Customary Law and the Courts

Sponsored and organized by the Robbins Collection and Research Center, University of California, Berkeley in cooperation with the Institut des Usages, at the University of Montpellier Law School (France), the conference will bring together legal scholars and academics who share a common interest in the increasing significance of informal norms and customary practices as a self-contained source of law distinct from statutory legislation and judicial interpretation in the diverse legal fields that define today’s legal systems. A distinguished group of international participants from will explore the relevance of customary rules in the adjudication of disputes and discuss their normative authority in the judicial decision-making process.