This international conference aims to promote a heightened understanding of the complex translational implications of comparative legal research. The conference’s main assumption is that the question of comparative law is through and through one of translation. Yet, even in  today’s globalised world where the need to communicate beyond borders arises in ways that are possibly unprecedented, most comparatists, for reasons which participants will want to explore, continue not to address the issue of translation as it pertains to comparative law. For example, after more than forty years in print and three editions, the leading textbook in the field remains silent on the subject-matter of translation. This conference seeks to attract critical and interdisciplinary papers that will draw on fields such as translation studies, linguistics, literary theory, sociology, philosophy or postcolonial studies in order to analyse the central role of translation in comparative law, understood both in its literal and metaphorical senses.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers
Professor Michael Cronin, Dublin City University
Michael Cronin holds a Personal Chair in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Dublin City University. He researches in Irish translation history and translation with specific reference to globalization.
Professor Alexis Nouss, Cardiff University
Alexis Nouss is Professor of Modern Cultural Studies in the School of European Studies at Cardiff University and Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Translation at the Université de Montréal. Professor Nouss researches in the fields of European culture and translation studies.

Scholars interested in presenting a paper at the conference should submit an abstract of no more than 400 words accompanied by a short biographical note to Dr Simone Glanert, Joint Director of the Kent Centre for European and Comparative Law (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by 1 September 2011. The composition of the panels will be released by 21 September 2011. Invited participants will be asked to produce a first draft of their paper for advance circulation by 1 June 2012. A selection of papers presented at the conference will subsequently be published with a major European law publisher (details will be communicated in due course). Contributors will be required to hand in the final version of their paper by 1 January 2013. The final version of the paper must not exceed 15,000 words (inclusive of notes). Participants at the conference must assume that they will have to cover their travel and accommodation costs. Moreover, there will be a conference fee (£90), to be paid in cash upon arrival, which will include lunches and coffee/tea breaks on 21 and 22 June 2012 and the conference dinner on 21 June 2012. Postgraduate students and unwaged delegates may apply for a fee reduction or waiver.

Canterbury is easily reached by fast train out of London St Pancras (1 hour) or out of Paris (2 hours on the Eurostar to Ashford International and 20 minutes on a local connecting train). A number of B&Bs and small hotels are to be found in the city centre within a few minutes’ reach of the university campus (see http://www.guesthousesincanterbury.co.uk/).

For more information, please dontct Simore Glanert at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..