The Robbins Collection & Research Center is proud to announce our upcoming conference, Courts and Social Changes: Comparative Perspectives in Ibero-American and Asian Legal Systems. The conference will be held at Berkeley Law on November 4 and 5. With the turn of the third millennium, modern states face new challenges to their democratic traditions. The questioning of the legitimacy of political institutions and the controversies on a dysfunctional lawmaking process have renewed the interest in the diversity of political, social, and cultural roles that courts are playing and the ways in which this role has become manifest in an unprecedented manner in contemporary civil law systems. The two-day conference will draw together scholars and jurists from throughout Ibero-America and Asia with the intent of exploring these issues in a comparative context.
Friday, November 4:
| 9:00am-9:15am | Welcome & Introductory Remarks, Laurent Mayali & Julio Gaitan Bohorquez |
| 9:15am-10:45am | Session I Chair: Kuan-Ling Shen Julio Gaitan Bohorquez “From the Constitutionalism of Powers to the Constitutionalism of Rights: The Judiciary in Latin America” Jibong Lim “Constitutional Court and Social Change in Korea” |
| 10:45am-11:00am | Break |
| 11:00am-12:30pm | Session II Chair: Julio Gaitan Bohorquez Ramiro Ávila Santamaría “The Systemic Theory of Law in the Case of the Constitutional Court of Ecuador” Youngmi Cindy Kim “China’s Supreme People’s Court’s Efforts to Ensure Uniformity in the Application of Laws and Regulations – Focusing on the Comparative Review of Judicial Interpretation and Guiding Case” |
| 2:00pm-3:30pm | Session III Chair: Eric Rakowski Kuan-Ling Shen “Children’s Voice in Family Court Proceedings and Social Change: Constitutional Court vs. Supreme Court in Taiwan” Yuichiro Tsuji “The Constitution’s Definition of Family and the Role of the Courts in Japan – Individual or Family Ties” |
| 3:30pm-3:34pm | Break |
| 3:45pm-5:15pm | Session IV Chair: Andrew Bradt Agustín Barroilhet Diez “Antidiscrimination Case Law in Chile: Ten Years After the Enactment of Ley Zamudio” Bok-Gi Kim “Right to Health in the Court of Korea – Focusing on the Constitutional Guarantee of Social Security” |
Saturday, November 5:
| 9:00am-10:30am | Session V Chair: The Honorable William Fletcher, US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit Fernando Armando Ribeiro “Judicial Activism in Brazil: The Supreme Court in a Consolidating Democracy” In-Chin Chen “Same-Sex Marriage Between the Constitutional Court and the Referendum in Taiwan” |
| 10:30am-10:45am | Break |
| 10:45am-12:15pm | Session VI Chair: Dean Erwin Chemerinsky Shao-Man Lee “Judicial Agenda Setting in the Age of Social Media: Evidence from Taiwan” Cristián Villalonga Torrijo “Judicially Triggered Legislative Reform and the Expansion of Social Policy in Latin America – A Preliminary Assessment” |