Legal Theory Festival - Day 2

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. 

Agenda of the day
Tuesday 2 June 2026
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)

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh