Equality and the Law Workshop | Organised by NLSIU and University of Zurich

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) will be hosting the ‘Equality and the Law’ Workshop in collaboration with the University of Zurich (UZH), Faculty of Law on December 3 and 4, 2024.

Conceived by Prof. (Dr.) Matthias Mahlmann, Prof. (Dr.) Sudhir Krishnaswamy and Prof. (Dr.) Arun Thiruvengadam, the Workshop aims to (a) foster interdisciplinary engagement around problems of equality in the law and (b) catalyse collaboration between NLSIU and UZH early-career scholars.

Theme

Equality is a foundational concept of legal systems. It is a bedrock principle of the rule of law. Equality before the law and the equal application of law are centrepieces of legal system. The legal means to do so are manifold and differentiated.

There is wide ranging and, in many aspects, controversial discussion about what equality means within this general legal framework and in the practice of law. It certainly encompasses formal equality, but it is usually understood to demand more than this formal equality, namely some form of substantive equality. What this means in detail is far from clear and is constantly renegotiated in legal systems. These questions are not only questions of legal system but concern problems that have deep roots in the long reflection about what justice in ethics and politics actually means.

Aim of the Workshop

The aim of the collaborative workshop is to deepen the participants’ understanding of problems of equality in a theoretical, doctrinal, sociological and political sense. Furthermore, the workshop and its successors will serve to establish a fruitful research dialogue between junior and senior scholars of the participating institutions. This could be the basis for an informal network of scholars.

Format of Workshop

The workshop will take place over two days on NLSIU’s campus in Bengaluru. It will see active participation and presentations from all the participants, with a view to facilitating deeper exchanges between them as a collective. In addition to presenting/responding to comments on their own work, participants will comment on and discuss the papers of the others. The faculty members of both NLSIU and UZH will contribute with introductory remarks, participation in the discussion and summaries of the discussions.

This workshop is supported by the NLSIU PhD Programme, the NLSIU VR Krishna Iyer Chair, the University of Zurich, and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) Leading House.

Programme Schedule

Day 1 – Dec 3, 2024

09:30 am-10:00 am:
Introductory remarks: VC Dr. Sudhir Krishnaswamy & Prof. Dr. Arun Thiruvengadam

10:00 am-10:45 am:
Paper 1 | Equality, Civic Identity and the Regulation of Private Schools in the Canton of Zurich
Author: Matthias Hächler
Discussant: Karan Chouhan
Commentator: Balu Nair

10:45 am-10:55 am:
Break

10:55 am-11:40 am:
Paper 2 | Democracy, Suffrage and the Citizen
Author:  Deepak Bhaskar
Discussant: Elif Askin
Commentator: Prof. (Dr.) Matthias Mahlmann

11:40 am-11:50 am:
Break

11:50 am-12:35 pm:
Paper 3 | Feelings towards Law: Societal Occurrence and Impacts on Legal Norms
Author: Elif Askin
Discussant: Abhilasha Chattopadhyay
Commentator: Dhivya Janarthanan

12:35 pm-01:45 pm:
Lunch Break

01:45 pm-02:30 pm:
Paper 4 | Equality: A Problematic Concept? – Decolonial Arguments and Counterarguments
Author: Nicole Nickerson
Discussant: Pranav Varma
Commentator: Aparna Chandra

02:30 pm-02:40 pm:
Break

02:40 pm-03:25 pm:
Paper 5 | Healthcare for All: A Utilitarian Approach to Equality and Non-Discrimination in Access
Author: Saheb Chowdhury
Discussant: Pascal Meier
Commentator: Saurabh Bhattacharjee

03:25 pm-04:00 pm:
High Tea

Day 2 – Dec 4, 2024

09:30 am-10:15 am:
Paper 6 | Conjugality in Crisis: Mediation, Gendered Power, and the Pursuit of Equality in Matrimonial Disputes
Author: Abhilasha Chattopadhyay
Discussant: Stefano Statunato
Commentator: Arun Thiruvengadam

10:15 am-10:25 am:
Break

10:25 am-11:10 am:
Paper 7 | Equality in Patent Licensing: Towards Ensuring Access to Standard-Essential Patents
Author: Gaurav Dahiya
Discussant: Yquem Zberg
Commentator: Betsy Rajasingh

11:10 am-11:20 am:
Break

11:20 am-12:05 pm:
Paper 8 | The Promise of Substantive Equality? Transplanting the Indirect Discrimination Test into India
Author:  Jai Brunner
Discussant: Matthias Hächler
Commentator: Arun Thiruvengadam

12:05 pm-12:15 pm:
Break

12:15 pm-01:00 pm:
Paper 9 | Bench Constitution and Case Assignments in the Indian Supreme Court
Author: Pranav Varma
Discussant: Saheb Chowdhury
Commentator: Balu Nair

01:00 pm-02:00 pm:
Lunch Break

02:00 pm-02:45 pm:
Paper 10 | Decoding Predictive Policing: Study of Criminalization and Marginalization in the Criminal Justice System
Author: Karan Chouhan
Discussant: Angelina Manhart
Commentator: Mrinal Satish

02:45 pm-02:55 pm:
Break

02:55 pm-03:40 pm:
Paper 11 | Literary Explorations of the Concept of Equal Worth in the Works of Primo Levi
Author: Corina Diem
Discussant: Jai Brunner
Commentator: Sidharth Chauhan

03:40 pm-04:10 pm:
High Tea

04:10 pm-04:55 pm:
Paper 12 | Supervenience and Simplicity: Why a more equal doctrine is a scientifically better one
Author: Pascal Meier
Discussant: Deepak Bhaskar
Commentator: Saheb Choudhry

04:55 pm-05:05 pm:
Break

05:05 pm-05:50 pm:
Paper 13 | Equality, Epistemic Culture, and Fundamental Rights
Author: Stefano Statunato
Discussant: Saheb Choudhry
Commentator: Arun Thiruvengadam

06:00 pm-06:15 pm:
Closing Remarks by Prof. Dr. Matthias Mahlmann