...

I. Country Reports

The country reports are the core element of the project. They will be provided by various authors with a distinct insight into the specific legal system. The reports shall be brief and informative (round about 10-15.000 characters, three pages). In order to manage the inconsistency of the relevant literature and to achieve comparability, it seems reasonable to ensure the structural consistency of the country reports by using the following template:

Rule of Law-Template

Ø      The report starts off with a brief drafting of the *"{}sound"{*} that characterizes the specific discourse and relevant material. In the case ofBrazilof Brazil, this could be the observation that authors generally agree that the Brazilian legal system provides for an exemplary conception of the Rule of Law, but only "in theory", as large parts of the country - the Amazonas region as well as the major cities - are not within the reach of the statutory jurisdiction.

...

Ø      Short list of further reading.

The following legal systems will be included in the examination so far:

...

II. Analyses and Comparison

The country reports will be complemented by comparative analyses that shall develop further materials from political and cultural sciences (also written in English, round about 30.000 to 40.000 characters or 10-12 pages). The texts may either be cross-country comparisons of legal systems and reports on cultural areas, e.g. "The Rule of Law in Constitutions of Countries with an Islamic cultural background" or "The European Understanding of the Rule of Law". The texts may also compare the development of the idea of Rule of Law form a cultural or philosophical historical perspective.

...

III. Presentation

Country reports and additional texts will be published online on a wiki-style webpage, which is provided by the Freie Universitaet Berlin (see http://www.cedis.fu-berlin.de/web20/wikis/index.html FU-cedis). Thus, the reports and texts will be easy to find and access, and the wiki format allows for cross-linking the contents and it enables readers to discuss and join in expanding the information, to modify the pages or add completely new ones. At least at the beginning, changes and additions carried out by the readers will be subject to the approval by the administrators of the online-project. At the best, the project will evolve into an expanding forum with content contributed not only by its initiators but by a broader reader/writer community.

...