The Institute sponsors annual public conferences, featuring leading scholars in philosophy and law.
On November 3rd and 4th, 2023, the Institute hosted the tenth annual North American Workshop in Private Law Theory. Presenters included Charles Barzun (Virginia), Sophia Moreau (Toronto), Emily Stolzenberg (Villanova), Jean Thomas (Queen’s), Jordan Wallace-Wolf (Arkansas), Benjamin Zipursky (Fordham), and commentators included Gregory Keating (USC), Crescente Molina (Rutgers), Daniel Priel (Osgoode Hall), Steven Schaus (Michigan), Rebecca Stone (UCLA), and Gregg Strauss (Virginia).
On Friday, May 12th, 2023 the Institute hosted an all-day conference on Gerald Postema’s book, Law’s Rule: The Nature, Value, and Viability of the Rule of Law (Oxford 2022), featuring presentations by Farrah Ahmed (Melbourne), Lisa Austin (Toronto), Paul Gowder (Northwestern), Matthew Shapiro (Rutgers), Frederick Schauer (Virginia), and Jeremy Waldron (NYU), and comments by Gerald Postema (North Carolina).
On May 13th and 14th, 2022, the Institute hosted a conference on Michael S. Moore’s book, Mechanical Choices: The Responsibility of the Human Machine (Oxford 2020) in New Brunswick. Presenters included Alex Kaiserman (Oxford), Christian List (LSE), Dana Nelkin (UCSD), Michael McKenna (Arizona), Carolina Sartorio (Arizona), Katrina Sifferd (Elmhurst), Philip Swenson (William and Mary), Victor Tadros (Warwick), and Gideon Yaffe (Yale).
The Institute hosted a virtual workshop in support of Oxford Studies in Private Law Theory on August 5-7, 2021. It featured papers by Erik Encarnacion (Texas), Jessica Hudson (UNSW), Felipe Jimenez (USC), Gregory Keating (USC), James Penner (NUS), Arie Rosen (Auckland), Sandy Steel (Oxford), Rebecca Stone (UCLA), and Bradley Wendell (Cornell). The papers will appear in Oxford Studies in Private Law Theory, Volume II, in 2023.
The Institute co-sponsored a virtual conference in honor of Doug Husak on November 6-7, 2020. It featured original papers by Vincent Chiao (Toronto), Sharon Dolovich (UCLA); Kim Ferzan (Penn), YoungJae Lee (Fordham), Sandy Mayson (Georgia), Gabe Mendlow (Michigan), Alice Ristroff (Brooklyn), Alex Sarch (Surrey), Patrick Tomlin (Warwick), Beth Valentine (North Dakota), Alec Walen (Rutgers), and Gideon Yaffe (Yale). Commentators included: Larry Alexander (USD), Vera Bergelson (Rutgers), Michelle Dempsey (Villanova), Antony Duff (Stirling), Ekow Yankah (Cardozo), Heidi Hurd (Illinois), Sandra Marshall (Stirling), Michael Moore (Illinois), Stephen Morse (Penn), Carol Steiker (Harvard), Kit Wellman (Washington University), and Peter Weston (Michigan).
The Institute hosted a meeting of the Anglo-German Dialogue on Criminal Law in September 2019 in New Brunswick. It featured original papers by Matthew Dyson (Oxford) and Frank Meyer (Zürich), Antje du Bois-Pedain (Cambridge) and Carl Friedrich Stuckenberg (Bonn), Youngjae Lee (Fordham University), Carsten Momsen (Berlin), John Jackson (Nottingham) and Thomas Weigend (Cologne), Kai Ambos (Göttingen) and Stephen C. Thaman (Saint Louis), Shannon Fyfe (George Mason University) and Alexander Heinze (Göttingen), and Brenner M. Fissell (Hofstra). Commentators included Alec Walen (Rutgers), Stuart Green (Rutgers), Richard Frase (Minnesota), and Jenia Turner (SMU).
In May 2019, the Institute hosted a symposium on Antony Duff’s latest book, “The Realm of Criminal Law” (Oxford), feature presentations by Kimberly Ferzan (University of Virginia), Stuart Green (Rutgers),Sandra Mayson (University of Georgia), Gabriel Mendlow (University of Michigan), Michael Moore (University of Illinois), Alex Sarch (University of Surrey), Victor Tadros (University of Warwick), Patrick Tomlin (University of Warwick), Alec Walen (Rutgers), and Gideon Yaffe (Yale).
In October 2018, the Institute hosted a two-day conference workshopping papers that will appear in Civil Wrongs and Justice in Private Law (Oxford), edited by Paul Miller and John Oberdiek. Papers were presented by María Guadalupe Martínez Alles (Universidad de San Andrés), Ahson Azmat (Harvard), Nicolas Cornell (Michigan), Chris Essert (Toronto), Lee Fennell (Chicago), Kimberly Ferzan (Virginia), Andrew Gold (Brooklyn), John Goldberg (Harvard) and Benjamin Zipursky (Fordham), Ori Herstein (Hebrew University of Jerusalem/Kings College London), Larissa Katz (Toronto), Gregory Keating (USC), Paul Miller (Notre Dame) and Jeff Pojanowski (Notre Dame), Liam Murphy (NYU), John Oberdiek (Rutgers), David Owens (Kings College London), James Penner (National University of Singapore), Matthew Shapiro (Hofstra), Adam Slavny (Warwick), Stephen Smith (McGill), Findlay Stark (Cambridge), Victor Tadros (Warwick), and Alec Walen (Rutgers).
In April 2017, the Institute co-sponsored a two-day conference on Theorizing Criminal Law Reform together with the London School of Economics, featuring original papers by Darryl Brown, Luis Chiesa, Pamela Ferguson, Adil Haque, Jorn Jacobsen, Michael Krolikowski and Krzysztof Szczucki, Erin Murphy, Hadassa Noorda, Jessica Roth, Michael Serota, Marbre Stahly Butts and Amma Akbar, and Zhang Shuai.
In October 2013, the Institute hosted a two-conference on Deontological Principles in the Criminal Law, which featured presentations by Larry Alexander, Fiery Cushman, Alex Guerrero, Matthew Liao, Dana Kay Nelkin, Jonathan Quong, Victor Tadros, and Ralph Wedgewood, and comments by Liz Harman, Doug Husak, Heidi Hurd, Jeff McMahan, Michael Moore, Steven Stich, Alec Walen, and David Wasserman.
In November 2012, the Institute hosted a two-day conference on Philosophical Foundations of the Law of Torts, workshopping original papers that will appear in a forthcoming Oxford University Press volume of the same name, edited by John Oberdiek. Papers were presented by Larry Alexander (San Diego) and Kimberly Ferzan (RutgersCamden); Peter Cane (Australian National University); Eric Claeys (George Mason); Antony Duff (Minnesota); David Enoch (Hebrew University of Jerusalem); John Gardner (Oxford); Heidi Hurd (Illinois); Gregory Keating (USC); Stephen Perry (Penn); Linda Radzik (Texas A&M); Hanoch Sheinman (Bar Ilan University); Kenneth Simons (BU); Victor Tadros (Warwick); Richard Wright (Chicago-Kent); and Benjamin Zipursky (Fordham) and John Goldberg (Harvard).
In September 2012, the Institute hosted a two-day conference on Neuroscience and the Law, which focused on the legal relevance of cutting edge neuroscientific findings. Original papers were presented by Deborah Denno (Fordham), Adam Kolber (Brooklyn), John Mikhail (Georgetown), Michael Moore (Illinois), Stephen Morse (Penn), Dennis Patterson and Michael Pardo (Rutgers-Camden and Alabama, respectively), Adina Roskies (Dartmouth), Fredrick Schauer (Virginia), and Nicole Vincent (Macquarie).
In March 2012, the Institute hosted a symposium on Victor Tadros’s The Ends of Harm: The Moral Foundations of Criminal Law (Oxford 2011). In addition to Tadros himself, participants included Vera Bergelson, Mitch Berman, Michelle Madden Dempsey, Antony Duff, Kimberly Ferzan, Adil Haque, Doug Husak, Jeff McMahan, Alec Walen, and Leo Zaibert. Select papers will appear in a forthcoming issue of Law and Philosophy.
In May 2011, the Institute hosted a symposium on Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen’s The Idea of Justice (Harvard 2009). David Estlund (Brown), Samuel Freeman (Penn), Gerald Gaus (Arizona), Erin Kelly (Tufts), Henry Richardson (Georgetown), and Debra Satz (Stanford) all presented papers. The papers, along with a reply by Sen, will be published in a special issue of the Rutgers Law Journal.
In August 2010, the Institute hosted a symposium on Michael S. Moore¹s Causation and Responsibility: An Essay in Law, Morals, and Metaphysics (Oxford 2009). Christopher Hitchcock (Cal Tech), Carolina Sartorio (Arizona), Jeffrey Brand-Ballard (George Washington), Gideon Rosen (Princeton), Larry Alexander (San Diego), and Kim Ferzan (Rutgers-Camden) all presented papers, to be published in a special issue of the Rutgers Law Journal.
In October of 2008, the Institute hosted a conference on Human Rights in Theory and Practice in recognition of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The conference featured panel presentations by Allen Buchanan, Roger Clark, James Griffin, Philip Harvey, Mattias Kumm, James Nickel, Thomas Pogge, Joseph Raz, and Beth Stephens, and more than 100 people attended.
In June of 2008, the Institute hosted a conference on The Idea of Law as a Practice, featuring papers by Damiano Canale, Christine Chodkiewicz-Putinar, Dennis Patterson, Larry Solum, Scott Shapiro, and Kevin Toh. Joseph Rouse gave the keynote address.
In May of 2008, the Institute hosted a conference on The Evolution of Criminal Law Theory, at which Darryl Brown, Michael Cahill, Don Dripps, Antony Duff, Stephen Garvey, Doug Husak, Jae Lee, and Ken Simons presented papers, with commentaries by Larry Alexander, Vera Bergelson, Russell Christopher, Kim Ferzan, Dan Markel, Alice Ristroph, Paul Robinson, and Alec Walen.
In February of 2008, the Institute hosted a two-day conference on F. M. Kamm’s Intricate Ethics: Rights, Responsibilities, and Permissible Harm (Oxford 2007), which Kamm attended, and which featured presentations by Shelly Kagan, Jeff McMahan, Gideon Rosen, T. M. Scanlon, and Seana Shiffrin.
In May of 2007, the Institute hosted a conference on Global Justice, featuring papers by Mathias Risse, Stephen Macedo, A.J. Julius, and Ethan Kapstein, and comments by George Letsas, Jamie Mayerfeld, Gerardo Vildostegui, and Charles Beitz.
In May of 2006, the Institute hosted a conference on The Boundaries of Rights and Responsibilities in Morality and Law, at which Antony Duff, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan, Claire Finkelstein, Jeremy Horder, Rahul Kumar, Maggie Little, Stephen J. Morse, John Oberdiek, Stephen Perry, Victor Tadros, and Benjamin Zipursky presented papers. James Griffin gave the keynote address.
In June of 2005, the Institute hosted a conference on The Challenge of Philosophical Naturalism, at which Alvin Goldman, Geert Keil, Brian Leiter, Stephen Stich, Michael Smith, Michael Williams, Benjamin Zipursky, and P.M.S. Hacker gave presentations. Jerry Fodor gave the keynote address.
In May of 2004, the Institute officially hosted its first conference, on Justifications and Excuses: Legal and Philosophical Perspectives, featuring presentations by Stephen J. Morse, Michael S. Moore, Douglas Husak, Larry Alexander, and Kimberly Kessler Ferzan. Brian Leiter gave the keynote address. The proceedings appeared in the journal Law and Philosophy, and the keynote address was published in 36 Rutgers Law Journal 1 (2004).
In May of 2003, the year leading up to the Institute’s founding, the Law School hosted a national conference on the topic Mind, Language and Law. The conference featured presentations over the course of four days by four distinguished members of the Philosophy Department in New Brunswick: Alvin Goldman, Brian McLaughlin, Stephen Stich and Colin McGinn.