seeks candidates to apply for an Equal Justice Works Fellowship. The selected candidate will work with Human Rights First to design the specific project, which will then be submitted to Equal Justice Works for its consideration. The project will be aimed at promoting legal access and fair process for detained and other refugees seeking asylum in the United States.

Human Rights Watch
New York, NY or Washington, D.C., or London
Fellows selected as Alan R. and Barbara D. Finberg Fellows work full-time for one year with Human Rights Watch in New York, Washington, D.C., or London. Fellows monitor human rights developments in various countries, conduct on-site investigations, draft reports on human rights conditions, and engage in advocacy aimed at publicizing and curtailing human rights violations.

Leitner Center for International Law and Justice - James E. Tolan Fellowship in International Human Rights
New York , NY
The Tolan Fellowship is a post-graduate Fellowship that will fund a Fordham Law School graduate to work for an international human rights organization for one year.

Leitner Center for International Law and Justice Rule of Law in Asia Fellowship
New York, NY
The Rule of Law in Asia (ROLA) Program works to study and promote the rule of law and adherence to basic human rights throughout Asia, including in China, Malaysia, North Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, and elsewhere. The ROLA Program is administered by a Fellow who is a law school graduate. The Fellow will conduct research and advocacy for the Program; identify new areas for research; work with the Program’s partners; advise students seeking relevant internships and post-graduate employment; coordinate the work of the Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers (http://www.csclawyers.org), an initiative housed in the Program; and manage day-to-day administration, including arranging events and lectures. The Fellow may also teach a seminar at the Law School as a member of the adjunct faculty.

Humanity in Action
Various locations
HIA Fellowship Programs in Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, and the United States provide the initial foundation for participation in HIA and the basis for highly effective individual and collaborative action. The content of the fellowship programs reflects the specific histories and present challenges of each host country. All programs focus on histories and theories of resistance to legal and institutional abuse of minority populations and the development of international human rights institutions and doctrines after World War II and the Holocaust.

International Justice Mission
Washington, DC
International Fellows gain practical experience by working at an IJM Field Office that advocates for clients in cases of sex trafficking, slavery, unprosecuted rape, illegal detention, police brutality and illegal land seizure.

International Security

Alexander van Humboldt Foundation
Bonn, Germany
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation was established in Berlin 18 months after the death of Alexander von Humboldt in 1860. It provided support for German scientists setting off on research journeys to other countries. After the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945, the Foundation ceased functioning. The Foundation was re-established by the Federal Republic of Germany on 10 December 1953 at the behest of former Humboldt guest researchers. Every year, the Humboldt Foundation enables more than 1800 researchers from all over the world to spend time researching in Germany. The Foundation maintains a network of some 23,000 Humboldtians from all disciplines in 130 countries worldwide - including 41 Nobel Prize winners.

Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law
Freiburg, Germany
Max Plank Society Research Scholarships are typically granted for a period of between two and four months. Preference will be given to those researchers whose work promote and advance the goals of the research program and the research focuses of the Institute. Of special interest to the Department of Criminal Law1 are research projects concerning comparative law, European criminal law, international criminal law, economic crime, terrorism, organized crime, and information law. Of interest to the Department of Criminology are topics covering criminal sanctions, dangerous offenders, empirical research on criminal procedure, organized crime, terrorism and domestic security, victimization, social change, changes in life circumstances, crime and crime control.

Open Society Institute
New York, NY
The Open Society Fellowship supports individuals seeking innovative and unconventional approaches to fundamental open society challenges. Among OSI's core areas of concern are human rights, government transparency, the promotion of civil society and social inclusion. Project themes should cut across these areas of interest.

United Nations International Law Fellowship Programme

The United Nations International Law Fellowship Programme was launched under the United Nations Programme of Assistance in the teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of international law, established by General Assembly resolution 2099 (XX) of 20 December, 1965. The Fellowship Programme is organized by the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) in cooperation with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). The fellowships are intended to enable qualified professionals, in particular mid-level government officials and young university teachers of international law, from least developed and developing countries as well as from countries with economies in transition to acquire additional knowledge of international law and of the legal work of the United Nations and its associated bodies. Candidates from other countries and employees of international organizations can apply for participation on a self-financed basis only.

U.S. Department of Justice Bristow Fellowship Program
Washington, DC
The Office of the Solicitor General of the United States is interested in receiving applications for its program of one-year Bristow Fellowships in the Solicitor General's Office. Bristow Fellows help draft briefs in opposition to certiorari filed against the government in the Supreme Court of the United States and prepare recommendations to the Solicitor General regarding authorization of government appeals in the lower courts. The Fellows also assist staff lawyers in preparing petitions for certiorari and briefs on the merits in Supreme Court cases, work on special projects, and assist the Solicitor General and other lawyers in the office in the preparation of oral arguments in the Supreme Court. In recent years, four Bristow have been selected each year.

British American Security Information Council (BASIC)
London and Washington,DC
The Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship, established in 1987, is a competitive national fellowship program that provides college graduates with the opportunity to gain a Washington perspective on key issues of peace and security. Twice yearly, the Fellowship's Board of Directors selects a group of outstanding individuals to spend six to nine months in Washington. Supported by a stipend, the Fellows serve as full-time junior staff members at the participating organization of their choice. The program also arranges meetings for the Fellows with policy experts. Many former Scoville Fellows have gone on to pursue graduate degrees in international relations and related fields and taken prominent positions in the field of peace and security with public-interest organizations, the Federal Government, and in academia.

Other International Law Fellowships

American Society of International Law Arthur C. Helton Fellowship
Various locations
Funded in part by contributions from ASIL members, Helton Fellowships provide financial assistance in the form of "micro-grants" for law students and young professionals to pursue field work and research on significant issues involving international law, human rights, humanitarian affairs, and related areas.

Fulbright Scholars Program
Various locations
The Fulbright Program, the U.S. government's flagship program in international educational exchange. Fulbright grants are made to U.S. citizens for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, and graduate study. The term "Fulbright Program" encompasses a variety of exchange programs, including both individual and institutional grants.

Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Fellowship on the Law of the Sea
Various locations
The fellowship is intended, primarily, for Government officials as well as research fellows or lecturers who are involved in ocean law or maritime affairs, or related disciplines, either in Governments or agencies or educational institutions and bodies.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Washington, DC
The Center awards approximately 20-25 residential fellowships annually to individuals with outstanding project proposals in a broad range of the social sciences and humanities on national and/or international issues. Topics and scholarship should relate to key public policy challenges or provide the historical and/or cultural framework to illuminate policy issues of contemporary importance.

Trade & Investment

Institute of International Economic Law
Washington, DC
The IIEL Fellows Program brings together members of the Georgetown Law community interested in international economic law. It provides a forum for students, visiting scholars or visiting researchers enrolled in a Georgetown Law program to discuss their research and other international economic law issues with one another and with faculty members associated with the Institute. It also provides a unique opportunity to share information on related current events occurring in Washington, D.C. The fellowships are honorary and the IIEL Fellows do not receive funding assistance.

Call for Papers: Towards a Positive Agenda in International Intellectual Property Law

2011-10-01T19:18:00.001-07:00

Call for Papers: Towards a Positive Agenda in International Intellectual Property Law

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011 BY SEAN FLYNN LEAVE A COMMENT

American University Washington College of Law’s Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property is seeking contributions to its online working paper series and for a Focus Issue of the American University International Law Review on the topic of positive agendas in international intellectual property law.

The topic for this paper series flows from the growing recognition of the public interest dimension of intellectual property as a paramount concern in international law making. Though there seems to be a fairly broad agreement on the need for a more balanced intellectual property system which effectively promotes innovation and creativity, there has been insufficient attention to mapping specific policy proposals and justifications that may animate this agenda. This paper series flows from the Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest, which brought together scholars, policymakers, and policy advocates to discuss and to deliberate about the opportunities for constructing a positive policy and research agenda. Following the Congress, participants continued to collaborate online to produce the Washington Declaration.

We are particularly interested in policy and academic work that expounds on themes articulated in the Declaration. Works on other topics relevant to the theme are also welcomed, including critiques of current policy proposals as well as the construction of new ones.

Paper submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis through December 1, 2011, through this online form:http://infojustice.org/2011-global-congress-public-paper-submission

BACKGROUND ON AUIRL

The American University International Law Review (“AUILR”) is one of the ten most frequently cited student-run international law publications in the United States. AUILR publishes articles, critical essays, comments, and case notes on a wide variety of international law topics, including public and private international law, the law of international organizations, international trade law, international arbitration, and international human rights.

CITATIONS

Citations should follow the “Blue Book” uniform system for legal citations. Non-U.S. legal professionals may find the basic information they need to conform to the citation forms with the following example of basic citation forms, and through Cornell University’s online guide.

Deadline Extended for 2012 Int’l Island Conference Call for Papers

2011-10-01T19:17:00.001-07:00

Deadline Extended for 2012 Int’l Island Conference Call for Papers

Friday, September 30th, 2011 | HLSCC

The deadline for submitting abstracts or posters for the Islands of the World XII Conference 2012, which will be hosted in the British Virgin Islands from 29 May to 1 June next year, has been extended by one month to 31 October.

Word of the extension came from Chair of the Conference’s Steering Committee Dana Lewis Ambrose, who is also Lecturer in the Business and Computer Studies Department at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College, the host institution for the conference.

Ms. Lewis Ambrose explained that the extension was given to facilitate researchers, faculty members and graduate students around the world who are currently preparing papers for submission, but may not be able to finish them in time for the previous deadline of 30 September. “This is quite common for international conferences such as these,” she added.

Suggested topic areas for submissions include agriculture, fisheries and conservation; health, social development and philanthropy; financial services, tourism and economic development; entrepreneurship, Caribbean governance and business; alternative energy, sustainable development and climate change; education, literature, history and culture; and information technology and disaster management.

The conference is held every two years under the auspices of the International Small Islands Studies Association. Under the theme, “Globalisation: Islands Adapting to Change,” one of the main objectives is to stimulate discourse on how islands across the globe, and in particular the BVI and the wider Caribbean, are adapting to 21st century challenges.

Participants are expected to include ISISA members, scholars and practitioners from across the Caribbean and beyond, officials from the Caribbean Community and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, ministers of government, hoteliers and small property owners, and students and faculty from educational institutions.

The conference will provide the BVI with an opportunity to collaborate with the College on nation-building activities, as well as create greater awareness of the territory’s products and services to the international community. It will also serve as a forum for participants to learn about what is happening in small island states around the world and how are responding to the challenges they are facing.

Abstracts or posters should be sent to islandsxiicall@hlscc.edu.vg. Submissions will be subject to “double-blind review,” which involves assessment by two anonymous readers as part of the approval process.

ISISA is a voluntary, non-profit and independent organisation. Its objectives are to study islands and to encourage free scholarly discussion on small island related matters, such as insularity, dependency, resource management, the environment, and the nature of island life.

For more information about the submission of abstracts or posters, please contact Ms. Lewis Ambrose, tel. 852-7035, email dlewis@hlscc.edu.vg. Details of the entire conference are available online at www.hlscc.edu.vg/islandsxii.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Second EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE LEGAL HISTORY Conference (Amsterdam 9-10 July 2012)

2011-10-01T07:58:00.001-07:00

CALL FOR PAPERS: Second EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE LEGAL HISTORY Conference (Amsterdam 9-10 July 2012)

The Second European Society for Comparative Legal History Conference will be held in Amsterdam from 9-10 July 2012. The theme is:

COMPARATIVE LEGAL HISTORY

Definitions and Challenges

Call for papers

Comparative Legal History is a relatively young discipline. It focuses explicitly on the comparison of legal ideas and legal institutions in divergent legal traditions. The European Society for Comparative Legal History (ESCLH) was founded in 2009 in order to promote such comparison. Its Inaugural Conference (Valencia, 5-6 July 2010) showed that it is not always easy to find material which is suitable for serious comparison and to establish the criteria which have to be met in order to come to grips with this material.

The Second ESCLH Conference, which will take place on 9-10 July 2012 at Amsterdam and will be hosted by the VU University, aims at addressing this fundamental problem. Under the heading “Definitions and Challenges” it will try to delineate the landmarks which fruitful legal historical comparison requires and to trace the specific problems that a comparative-historical approach of the various branches of law may encounter. The keynote address will be delivered by David Ibbetson, Regius Professor of Civil Law at the University of Cambridge.

As regards the papers for the parallel sessions, the Conference first of all hopes to provide a venue for legal historians and comparatists to present their investigations in order to discuss their work, exchange ideas and broaden their views. For this reason you are invited to propose papers on any subject within the field of comparative legal history.

However, following the methodological problems dealt with under the heading “Definitions and Challenges”, this Conference also aims at presenting investigations into specific areas of law, where legal historical comparison has proven to be fruitful. These investigations have in common that they do not depart from normative legal concepts (which sometimes only seemingly appear to be comparable) but from functional problems of a more factual, meta-juridical nature.

The first is ‘Fascist Criminal Law’ (co-ordinator: Stephen Skinner, University of Exeter). This theme is important in both historical and contemporary terms. A recurrent theme in recent and ongoing work on law and democracy in Europe has been the challenge of dealing with ‘darker’ aspects of law’s ideological, substantive and methodological roots in anti-democratic legal orders. In terms of legal history, grappling with the meanings of ‘fascism’ and the ideological, rhetorical and substantive dimensions of criminal law under fascist regimes requires a comparative approach in order to identify the distinguishing characteristics of such regimes. Arguably, the area of criminal law brings into sharp relief the power-relationship between State and citizen, and as such, it is a key area of law to be studied in order to understand the nature of fascist systems.

The second area, ‘Corporate law’ (co-ordinator: Tammo Wallinga, University of Antwerp), is a field of law which can be analyzed from various legal perspectives, without focussing on the comparison of a specific dogmatic concept. Just as the theme ‘Fascist Criminal law’ touches upon fundamental issues, such as the relationship between State and citizen, corporate law has its own characteristic issues: various types of enterprise – market-related or not – establishment and organization of a company, the relationship with consumers, civil authorities, debtors and creditors, workers’ rights, etc. Here, comparison aims at understanding the changing nature of corporate law within a changing economic context, from medieval society, through the ages of early capitalism and industrialisation to present day issues.

Factual information:

- Those interested in presenting a paper at the ESCLH Conference 2012 are requested to submit the title of their paper and a short abstract (approximately 250 words) before January 1st to the organizing committee c/o Jan Hallebeek, VU University Amsterdam (j.hallebeek@vu.nl).

- Papers should deal with a topic within the field of comparative legal history. Presentations should not exceed 15 minutes and should be in English.

- Please indicate whether your paper is related to the general theme (Comparative Legal History, Definitions and Challenges), one of the specific fields of law (Fascist Criminal Law, Corporate Law) or another subject.

- In January 2012 it will be announced which papers are accepted. The abstracts of these papers will shortly thereafter be made available on the Conference-website.

Additional information, including advice on accommodation and directions, is available on the Conference-website.

What is the Comparative Law?

2011-09-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

Comparative law is the study of differences and similarities between the law of different countries. More specifically, it involves study of the different legal systems in existence in the world, including the common law, the civil law, socialist law, Islamic law, Hindu law, and Chinese law. It includes the description and analysis of foreign legal systems, even where no explicit comparison is undertaken. The importance of comparative law has increased enormously in the present age of internationalism, economic globalisation and democratisation.

What is Comparative Law?

What is meant by comparative law? In the strict sense, it is the theoretical study of legal systems by comparison with each other, and has a tradition going back over a century. In recent years it has gained in practical importance for two reasons. The first is the increased globalization of world trade, involving the need to "do business" in unfamiliar legal systems. The second is the move towards harmonization of laws, and more recently towards codification within the European Union, where several legal traditions coexist. More loosely, there are publications and Internet resources that assemble legal materials from several jurisdictions, without necessarily undertaking comparisons, but they can be seen as "tools of the trade" for comparative lawyers.

Comparative law, Conflict of laws and Unification / Harmonization of law

These three topics are distinct but closely related.

Conflict of laws, or (usually) private international law, concerns national or domestic legal rules applicable in situations involving the law of another jurisdiction. This may be another country or, in the case of federations, another state.

Unification of law is a process that grew out of the need to simplify conflict of law rules, often by international conventions, and has acted on both the national and international levels. The numerous uniform laws applicable in the United States, most notably the Uniform Commercial Code, are obvious examples.

There are two main sources of international uniform law.

The Hague Conference on Private International Law first convened in 1893, and has prepared over 30 conventions on subjects such as international civil procedure including enforcement of foreign judgments, family law including marriage, protection of children and succession, and products liability.

UNIDROIT, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, was set up in 1926 as an organ of the League of Nations, but re-established in 1940 under a new statute. About 60 nations are members. Its most notable convention is the Convention relating to a Uniform Law on the International Sale of Goods, 1964. There is a list of conventions on the website, with links to full text.

By the nature of its continuing development, the European Union is the centre of harmonization activity. The main thrusts are in the private law areas of family law, contract, sales, insurance, trusts and movable property. Relevant centres of activity include:

Acquis Group: European Research Group on Existing EC Private Law
Commission on European Family Law based at the University of Utrecht. Its monograph series European Family Law is published by Intersentia in Antwerp.
European Group on Tort Law in association with the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law in Vienna. Its website is hosted at the University of Girona, Spain.
Study Group on a European Civil Code chaired by Professor Christian von Bar at the University of Osnabrück.

A thorough exposition of the movement towards a European Civil Code is contained in a collection of contributions from several legal scholars: Towards a European Civil Code, 3^rd edition, edited by Arthur Hartkamp and others. Kluwer Law International, 2004.

Other works on European harmonization include:

· BUSSANI, M. and MATTEI, U., eds. The common core of European private law. Kluwer Law International, 2003.

· SMITS, J. The making of European private law: toward a ius commune Europaeum as a mixed legal system. Intersentia, 2002. (A translation of his Europees privaatrecht in wording)

For a much fuller discussion of uniform law resources, see Duncan Alford's Guide on the Harmonization of International Commercial Law on this website.

The world's legal systems are a product of history, largely by conquest and colonization, but also in modern times by reasoned and deliberate adoption by one state of at least part of the legal framework of another. Two important examples are the modernization of Japanese and Egyptian law, and more recently the adoption of western models of commercial, financial and property law in the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe.

We can speak of "families" of legal systems, though increasingly the term "traditions" is being used, highlighting their historical development. The best-known distinction is that between the Civil Law and the Common Law traditions. Civil Law systems have their foundations in Roman law, but are generally based on codifications produced in Europe in the 19th Century. The most important are the French Civil Code of 1804 and the German Civil Code of 1900. Each was the result of long and careful study by appointed commissions, but they are founded on differing traditions and theory.

It might be said that the comparative law study in Cambodia is rare at the universities of Cambodia. The purpose to create this blog is to share knowledge of law to Cambodian people, students and other stakeholders.

Comparative Law of Cambodia

Scholarships for cambodian students 2012

University of Sydney Scholarships for 2012

Erasmus Mundus 2012

chemical sciences scholarship for African-American, Hispanic, and Native American students

University of Oulu Master’s Scholarships

Panasonic Scholarships for 2012

Call for papers for the World Library and Information Congress 2012 in Helsinki, Finland

Origins and impact of the French Civil Code

Scholarships for Cambodia | 2012 Scholarships for Students from Cambodia

Scholarship for Developing Country

AQD calls for papers on fish health

Global Competitiveness

Call for Papers Call for Papers - Deadline 1 December 2011

Call for Papers

Topics of Japanese Law

On Additional Resolution of Constitutional Amendment Procedural Law Professor Asaho Mizushima (Research Staff, Faculty of Law) (on 6 February)

Vavilov-Frankel Fellowship at Bioversity International

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Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program at National Endowment for Democracy

Asian Graduate Student Fellowships

Asia Pacific Leadership Program

New Scholarships and Financial Aid Updates from Scholarship-Positions.com

សៀវភៅ​ណែនាំ​សម្រាប់​ការចុះ​បញ្ជី​ពាណិជ្ជកម្ម និង​ការ​ប្រកប​អាជីកម្ម​អនុលោម​តាម​ច្បាប់

Comparative Study on Romanian andHungarian Labour Law with SpecialRegard to Working Time

Fall 2011 Symposium Call for Papers

Fall 2011 Symposium Call for Papers

GERMANY: Launch of digital campus network

Criminal Law in Comparative Context

Teaching Comparative Constitutional Law: Methodological Challenges

Fellowship and Research Opportunities for Students and Professionals

Call for Papers: Towards a Positive Agenda in International Intellectual Property Law

Call for Papers: Towards a Positive Agenda in International Intellectual Property Law

Deadline Extended for 2012 Int’l Island Conference Call for Papers

Deadline Extended for 2012 Int’l Island Conference Call for Papers

CALL FOR PAPERS: Second EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE LEGAL HISTORY Conference (Amsterdam 9-10 July 2012)

CALL FOR PAPERS: Second EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE LEGAL HISTORY Conference (Amsterdam 9-10 July 2012)

What is the Comparative Law?

What is Comparative Law?

Comparative law, Conflict of laws and Unification / Harmonization of law

On Additional Resolution of Constitutional Amendment Procedural Law

Professor Asaho Mizushima
(Research Staff, Faculty of Law)
(on 6 February)

សៀវភៅណែនាំសម្រាប់ការចុះបញ្ជីពាណិជ្ជកម្ម និងការប្រកបអាជីកម្មអនុលោមតាមច្បាប់