Girona Evidence Week

In the presentation of the 1st Michele Taruffo Girona Evidence Week, we pointed out that evidential legal reasoning had become the object of numerous national and international congresses and meetings, but that the field was missing a common link between perspectives (theoretical and practical, legal and philosophical, forensic) and traditions (continental, Anglo-Saxon, oriental, etc.). Our aim, then and now, is for the Michele Taruffo Girona Evidence Week to be a meeting point for all members of the international community who are dedicated to or interested in evidential legal reasoning.

The first edition of the congress brought together almost 500 specialists from 44 countries. Of these, 139 gave a lecture, presented a paper or participated in a panel discussion, a short course or in one of the thirty parallel workshops that were organised during the week.

We now announce the 2nd edition of the Michele Taruffo Girona Evidence Week, which will be held in Girona from 2 to 6 June 2025. We have already confirmed the participation of a significant number of world specialists in the field, who will deliver lectures, and we have issued a call for workshops on this website to select topics and papers to be discussed during the last two days.

The official languages of the congress are English and Spanish, and simultaneous translation from one to the other will be provided.

Why “Girona Evidence Week”?

Although it is still an evidential legal reasoning congress, the format departs from the usual one. Over the course of a week, a wide variety of activities that go beyond conventional lectures will be offered. These activities will be scheduled during the two main parts of the congress:

1. The first, consist of five plenary lectures, two panel discussions on central topics of evidential legal reasoning and four parallel short courses on various themes.

2.  The second part will be held on the last two days of the week. It includes a wide variety of parallel workshops on a broad range of topics in the field.

Six official workshops will be planned and others will be added based on the results of the call for workshops. That way, we hope to offer a varied programme of topics, perspectives and languages that will allow participants to select the ones they are most interested in. Workshops will not have a simultaneous translation service and may be carried out in any language.

The short courses have a duration of four hours each and will be held simultaneously on Wednesday 4th of June, in the Spanish morning. For those who register in the online mode, the recording will be offered starting at 4:00 p.m. (Spanish time) on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It will also be possible to view them later at any time for both (face-to-face registrations and online registrations).

Why the “Michele Taruffo” Girona Evidence Week?

The work and person of Professor Michele Taruffo are undoubtedly key factors in the growth of interest in evidential legal reasoning in countries with a Romano-Germanic tradition, especially, in Italy and Latin America. His general theory of evidential problems, based on the analysis of comparative law, has also made him an important presence in debates in the Anglo-Saxon world and, more recently, in China.

Until his death in December 2020, Taruffo was a researcher at the Chair of Legal Culture of the University of Girona. After the establishment of our research centre, he participated in all the projects we developed in the field. Not surprisingly, he was also an outstanding lecturer on the master’s degree in Evidential Legal Reasoning as well as a member of the advisory committee of Quaestio facti. International Journal on Evidential Legal Reasoning. The Michele Taruffo Collection, which comprises more than thirteen thousand titles and a small collection of contemporary art works, has been hosted by the University of Girona since March 2020.

In short, the enthusiasm that motivates us to organise an international congress on evidential legal reasoning, the Girona Evidence Week, is explained by the important influence of our beloved mentor Taruffo. For all these reasons, and in recognition of the immense value of his work, we pay homage to him by naming this congress, which will take place in Girona every three years, after him.