Legal Theory Festival
Location:
Moot Court Room,
Teaching Room 03,
Old College
Date/time
-
01/06/2026 13:00-16:30
02/06/2026 9:30-17:00
03/06/2026 9:30-17:00
The 18th Legal Theory Festival at Edinburgh Law School will take place on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of June 2026. We will have five workshops over the three days, with papers from a mix of local and invited speakers, and headed by the Annual Lecture of the Edinburgh Centre for Legal Theory, which will this year be given by Professor Helena Alviar García. On the evening Tuesday 2nd, there will be a wine reception to launch the Research Handbook on Legal Argumentation recently published by Elgar, followed by a Festival dinner at the Hotel du Vin.
All are welcome, but registration is required.
Please register to attend using the links provided in the agenda.
Monday 1 June 2026 - Register to attend in person
13.00-16.30 Moot Court Room
Doctrinal Scholarship and Judicial Reasoning
“Is there such a thing as good doctrinal legal scholarship?”
Luís Duarte d’Almeida (Nova, Lisbon) and Fábio Perin Shecaira (Rio de Janeiro)
“Doctrinal knowledge and epistemic authority”
Mátyás Bódig (Aberdeen)
17.00-19.00, Usha Kashera Lecture Theatre
Edinburgh Centre for Legal Theory: Annual Lecture
“In the shadow of authoritarianism: law, critique, and possibility”
Helena Alviar García (Sciences Po, Paris)
Tuesday 2 June 2026 - Register to attend in person
9.30-12.30 Moot Court Room
Democratic Perfectionism
“Outline of a theory of perfectionist democracy”
Cormac Mac Amhlaigh (Edinburgh)
“What did Cavell mean by perfectionism?”
Jonathan Havercroft (Glasgow)
“Reflections and comments on perfectionist democracy”
Oliver Escobar (Edinburgh)
13.30-17.00, Moot Court Room
Issues in Legal Argumentation
“Should judges give reasons for their decisions?”
Fábio Perin Shecaira (Rio de Janeiro)
“Theories of feminist ethical argumentation in practice”
Sharon Cowan (Edinburgh)
“Virtue and legal reasoning”
Amalia Amaya (Edinburgh)
“Artificial all the way down? Absurd judgments and the ‘claim to correctness’”
Euan MacDonald (Edinburgh)
“Debate: Is legal abduction possible?”
Cláudio Michelon (Edinburgh) and Luís Duarte d’Almeida (Nova, Lisbon)
Wednesday 3 June 2026 - Register to attend in person
9.30-12.30 Teaching Room 3
Narrative and Practical-Wisdom in Legal Decision-Making
“The politics of justice v the politics of civic maturity”
Veronica Rodriguez Blanco (Surrey)
“Phronesis in legal practice: Can lawyers afford to be human?”
Iwona Barwicka-Tylek (Jagiellonian University, Kraków)
13.30-17.00, Teaching Room 3
Constitutional Problems and the Classical Legal Tradition
“Constitutional change and normative hierarchy: When amendment power escapes control”
Carla Huerta (UNAM, Mexico City)
“Critical Iusnaturalism in Vitoria and Veracruz”
Ambrosio Velasco (UNAM, Mexico City)