Description: 

Comparative Law introduces participants to the main legal systems employed globally. An overview of the features of common law and civil law is provided, in addition to salient aspects of Islamic law. Informal justice systems – although highly variable, and with some countries using multiple informal mechanisms – have certain common characteristics that are also important to understand.

This event provides practitioners with an overview of these common characteristics, and how rule of law programming can work with informal justice systems to meet outcomes that complement work done with formal or state systems. Participants are challenged to broaden the way in which they think about how legal systems operate in general and leave the training with a more sophisticated understanding of the varied legal systems employed globally, what resources are available to get information about a country’s legal system, and how different legal systems provide due process and achieve justice outcomes using comparable but not identical means.

Learning Objectives: 

• Participants will learn how civil and common law systems work in comparison to each other;
• Participants will learn how Islamic religious texts play important roles in the justice systems of Muslim-majority countries;
• Participants will learn about rule of law interventions implemented in different countries that intersected with IJS;
• Participants will have a better appreciation of how countries take varying approaches to providing due process and checks and balances during criminal investigations and prosecutions; and
• Participants will be able to identify key features and actors in the PRC’s legal system, as well as understand how they are similar or different from those in other legal systems.

	Rule of Law: Definitions and Attributes Learning objectives: Learn “thin” and “thick” definitions of rule of law. Understand fundamental attributes of rule of law.
	Islamic Law: Sources, Principles, and Schools of Thought Learning objective: Explore the basic elements of Islamic Law, including foundations definitions, sources, and principles.
	Comparative Law: Major Legal Traditions Learning objective: Learn about the different types of legal traditions that exist around the world.
	Comparative Law: Origins of the Civil Law and Common Law Learning objective: Gain an overview of historical developments of the civil law and common law traditions that impacted their modern-day characteristics.
	Comparative Law Virtual Panel Asma Peracha (ROLC) moderates a panel with Steven Austermiller (ROLC), Erin Lane (US District Court for the Western District of Michigan), and Sharanjeet Parmar (Glasshouse Initiatives Inc.) on Applied Comparative Law.

Civil Law: Key Features, Actors, and Consequences to Remember  Learning objectives: Learn the basic differences between the Common Law and Civil Law systems. Identify key justice sector actors in each system and understand their roles. Identify broad consequences for justice sector reform in Civil Law countries.