Part 4 - Germany: Law, Government, Freedom pp. 795-967 et conclusion

Animation by: HÉLÈNE MAYRAND (Sherbrooke)

Commentators : ALEXANDRA KEMMERER (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law), RENÉ LEMIEUX (Sherbrooke)

With Martti Koskenniemi

Date and place :  Thursday, March 24th, 10 AM to 12 PM

Online (via Teams).

Summary :  The Center for Studies on International Law and Globalization (CEDIM) and the Laboratory for Critical Research in Law (LRCD) invite you to this last meeting around the latest book by Professor Martti Koskenniemi entitled To the Uttermost Parts of the Earth: Legal Imagination and International Power 1300–1870 was recently published by Cambridge University Press in Great Britain. Come discuss and reflect with us and ask your questions to the very author of the book, Professor Koskenniemi!

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Presentator: Thomas Windisch (Université de Sherbrooke)

Summary: The communication will present a method aimed at promoting the reflexivity of the legal researcher with regard to his own discourse. This production method relies on narrative processes to accentuate the fictional character of scientific discourse. Thus, the researcher, at the end of the reformulation of the reading pact between himself and his reader, becomes a narrator addressing a narratee.

Starting from the premise that the object of legal knowledge is "legal discourse", in all its forms (laws, jurisprudence, doctrine, etc.), it is possible to admit the fictitious nature of law as textual material. Based on this postulate, scientific production in law, written as a literary work, has certain virtues. Among them, a possible answer (among many others) to the epistemological problem concerning the conditions of objectivity of researchers in law. More specifically, the constructivist stance has allowed jurists to broaden their field of study and develop methods of critical analysis (including interdisciplinary methods) to resolve contemporary legal issues. However, constructivism carries the risk of too much subjectivity on the part of researchers, because the method, but also the object of research, can be tailor-made according to a problem.

The methodological challenge then becomes to frame the relativism that stems from these subjective choices in order to cultivate a critical relationship to knowledge. A solution commonly claimed is the adoption of a reflective posture by researchers, i.e. the reflection of the individual vis-à-vis his own subjectivity throughout his research process. However, how to highlight these processes in the research, as presented to the interlocutors and interlocutors?

The proposed method of narration, claiming a relationship with the Law and Literature movement, will answer this question. It will be based on the example of the use of elements of a novelistic work, namely La vie mode d’emploi by Georges Perec, in the legal treatment of the theme of civil disobedience.

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Image: Bertall, Coupe d'un immeuble parisien, le 1 janvier 1845.

Source: https://journals.openedition.org/flaubert/2862

« Part 3 - Britain: Laws and Markets » (page 559 à 794)

Animation by  :  DEREK MCKEE (Montreal University)

Commentators : ILEANA PORRAS (Miami), GLEIDER HERNANDEZ (KU Leuven), JOSIANE RIOUX COLLIN (Sherbrooke University)

Thursday, February 24th, 2022, 9:00 am to 11:00 am

Online (via Teams)

Summary : The Center for Studies on International Law and Globalization (CEDIM) and the Laboratory for Critical Research in Law (LRCD) invite you to a series of four (4) reading circles devoted to Professor Martti Koskenniemi's latest book entitled To the Uttermost Parts of the Earth: Legal Imagination and International Power 1300–1870 very recently published by Cambridge University Press in Great Britain. This monumental work explores the role(s) played by the legal imagination in the construction and transformation of the international order between the 14th and 19th centuries. This book will obviously be of interest to jurists and internationalists and more broadly to historians as well as specialists in political philosophy and international relations.

Professors, students and interested persons from all university institutions in Quebec and beyond are, of course, welcome. The discussions will take place in French.

Clic here to join meeting

Part 2: « France: Law, soverignty and revolution » (p. 349 à 558)

Animation by : OLIVIER BARSALOU (UQAM)

Commentators : ANNE-CHARLOTTE MARTINEAU (CNRS), DEREK MCKEE (Montreal University)

Friday, January 21st, 2022

Online (via Teams)

Summary: The Center for International Law and Global Studies (CEDIM) and the Laboratory for Critical Research in Law (LRCD) invite you to a series of four (4) reading circles dedicated to Professor Martti Koskenniemi's latest book entitled To the Uttermost Parts of the Earth: Legal Imagination and International Power 1300–1870 very recently published by Cambridge University Press in Britain. This monumental work explores the role(s) played by the legal imagination in the construction and transformation of the international order between the 14th and 19th centuries. This book will obviously be of interest to jurists and internationalists and more broadly to historians as well as specialists in political philosophy and international relations. Professors, students and interested persons from all university institutions in Quebec and beyond are, of course, welcome. The discussions will take place in French. For the first meeting, part 2 entitled "France: Law, sovereignty and revolution" will be discussed. Each of the meetings will be led by a different facilitator and will be commented on by a few previously assigned people. A question and comment session open to all will follow.

Clic here to join meeting

Thursday, December 9th, 12 pm to 4 pm

Faculty of law, Sherbrooke University (room A9-162), online (on Teams).

Animation : HÉLÈNE MAYRAND (Sherbrooke University)

Commentators: OLIVIER BARSALOU (UQAM), MIRIAM COHEN (Montreal University), DEREK MCKEE (Montreal University)

Partie 1: « Towards the Rule of Law » (pages 17 to 346)

Summary : The Center for Studies on International Law and Globalization (CÉDIM) and the Laboratory for Critical Research in Law (LRCD) invite you to a series of four (4) reading circles devoted to the latest work by Professor Martti Koskenniemi entitled To the Uttermost Parts of the Earth : Legal Imagination and International Power 1300–1870 was published most recently in Cambridge University Press in Great Britain. This monumental work explores the role (s) that the legal imagination played in the construction and transformation of the international order between the 14th and 19th centuries. This book will obviously be of interest to jurists and internationalists and more broadly to historians as well as specialists in political philosophy and international relations.

Professors, students and interested persons from all Quebec university institutions and beyond are, of course, welcome. Discussions will take place in French.

For the first meeting, part 1 entitled “Towards the Rule of Law” will be discussed. Each of these meetings will be led by a different facilitator and will be commented on by a few previously appointed people. A question and comment session open to all will follow.

Registration here

Friday, November 12th 2021, 11h30 am to 12h30 pm

Faculty of law, Sherbrooke University (room A9-162), online (onTeams).

Animation : BERTRAND LAVOIE, assistant professor, Faculty of law, Sherbrooke University

Summary : What place do we give to testimonies from legal subjects in our critical research? In this presentation, Professor Lavoie offers a theoretical and methodological reflection on the study of the critical capacities of legal subjects. The conference will first focus on a theoretical discussion concerning the integration of people's experiences into critical legal research in order to explore how testimonies, personal experiences and lived realities can inform our reflections. Secondly, the conference will discuss some methodological tips in order to achieve a rigorous and relevant analysis of the experiences of people who themselves test power relations in their daily lives.

Thursday, April 8, 2021

11:30 AM 12:30 PM

Microsoft Teams. Please contact us to register for this workshop at lrcd@usherbrooke.ca.

Presented by: FIONA SAGEAU, law student at the University of Sherbrooke.

Summary: The rate of reported sexual assault is significantly lower than that of other crimes in Canada: less than 5% as compared to 34% (Conroy and Cotter, 2017). Existing literature on the topic highlights that certain myths surrounding sexual assault influence the way the crime and its victims are perceived. This in turn hinders its social and legal acknowledgement. Using a comprehensive approach based on the sociology of Max Weber, this presentation will explore ideal-typical models of those myths. It will first explain the methodology behind their construction. Then, it will address their heuristic value as models for understanding a legal and social reality. More specifically, it will demonstrate how drawing from those myths leads to an understanding of the criteria for assessing the credibility of witnesses in trial decisions for cases of sexual assault.

Thursday, March 25, 2021

11:30 AM 12:30 PM

Microsoft Teams. Please contact us to register for this workshop at lrcd@usherbrooke.ca.

Presented by: MOUMOUNI KRISSIAMBA OUIMINGA, law student at the University of Sherbrooke.

Summary: There is, for each individual, some information which can allow to identify him/her as an identified or identifiable natural person in the information society. Positive law qualifies this information as "personal data". This definition is broad and currently under discussion. For example, the G29 noted the existence of "a certain degree of uncertainty and diversity in European practices" on important aspects of this concept and recognized the need to conduct an in-depth analysis. Moreover, Dominique Boullier argues that the concepts "personal data" and "privacy" are inoperative legal fictions. His colleague Yves Poullet rather considers that personal data, or at least their protection, is best understood as a derivative of the right to privacy, which is its foundation. However, the trend within the European Union and the Council of Europe is towards the consecration of an autonomous "quasi-constitutional" right to the protection of personal data which is distinct from the right to privacy. These considerations justify and place at the heart of the debate, the reflection on these concepts, their links and interactions. In our opinion, we consider that the definition of the concept "personal data" and its supposed basis no longer manage to grasp the whole reality, particularly the socio-economic reality of the digital ecosystem. Therefore, it seems important from an epistemic point of view to deepen the analysis by ontologically questioning even the concept and its foundation. The present workshop aims to take stock of the situation, to provoke reflection and possibly to suggest ways of advancing knowledge in the field.

Microsoft Teams : details to come.

This workshop will be presented by Thomas Windisch, masters law student at the University of Sherbrooke.

Summary: This presentation will question the conception of law underlying contemporary legal activity. The challenges that await the law of tomorrow accentuate the diversity of theoretical postures: artificial intelligence, globalization, lex electronica, climate crisis, and the notion of #justice, among others, put Western legal systems to the test. In this conjuncture, would the "law" be undergoing a metamorphosis? Rather, I would argue that, broken up, complexified, decadent, and fragmented, postmodern law is a confused moment of an adapting legal thought. Initially developed to analyze civil disobedience, the proposed meta-model would provide the legal community with an all-encompassing foundation for framing scientific research in line with what the “law” is, or rather no longer, today.