The British Association of Comparative Law (BACL), formerly the UK National Committee for Comparative Law, seeks to coordinate and encourage comparative legal research and teaching throughout the United Kingdom. It provides a forum for discussion and collaboration on comparative law in its broadest sense.
Through its events, publications and network of representatives across UK law schools, BACL brings together scholars working on a wide range of global and comparative law topics.
Events
BACL coordinates a vibrant annual programme to bring together comparative law scholars across the UK. Key initiatives include our annual Postgraduate Workshop, which provides early-career researchers with an invaluable forum to present their work, and our core Annual Seminar, hosted in collaboration with the Society of Legal Scholars conference each September.
Latest posts
- Passing Off and Post-Mortem Image Protection: A Comparative Perspective
Using AI technology, deceased people can be realistically depicted doing acts they never did while alive. Sometimes these portrayals are authorised by heirs, as in the example of an AI-enhanced Agatha Christie teaching an online writing course. Other post-mortem depictions, however, are created without consent. Last year, OpenAI’s Sora app (now discontinued) paused users’ abilityContinue reading “Passing Off and Post-Mortem Image Protection: A Comparative Perspective” - Contrarian Jurists – The Story of Comparative Law and How Collisions Shaped It
The underlying idea of the book Contrarian Jurists: The Story of Comparative Law and How Collisions Shaped It (Hart Publishing, 2026) is to frame comparative law through the metaphor of ‘collisions’ which are the intellectual confrontations that have shaped the discipline’s evolution since the 1970s. The starting point is a personal observation: comparative law resistsContinue reading “Contrarian Jurists – The Story of Comparative Law and How Collisions Shaped It” - BACL Newsletter 2025-26
Following BACL’s 75th anniversary last year, 2025-26 has been a quieter year of consolidation, renewal and planning. BACL has continued to bring comparative lawyers together through its Annual Seminar, PGR Workshop and Blog, while preparing for an active year ahead, including the next General Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law in Berlin. WeContinue reading “BACL Newsletter 2025-26” - Tax Legality in China: Constitutional Principle or Governance Technique?
Tax legality has increasingly been celebrated in Chinese legal scholarship as a constitutional principle under the 1982 Constitution, particularly following the 2015 amendment of Article 8(6) of the Legislation Law of the People’s Republic of China. More specifically, that amendment (article 8(6) as revised in 2015) required key tax matters, such as tax categories, the determinationContinue reading “Tax Legality in China: Constitutional Principle or Governance Technique?”
