Research Seminar by Professor Holger Spamann

Research Seminar

Comparative Law Cliches and "Experimental" Evidence  

Synopsis

In the middle ages, the legal trajectories of England and Western Europe partly separated, leaving a residue of language, terminology, and connections that differentiates the common and the civil law world. Lawyers continue to project substantive differences onto the historical or terminological differences between common and civil law. For example, common and civil law supposedly still differ in their balance of case and statute law, in their balancing of private rights and public policy, and even in the way their lawyers think. In my talk, I will first show the surprising weakness of the evidence for such claims. I will then discuss the methodological difficulties in establishing or refuting such claims. Finally, I will present some novel evidence from experiments with judges in Argentina, China, and the U.S. that bears on some of these claims.

Speaker

Holger Spamann is a professor at Harvard Law School, where he teaches corporations, corporate finance, and a class on hedge funds, and a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute. His research employs theoretical and empirical tools from economics, psychology, and comparative law. His main areas of interest are corporate governance, financial markets, and social-scientific jurisprudence. He has also worked on comparative crime, conflict of laws, and international trade. Before embarking on his academic career, he practiced with the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton in New York, where he is admitted to the bar, and clerked for two years in Europe. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University, a B.Sc. in economics from L.S.E., a doctorate in law (S.J.D.) from Harvard Law School, and basic law degrees from the Sorbonne and the University of Hamburg. His articles include Justice is Less Blind, and Less Legalistic, than We Thought: Evidence from an Experiment with Real Judges, 45 J. Leg. Studies 255 (2016); Monetary Liability for Breach of the Duty of Care?, 8 J. Leg. Analysis 337 (2016); The U.S. Crime Puzzle, Am. L. Econ. Rev. 33 (2016); Empirical Comparative Law, 11 Ann. Rev. L. Soc. Sci. 131 (2015), and The “Antidirector Rights Index” Revisited, 23 Rev. Fin. Studies 467 (2010).

Chair

Maartje de Visser

Associate Professor of Law
SMU School of Law 

Event Details

Registration

This is an invitation-only event.  Admission is free and by registration only. Please register by Tuesday, 23 May 2017.    

 

We look forward to seeing you at the event.

With warm wishes

School of Law

Singapore Management University