The International scientific symposium “Comparative Law Days” was held in Kiev from 8th till 11th of April 2009, which was organized by Volodymyr Koretskyi Institute of State and Law of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU), Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, Ukrainian Association of Comparative Law and International scientific journal Comparative Legal Studies in cooperation with Office of OSCE Projects Coordinator in Ukraine, American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz International Law Company. The symposium took place at Law faculty and Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University .

The organizing committee members were Leonid Gubers’kyi – rector of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, member of NASU, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine; Yuriy Shemshuchenko – director of Volodymyr Koretskyi Institute of State and Law of NASU, president of Ukrainian Association of Comparative Law, member of NASU, foreign member of Russian Academy of Science; Ivan Grytsenko – dean of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University Law faculty, Doctor of Law, and other Ukrainian and foreign scientists. The symposium had been coordinated by Oleksiy Kresin ­– general secretary of Ukrainian Association of Comparative Law, executive editor of International scientific journal Comparative Legal Studies, PhD.

As Juriy Shemshuchenko and Oleksiy Kresin underlined in their general reports, comparative law had an old tradition of development in Ukraine since 1830-s. Unfortunately, at the end of XX century it suffered from a deep crisis, caused by methodological revision, lack of solvent interest of state and society in comparative law research and insufficient infrastructure for them. Leading Ukrainian schools of comparative law declined; ties of generations of scientists were broken.

From 2001 Volodymyr Koretskyi Institute of State and Law of NASU accomplishing a complex of fundamental projects, which aim is revival and qualitative renovation of Ukrainian comparative law. In particular, in 2001 the Encyclopedia of Comparative Law series of scientific publications was started to generalize Ukrainian and foreign comparative law scientific heritage, develop the methodological, terminological and reference-informational apparatus of comparative law. In 2005 the Institute and Mariupol State Humanitarian University with other Ukrainian and foreign partners established the new and up-to-date the only one in Ukraine specialized comparative law periodical – International scientific journal Comparative Legal Studies.

The tradition of annual comparative law forums was established in 2006 by Volodymyr Koretskyi Institute of State and Law of NASU in cooperation with Volodymyr Vernadskyi Tavrian National University and other Ukrainian universities and organizations. At first of these forums had been created the Ukrainian Association of Comparative Law. Comparative Law Days continues a tradition of the 2006 – 2008 international scientific seminars series Comparative Law: Current State and Prospects for Development, but it’s conception is more complex. Comparative Law Days is a complex scientific and educational event aiming to improve participant’s skills, an exchange of views on the main questions of modern comparative law, an acquaintance with up-to-date scientific researches and publications.

More than 340 scientists (230 arrived) took part in 2009 symposium such as research fellows, lecturers, lawyers, post-graduates and students from Ukraine (Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Khmelnytsky, Simferopol, Uzhhorod, Chernivtsi, Sumy, Kirovograd, Poltava, Lugansk, Kryvyi Rig, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Lutsk, Ternopil, Vinnytsia, Chernigiv, Zhytomyr, Mariupol, Irpin, Illichivsk), Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Saratov, Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Yaroslavl, Samara, Novosibirsk, Tver, Krasnodar, Chelyabinsk, Ivanovo, Krasnoyarsk, Kursk, Omsk, Astrakhan, Ulan-Ude, Saransk, Belgorod, Vladikavkaz, Yoshkar-Ola), Belarus (Minsk, Novopolotsk), Austria (Innsbruck), Italy (Turin, Naples), Germany (Berlin), USA (Pennsylvania), Great Britain (Norwich), Moldova (Tiraspol), Kazakhstan (Almaty), Czech Republic (Prague) and Azerbaijan (Baku). There were 56 Doctors of Law, 146 PhD in Law, 115 participants without academic degrees and 16 students.

There were held the IV annual International scientific seminar “Comparative Law: Current State and Prospects for Development” and scientific conference “Comparative Law Discussions” within the scope of symposium. The main forms of work were round tables, open lectures, section meetings and presentations. There were held four round tables: “The experience of post soviet legal systems transformation”, “Theoretical and methodological problems of comparative law”, “Comparative law in the system of legal education”, “Legal ethics: foreign experience for Ukraine”. Third and forth round tables were held with the support of American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), which presented innovative methodics of legal ethics and deontology teaching developed on its order.

The unique peculiarity of annual International scientific seminars “Comparative Law: Current State and Prospects for Development”, henceforth “Comparative Law Days” is conducting of cycles of open lectures by Ukrainian and foreign scientists. Each such lecture from 2007 has been published as a brochure within Academy of Comparative Law series of scientific-methodical publications. The participants of Comparative Law Days listened to and took part in discussion of nine open lectures:

• Law: new horizons of regulation by Yuriy Tikhomirov, the first deputy director of the Institute of the Legislation and Comparative Law of Government of Russian Federation;
• Philosophical problems of comparative law by Oleksandr Tykhomyrov, professor of Kyiv University of Internal Affairs;
• Comparative Law and Critical Legal Studies by Ugo Mattei, scientific coordinator of International University College in Turin, professor of Turin and California universities;
• The Science of Comparative Law: To the Question about its Borders by Petro Rabinovich, professor of Ivan Franko Lviv National University;
• Families of Legal Systems and the Place of Post-Soviet Countries by William Elliot Butler, professor of University of Pennsylvania;
• Comparative Theory of Law and its Place in Comparative Law by Vitaliy Oksamytnyi, director of Center of Comparative Law, Griboedov Institute of International law and Economy (Moscow);
• Notion and Substance of EU acquiscommunautaire in the European and Ukrainian Law by Viktor Muraviov, professor of comparative and European Law, Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University;
• Typology of State in the Context of Comparative Science on State by Roman Romashov, scientific chief of Law faculty of St. Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade-unions;
• Chirch Law in Russia – An Independent Branch of Law within the System of Legal Sciences by Aleksandr Smykalin, professor of history of state and law of Ural State Law Academy, Ekaterinburg.

There were numerous presentations during Comparative Law Days, to note some of them:

• Monographs, anthologies, articles collections: Ukrainian Legal System in 5 volumes (Kharkiv, in Ukrainian), Comparative Law: The Anthology of Ukrainian Comparatists of XIX-XX centuries (Oleksiy Kresin, Kyiv, in Ukrainian and Russian); Comparative Law. Legal Systems of the World (Nataliya Onischenko, Kyiv, in Ukrainian); President of Russian Federation: Constitutional Law Relations. From Constitutional Assembly to Modern Practice (Ivan Marino, Naples, in Russian); Plunder: When theRule ofLaw isIllegal (Ugo Mattei, Turin, in English); RussianLaw (William Elliot Butler, Pennsylvania, in English); Comparative Law: Methodology, Science, Educational Discipline (Irina Mishina, Krasnoyarsk, in Russian); German Law: Theory of Law, Criminal and Civil Legislation (Evgeniy Potseluev, Ivanovo, in Russian); Subjective Civil Rights Exercising Limits (Mykola Stefanchuk, Khmelnitsky, in Ukrainian); Judicial Precedent in English Legal System (Borys Malyshev, Kyiv, in Ukrainian); Law, Legislative Act, Judicial Precedent in Russian Civilizational System (Nikita Kolokolov, Moscow, in Russian); Theory of Use of Constitutional Law (Vladimir Kruss, Tver, in Russian).
• University textbooks: Comparative Law (Hashmatulla Behruz, Odesa, in Ukrainian), textbooks set on EU and CE Law, published by Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University (Viktor Muravyov, Kyiv, in Ukrainian); Labor Law of Russia and Foreign Countries. International Labor Standarts (Andrei Lushnikov, Marina Lushnikova, Yaroslavl, in Russian); Politics of International Law (Oleksandr Merezhko, Kyiv, in Russian); Grounds of General Theory of State and Law (Petro Rabinovych, Lviv, in Ukrainian); Investment Law of Kazakstan (Svetlana Moroz, Almaty, in Russian); Electronic Law (Rashat Azizov, Baku, in Russian); Civil Law of Ukraine (Ruslan Stefanchuk, Khmelnytsky, in Ukrainian); General Theory of State and Law (Lyudmyla Luts, Lviv);
• Legal Periodicals: Yurydychnyi jurnal (“Legal Journal”, in Ukrainian), Yurydychna gazeta (“Legal Newspaper”, in Ukrainian) – Svitlana Maksymova, Kyiv; Pravovyi Tyjden (“Legal Weekly”, in Ukrainian) – Sergiy Kozlov, Kyiv; Journal Global Jurist – Ugo Mattei, Turin; International scientific journal Porivnyalno-Pravovi Doslidjennya (“Comparative Legal Studies”, in Ukrainian) – Oleksiy Kresin, Yuriy Voloshyn, Kyiv, Mariupol; Zhurnal Inostrannogo Zakonodatelstva i Sravnitelnogo Pravovedeniya (“Journal of Foreign Legislation and Comparative Law”, in Russian) – Yuriy Tikhomirov, Moscow; JournalofComparativeLaw – William Elliot Butler, Pennsylvania;
• Organizations and educational institutions: Osservatorio sul Sistema Politico-Constituzionale della Federazione Russa (Research Laboratory on Political-Constitutional Systems of Russia) – Ivan Marino, Naples; International University College in Turin – Ugo Mattei.

During the Comparative Law Days had been held the law books exhibition, on which were presented publications of Volodymyr Koretskyi Institute of State and Law of NASU, newspapers Yurydychnyi visnyk Ukrainy and Pravovyi Tyjden, publishing houses Justinian, Pravo, Yurinkom, Yurydychna Dumka, Precedent.

Comparative Law Days participants received certificates. On the symposium’s results will be published rapports and discussion materials collection. All materials will be placed on the site of the Ukrainian Association of Comparative Law (http://www.comparativelaw.org.ua/).