GALILEO GALILEI FOUNDATION
WORLD FEDERATION OF SCIENTISTS
ETTORE MAJORANA CENTRE FOR SCIENTIFIC CULTURE

GALILEO GALILEI CELEBRATIONS
Four Hundred Years Since the Birth of MODERN SCIENCE

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF IUS COMMUNE

21st Course:
DE ORIGINE IURIS ET OMNIUM LEGUM

ERICE-SICILY: 4 - 11 OCTOBER 2001

Sponsored by the:

• Italian Ministry of University Scientific Research and Technology
• Sicilian Regional Government
• The Catholic University of America, Washington D.C.
• University of Catania

PROGRAMME AND LECTURERS

"Inventio" e "cognitio" nell'interpretazione del diritto

• M. BARCELLONA, University of Catania, I

Contraddizioni della cittadinanza

• J.R. CAPELLA HERNÁNDEZ, University of Barcelona, ES

Strategie giurisprudenziali e problemi del rischio

• G. CALABRESI, University of Yale, New Haven, CT, USA

L'autorità della scrittura nell'età del diritto comune

• S. CAPRIOLI, University of Perugia, I

Tradizione e "scrittura" nel processo costituzionale

• A. CARRINO, University of Napoli, I

Principio elettivo, consenso, rappresentanza: itinerari canonistici

• O. CONDORELLI, University of Catania, I

Evoluzione del diritto.
I. Alle origini della differenza lecito/illecito;
II. Meccanismi evolutivi del diritto

• R. DE GIORGI, University of Lecce, I

Prassi contrattuali e "lex mercatoria"

• F. GALGANO, University of Bologna, I

System and Order in Medieval and Renaissance Law

• M. HOEFLICH, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

Law's Positivity in the Natural Law Jurisprudence of Thomas Aquinas

• J.B. MURPHY, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

The Prince and the Law

• K. PENNINGTON, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA

Staatsbildung durch Macht und Erziehung

• M. SCHMOECKEL, University of Bonn, D

Globale Privatregimes: Neo-Spontanes Recht und duale Sozialerfassungen in der Weltgessellschaft?

• G. TEUBNER, University of Frankfurt-am-Main, D

PURPOSE OF THE COURSE

In the fifties Husserl wrote that in the dark wood of the two world wars European society lost the "telos" that had been planted by Greek philosophy. Europeans no longer had the hope and the faith that reason would govern their lives. An abyss opened up between thought (philosophy) and science. Science had growing success, while philosophy evolved into a sort of wise impotence. Today jurists continually confront questions that cannot be answered within the framework of traditional jurisprudence. Legal experts are obliged to place their trust in pragmatism. Although pragmatism has produced important results, in realty judges have accepted methods and criteria from other disciplines on which to base their decisions.

The system of concepts and "figurae" with which jurists have worked during the last century has been broken apart by the explosion of questions that involve ethics and economics. The system has also been broken apart by the progressive debasement of the central principle of modern European law: the continuous retreat of the idea that the national state ought to be the one, legitimate repository of legislative authority and power. The profound crisis of the national state has brought about the destruction the "veil of ignorance" behind which jurists, either knowingly or unknowingly, have operated with the twisted logic that justice and the power of the state always coincide in each and every case. The consequence is that we must search for some fundamental principles that every legal system must possess in our age of globalization.

What may we turn to in a world that has committed itself to technology? In a time in which there is a crisis of fundamental values and in which there is no faith that reason can lead us to the truth, it becomes difficult or even impossible to formulate concepts as "aequitas", "iustitia", and solidarity. At the point we are now it is, perhaps, necessary for jurists to abandon traditional metaphysics that rendered absolute truths. Truths that established the legitimacy to earthly decisions. It is necessary for jurists to accept the fact that their field is established on nothing. This nihilism seems to be the last horizon of modern law. The only means to find our way out of this devastating situation is to reopen the dialogue with the great traditions of juristic thought that matured during the history of the European past. These are the traditions that have confronted the problem of the multiple connections between law on one side, and nature, morality, theology and culture on the other. These traditions also knew and practised a constant connection between the one European law (ius commune) and the variety of particular laws in European society (iura propria). As it happens in every transitional age, historical memory offers a precious tool to solve these problems and becomes a unique source for putting them in a juridical context.

APPLICATIONS

Interested candidates should send a letter to the Director of the School:

• Prof. Dr. Manlio BELLOMO
  Facoltà Giuridica
  Via Gallo, 24
  95124 CATANIA, Italy
  Tel: ++39 (095) 230376 - Fax: ++39 (095) 327776
  e-mail: bartholus@lex.unict.it

They should specify:

i) date and place of birth, together with present nationality, current address and telephone number;
ii) degree and other academic qualifications;
iii) present position, place of work, and current research activities.

Closing date for application: July 15, 2001

• PLEASE NOTE

  Participants must arrive in Erice on October 4, not later than 5 p.m.

   

There are travel fellowships available for North American law and graduate students and for junior faculty. To apply for a fellowship send a letter and Curriculum Vitae with one letter of recommendation to:

• Prof. Dr. Kenneth PENNINGTON
  e-mail: penningk@maxwell.syr.edu

   

P. BARCELLONA DIRECTOR OF THE COURSE

M. BELLOMO - K. PENNINGTON DIRECTORS OF THE SCHOOL

A. ZICHICHI DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRE