Gift of
Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Welters,
Friends of the Law Library, &
New York University Law School

Democracy and the Rule of Law in a Changing World Order

The year 2000 marks the Bicentennial of the Library of Congress as a legislative and national library. One aspect of its celebration will be a Law Library conference during the first full week of March 2000 to examine the spread of democratic governance and its relationship to the rule of law in many parts of the world. Societies may function under a rule of law without democracy, or they may be democratic in governance with an ineffective rule of law. This conference will examine the relationship between these two crucial components of a sustainable democratic civil society.

In keeping with the Library of Congress’s mission to build a universal collection in all subjects, the focus on constitutionalism also crosses disciplinary boundaries. Contributors including paper writers and discussants, as well as participating lawyers, professors of law, legislators, jurists, humanists and social scientists, will be drawn from four major legal traditions: common law, civil law, religious law, and customary law.

The conference will consist of about 50 principal participants from around the world. The conference sessions as well as the plenary discussions will be open to the public. The proceedings of the conference will be made widely available both in published form and on the Internet.