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The series of events "Lectures for Law in Society", newly founded by the Faculty of Law, aims to promote a well-founded exchange between legal science and society on current topics and challenges to national and international legal systems. In times of far-reaching problems, the Faculty of Law is concerned to strengthen the awareness that law and the rule of law are both fragile and indispensable achievements of human culture through critical debates. The lectures are to cover a broad, pluralistic spectrum of perspectives once a year.
The first guest for 2021 was the Swiss author Lukas Bärfuss. He gave a lecture on the topic "Rechte der Nachgeborenen" ("Rights of the Descendants") at the University of Zurich on November 18, 2021. You can find the flyer (PDF, 889 KB) here.
In his talk, explicitly addressed to a young audience, Lukas Bärfuss commented on a central and rarely discussed concept in the political debate: legacy. For example, the legacy of the industrial age consists of a large amount of waste, such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Furthermore, several tens of thousands of generations will have to live with radioactive waste. Poison and valuables, assets and debts, immaterial as well as material goods - everything is fatefully transferred from the parents to the next generation, and one thing remains certain: the distribution of the inheritance among the children is flagrantly unjust.
In his talk, Lukas Bärfuss reflected on how a democratic society should relate to all this, and what wealth of experience literature has to offer in the search for solutions.
Lukas Bärfuss' talk was complemented and critically discussed by a panel discussion with members of the Faculty of Law.
Participating in the panel discussion were Dr. Elif Askin, URPP Equality of Opportunity UZH, Prof. Dr. Helen Keller UZH, and Jón Laxdal, student of law UZH. The panel discussion was led by Prof. Dr. Matthias Mahlmann.
The podcast of the event with Lukas Bärfuss on the topic "Rights of the Descendants" as part of the Lectures for Law in Society event series on November 18, 2021 can be found at the following link:
The next event in this series is scheduled for March 2023.
