by Dr. Nadia Kornioti

Associate Lecturer in International & Comparative Public Law, UCLan Cyprus

The present student symposium is the result of the hard work of a group of second year Law students, who in their first year of studies had enrolled for the Comparative Law module. The common thread running across their submissions in the Blog, was set by one of their assignments, which invited students to critically reflect on whether the colonial roots of Comparative Law constitute the subject matter of this field of legal study obsolete, with reference to Globalisation. Despite some early protests on the vagueness of the question, when the time to correct the assignment came, I was pleased to see that many of the essays submitted exceeded my initial expectations. As instructed, many students took the opportunity to explore the question from different perspectives, each opting for a spectrum of different approaches, which eventually resulted to a pool of richly informative texts. Within this context, the UCLan Cyprus Law Blog appeared as an excellent venue to showcase the hard work of those students who received higher grades and were willing and able to volunteer for the adapting and preparation of their essays for publication, in the form of short and informative blogposts.

Methodology and Coordination

The posts submitted here are, therefore, short versions of the original essays, all of which were re-worked under the overarching theme of ‘Comparative Law in the 21^st century’. The work needed took place in the background of all other ordinary responsibilities the students had, over a 4-month period in Semester 1 of the 2023/24 academic year. Initially, each student was invited to prepare without any guidance a summary of the 3,000-word-long essay, having complete freedom on the perspective they would like to focus on for the purposes of the symposium. After 2 to 3 drafts were exchanged for feedback and guidance, we held a group meeting with the aim to proceed with a peer-to-peer oral review exercise, and decide together on some final stylistic issues, to ensure coherence. I do hope the whole process was a creative, constructive and beneficial one for everyone involved.

Overview

The phenomena of Colonialism and Globalisation serve as the undercurrent thread uniting all posts. Starting from a historical analysis on the development of Comparative Law, and relevant criticisms identified in the literature, the symposium builds towards our times, and the new opportunities and challenges for Comparative Law in the present, against the background of an increasing aversion to global processes and a turn to protectionist practices by many developed and emerging economies. Thus, in reverse order, Alexander Studnev’s reference to our time of ‘Great Uncertainty’, from the aftermath of the end of the Cold War to the present is an accurate depiction of the many uncertainties that torment transnational and international relations today, ‘driven by the enduring human desire of mutual understanding, exchange, and cooperation between each other’. Human experience stands also at the core of Ksenia Fedoseeva’s post, which argues that Comparative Law can contribute towards the formation of better-informed and more effective regional and international laws, by employing socio-legal and postmodern methods of comparison among jurisdictions. These future-oriented posts are complemented by the earlier posts, where according to Hashane Perera, the field of Comparative Law has already ‘developed into a respected body of knowledge’, through which we could ‘navigate many of the complex legal aspects of our modern, and increasingly interlinked, world”, while Yasmina Amhaz illustrates the colonial history of Comparative Law, drawing linkages to the legal aspects of Globalisation, as experienced through the diffusion of the principles of Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law across the globe, in the second half of the 20^th century.

The symposium opened with an informative introduction by Ana Beatriz Steingraber-dutra, and her presentation of three theses on Comparative Law’s changing significance and nature in the 21^st century, based on the writings of Matthias Siems, Günther Frankenberg and Ralf Michaels. Against the above background and borrowing Frankenberg’s analogy of Comparative Law as the neglected ‘Cinderella of Legal Studies’, the present student symposium, has been an opportunity to ‘take Cinderella to the ball’ and share publicly the wealth of information and reflection this often-underestimated area of Law can generate. At the same time, it challenges traditional long-held views of academics as ‘knowledge transmitters’, and students as mere ‘knowledge receivers’. On the contrary, in any classroom, the tutor has as much to gain from the students, as the students expect to gain from their tutor.

Final thoughts

They say that explaining a complicated topic in simple words is the ultimate proof of having mastered your knowledge of it. So, what better way is there of testing the limits of one’s knowledge, other than writing (and in my case teaching, as well)? As a core academic task, teaching offers simultaneously the stimulus to share one’s knowledge in as simple terms as possible, as well as the opportunity to reflect on and even test the validity of one’s own reflections with a broader audience. This subtle exchange is what lies at the core of a constructive academic relationship; peer-to-peer or tutor-to-students.  

In the course of our hectic daily working lives, however, neither we – academics – nor our students have the chance to truly reflect on the pure wisdom upon which the academic cycle turns; year in, year out. The opportunity to teach Comparative Law a few years ago, remains a pivotal moment in my own development as an academic, since it served as an unexpected opportunity to finally dive into a scholarly legal subject that opened new horizons. For these new horizons, I have my students of Comparative Law to thank, and special thanks are due to Ana, Yasmina, Hashane, Ksenia and Alexander for sticking around until the end, and making this exercise a mutually (I hope) beneficial experience.