Robert Junqueira asks how legal comparison can learn from unfamiliar legal cultures without turning them into exotic examples, borrowed fragments, or mirror images of our own categories. He argues that comparative legal reasoning must first defamiliarize the home matrix, then translate foreign legal reasons through their own institutions, languages, and living-law conditions. Junqueira’s focus is on comparison as a disciplined encounter: a way to expand legal imagination without cognitive capture or semantic domination. This presentation, chaired by Simar Soni, is part of the 2026 JusGov Internship Programme with the University of Pennsylvania.

All those who are interested are welcome to join us via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/4664284907

Organising Committee

Flávia Noversa Loureiro

Miriam Rocha

Simar Soni

Organisation

EDUM — School of Law of the University of Minho

JusGov — Research Centre for Justice and Governance

Support

FCT — Foundation for Science and Technology