The Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization – a Centre of Excellence of the World Academy of Art & Science – is launching a new lecture series on "The Culture of Law in the History of the Levant and the Middle East", a programme directed and moderated by Dr Cătălin-Ștefan Popa.
Since prehistory, Levantine and Middle Eastern communities have been organised on the basis of societal and legal principles which evolved over time, eventually leading to the creation of state and administrative organisations. The recovery of historical texts of great importance for both the humanities and administrative sciences – which delineate the stages of evolution of Levantine communities over time – is highly necessary in today's confused world.
The lecture series focusing on "The Culture of Law in the History of the Levant and the Middle East" aims to examine several forms of law, starting from the earliest legal codes in the Middle East and the Balkans, where science, culture and administration were born and where local forms of administration were established in prehistoric and ancient societies, carrying through to the Byzantine reforms, the post-medieval legal treaties, the post-war treaties of the Ottoman period (which took the form of treaties of international law), as well as the various legislative acts and principles governing the Islamic world, which are universal for communities in the Levant and beyond.
Consequently, the lecture series aims to disseminate relevant knowledge about these sources of law and discuss texts of public, private and religious law on the basis of comparative methods of social and administrative applicability. Particular emphasis will be placed on the evolution of the instruments of regional peacekeeping and social order (conflict resolution, negotiation techniques and ceasefires) and their manner of employment in international law from prehistory to modernity in the Levant, as well as on the application of the fundamental principles of law that were first codified in the Levantine region in universal law.
The first lecture in this series, which will be delivered in a hybrid format, in person and online, by Emilia Justyna Powell of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, is scheduled for Wednesday, May 31st 2023 at 17:00 Bucharest time.
Emilia Justyna Powell is a Professor of Political Science and Law at the University of Notre Dame. She holds specializations in international law, international courts, international dispute resolution, Islamic legal tradition and Islamic constitutional law. She has published numerous studies in academic journals, as well as a number of monographs with publishers such as the Oxford (2023, 2020) and Cambridge (2011) University Presses.
Professor Powell holds a degree in Law from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD from Florida State University. She has held fellowships and research internships at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, at the Schools of Law of the Universities of Durham Copenhagen, as well as from the Centre for International Courts.
Interested parties wishing to attend the lecture by Emilia Justyna Powell in person are invited to contact the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization, or request the access link by emailing office@institutlevant.ro.
