Thursday, 26 Nov 2020, 12h – Friday, 27 Nov 2020, 13h

European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany / Collegium Polonicum, Słubice, Poland

The Workshop will take place virtually

The rule of law feeds on the idea of the law’s independence; it is based on the assumption of autonomy of the law. Since its beginnings, sociology of law has questioned this autonomy in different ways and with regard to its social functions; socio-legal studies have shown how courts and tribunals, while asserting themselves as „neutral“ and „objective“, are social and cultural actors embedded in society.
The workshop discusses socio-legal perspectives on the rule of law against the background of current delegitimizations of legal institutions. What is the role of the rule of law in socio-legal terms? We invite socio-legal perspectives to contribute to a debate that so far has taken place primarily in public law and political science. The workshop will focus on social practices and functions of courts and jurisprudence beyond constitutional jurisdiction. To this end, we bring together contributions from sociology of law, political science and legal doctrines on the rule of law.

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Thursday, 26 November 2020

13:00
Keynote: „Between Fear and resistance – Rule of Law in Poland after 2015“ (öffentlich/public)
Adam Bodnar, Commissioner for Humas Rights of the Republic of Poland
» Anmeldung über cillas@europa-uni.de

14:00
Panel 1: Sociology of courts, tribunals and legal professions
Courts, tribunals and legal professions form the center of “the law”. The law’s independence translates into independence and autonomy of judicial institutions and professions. The panel discusses how these are embedded in different social and political settings.

15:45
Panel 2: Sociology of Constitutional Courts
Constitutional jurisprudence has long been considered political. The panel presents the newest approaches to empirical research on constitutional courts and discusses the resulting new insights to an understanding of an “illiberal democracy”.

17:30
Roundtable “40 Jahre Zeitschrift für Rechtssoziologie” (öffentlich/public)
Panelists: Ulrike Schultz, Ralf Rogowski, Klaus F. Röhl, Rüsiger Lautmann, Marta Bucholc
Moderators: Doris Schweitzer, Walter Fuchs
» Anmeldung über cillas@europa-uni.de

19:00
Dinner

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Freitag, 27 November 2020

9:00
Panel 3: Situated positions in judging
The legitimacy of the law depends as much on independence as on objectivity. Feminist criticism has long addressed gender biases in judging. The panel gives examples of the role of gender in judging and discusses how objectivity could reflect the socially situated positions of judges.

10:30
Panel 4: Critiques of the law from the political right
Critiques of the law and denials of its autonomy have long been part of narratives from the political Right. The panel discusses different motifs in and framings of these narratives.

12:00
Panel 5: Critiques of Legal cultures in socio-legal perspectives
Socio-legal studies show that it is not only legal rules and institutional arrangements that take care of the law’s independence and autonomy. Legal culture plays an important role in safeguarding and embedding social practices of autonomy. The panel critically discusses these contexts in comparative perspective.

13:30
End