Call for Papers
For a Conference on Methodology of Law and Legal Research: Challenges and Options
18 January 2008, Tilburg University, The Netherlands (www.uvt.nl)
Organized by the Tilburg University Research School for Methodology of Law
The Tilburg University Research School for Methodology of Law has the honour of organising a special conference on methodology of law and legal research to celebrate the 80th Dies Natalis of Tilburg University. A fundamental debate on this topic has its roots in recent debates amongst legal scholars in the Netherlands about methodological aspects of legal education and law research.
In 2005, the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU, www.vsnu.nl) published a report called “Oordelen over rechten” (judging law research). This report claims that legal scholars focus heavily on results in order to make certain legal solutions better, more justified, efficient, etc. At the same time, the approach is often too servile in following the methodology of law finding in legal practice. Magistrates function as important role models for academics. According to the report, this approach is no longer self-evident. Tilburg University increasingly encourages multidisciplinary and comparative research in such fields as law and technology, law and economics, and victimology.
Experience in several of the law faculty’s younger research institutes reveals that methodology is an important precondition for achieving scientific progress. For one thing, making a contribution to the state of the art in most disciplines requires cooperation between scholars with totally different educations and backgrounds.
Generally, jurists, economists, sociologists, and psychologists use different methods and techniques, and speak different scientific languages. Overcoming methodological difficulties and developing a common language to improve the quality of this type of research is perhaps the biggest challenge for the future of the Tilburg University Faculty of Law, which currently ranks as one of the most prominent law schools in Europe.
FOCUS
The focus of the conference will be on bringing together experts in the field of law and methodology in order to share ideas about multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research. What are the most important pitfalls in this type of research and how could they be overcome? Moreover, what criteria ought to be used in order to assess the quality of these advanced legal studies and their products?
TOPICS
We welcome all submissions regarding the methodology of law research. Possible research topics include, but are not limited to: methodological challenges in legal disciplines; principles of sound methodological law research; singularity of methods in the legal domain; pitfalls in the methodology of comparative law research; theory and methods of ex ante evaluation and prospective legal research; pros and cons of the use of case studies in legal research; theoretical and methodological difficulties in the assessment of legal articles, books, annotations, etc; methodological issues concerning the ranking of law journals; educating research master students in terms of methodology of lawmaking and legal research. We also welcome contributions concerning examples of methodological challenges in applied legal research.
PROGRAMME COMMITTEE
Prof. J.B.M. Vranken (Methodology of Private Law)
Prof. R.A.J. van Gestel (Theory and Methods of Legislation)
CONFERENCE VENUE
The conference will be held at Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands, on 18 January 2008.
PAPER SUBMISSION
Please send submissions in pdf format to Prof. R.A.J. van Gestel ([email protected]).
The submission deadline is 1 August 1 2007. The authors of accepted papers will be notified by the end of September 2007.
For more information about the conference, please contact Mrs Hanny Pentinga.
Tel: +31 13 466 2608
Fax: +13 13 466 2537
Email: [email protected]
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