16 June 2022 – Online conversation
The first dissemination event held in 2022 was an international scientific conference titled “International Family Law Conference and Debate 2022”, which took place online on June 16, 2022, under the auspices of the Faculty of Law of the Pan-European University in Bratislava. The event was organised as part of the Central European Professors’ Network, coordinated by the University of Miskolc – Central European Academy.
This time we opted for an online conference, still a sign of the times we are living in today. The topic of the conference was the future of family law, and we were fortunate enough to listen to the inputs and views of family law scholars from all over the world.
The future of families is already here, with an increasing diversity of family forms and a stratification of family structures. The question for the future of family law and legal education is the degree to which the doctrinal focus of the curriculum will match the reality of family life and family law practice. This is a particularly critical question for academics who teach family law courses, which is the only touchstone for family law for the majority of law students today.
Fundamental questions of law’s role in regulating families are becoming a more central part of political and policy discourse. Family law researchers have always recognized the complexity of this area of law. However, it is likely that the complexity of these questions will become increasingly apparent to policymakers.
The main target group of the conference was researchers working at various universities in the Slovak Republic and abroad, as well as international legal experts and experts from state administration offices. Overall, it can be stated that the conference provided a space for the presentation of selected legal issues and created a platform for formulating reflections for the future, while inspiring further discussions within the academic environment.
Fourteen presenters from all over the world (Croatia, Serbia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Albania, etc.) took the floor and presented their views on selected topics of family law. The presentations inspired a vivid discussion and the conference undoubtedly contributed to the future of family law. The very valuable discussions were truly insightful, and the conference provided a platform to exchange ideas on legal innovations that could improve access to justice, more peaceful resolution of disputes, and more respect for the dignity of those our justice system is designed to serve.
Prospective thinking about law is not only desirable but also required to ensure that law and legal systems do not become obsolete, ineffective, or unjust. Just like there is no crystal ball for life, there is not one for law either. That said – the trends in legal science do not arise out of thin air – they develop over time. Current socio-economic changes and the prevalent trends in legal science form the basis of estimations about what the future of law will look like.
The conference was recorded and is available to watch online. The papers presented will be published in peer-reviewed conference proceedings set to be published in October 2022. The conference proceedings will contain a unique collection of think pieces, in which a wide array of experts from all over the world share their thoughts on how they envision the future of family law.
